Germany's Frodeno wins triathlon at the wire

BEIJING _ Jan Frodeno of Germany has won the men's triathlon, edging Simon Whitfield of Canada in an exciting four-man sprint finish.

Whitfield led momentarily just a few yards from the finish line, but Frodeno raced past him to win by 5.19 seconds Tuesday. Bevan Docherty of New Zealand took the bronze. Favorite Javier Gomez of Spain was also in the final group of leaders, but the 2008 world champion didn't appear to have the energy for a strong finish. He ended up fourth.

"I knew the medal was safe, but I tried to get the gold. I kept thinking that this was the moment I've been dreaming of," Frodeno said. "I could hear the other guys breathing, and I sprinted and now I'm the Olympic winner."

Whitfield settled for silver. He won gold in 2000 in Sydney, the first year triathlon medals were awarded at the Olympics. Docherty was the silver medalist four years ago in Athens.

"I get to see the flag at least," Whitfield said.

Frodeno's final time was 1 hour, 48 minutes, 53.28 seconds in the grueling swim-cycle-run event. Axel Zeebroek of Belgium and Dirk Bockel of Luxembourg were about 50 seconds ahead of the field after the 40-kilometer cycle, but they were passed early in the 10-kilometer run.

Zeebroek finished 13th, and Bockel was 25th.