Geneva's McDowell, Whitely medal in Youth Olympic triathlon

On the second day of competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games Monday, triathlete Kevin McDowell (Geneva) raced to the silver medal, bringing Team USA's medal count to four. On Sunday, McDowell's teammate Kelly Whitley (Geneva) won bronze in the girls' triathlon.

McDowell was a favorite heading into Monday's race at Singapore's East Coast Park after placing fourth at the 2009 ITU Junior Elite World Championships. At the Youth Olympic Games Monday, McDowell finished the swim in eighth place and never looked back, catching up to the lead pack shortly after beginning the bike. He was in fifth heading into the run and made a move to the front to battle it out with New Zealand's Aaron Barclay. In the end, Barclay won the gold, followed by McDowell with the silver and Austria's Alois Knabl with the bronze.

"I think to make the podium here at the first ever Youth Olympic Games - and to come here with such a strong field, and to get the silver medal - I'm very, very satisfied," McDowell said. "This was the hardest race I've ever done; I was really hurting at the end. The bike was very fast. Everyone immediately was just attack, attack, attack and pulling fast. That's the fastest bike I've ever been on. There were so many strong cyclists in there. And then on the run, it started at a quick pace and you had to fight, fight, fight to hang on. There were such great runners. It's all the top athletes in the world."

Thirty two athletes representing 32 countries on five continents competed in the sprint distance triathlon (750m open water swim, 20km cycle, 5km run). Barclay finished in 54:41.49, followed by McDowell at 54:55:28 and Knabl at 55:04.72.

McDowell and Whitley are both members of the Multisport Madness Triathlon Team in Northern Illinois. McDowell said his teammates had been sending encouragement and support from the United States through text messages and emails. It continued into the race, with Team USA's YOG coach Keith Dickson shouting out messages received from the teammates on his BlackBerry during the bike and run.

"I can't even really grasp all of this right now," McDowell said. "I've always imagined it. At all my practices, I've thought I want to be up on the podium. Watching Kelly yesterday and all that she went through, I was thinking that's just amazing. I was thinking I just want to be up there. And then I did, so now it's just a great honor."

Whitley came back from 25th place to win bronze in the girls' triathlon at the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore Sunday morning.

Despite taking two years off from the sport she was in strong form, finishing only behind Japan's Yuka Sato (gold) and Australia's Ellie Salthouse (silver). The three girls were awarded the first medals in the history of the Youth Olympic Games in front of an excited crowd at East Coast Park in Singapore.

Thirty two athletes representing 32 countries competed in the sprint distance triathlon (750m open water swim, 20km cycle, 5km run). Whitley came out of the swim in 25th place, 45 seconds behind the leaders. She used the bike to gain her ground, posting the fastest cycling time and jumping to fourth place heading into the run. She moved up one spot to third, finishing in 1:01:13.49, 23.80 seconds back from first and 9.10 seconds back from second.

"Words can't describe how excited I am, how happy I am, and how grateful I am for getting to train with the people I do," Whitley said. "It's hard to totally grasp how big this is. I'm just so honored to be representing my country, to be here, to get this opportunity. I'm emotional about it. I'm just so excited to be here."

Whitley's finish was especially significant considering her recent return to the sport. After competing between fourth and eighth grade, she "retired" from the sport to compete in cross country, track and basketball in high school. She began training for triathlons again in November 2009 and has since only competed once, on April 16, 2010, at the ITU Triathlon American Youth Olympic Games Qualifier in Monterrey, Mexico. She finished second, just 13 seconds off winner Adriana Barraza of Mexico, who finished fourth at the Youth Olympic Games Sunday.

"After two years off I knew it was time to come back because this is what I really love doing and I enjoy," Whitley said. "I absolutely love this sport. I would not want to do anything else."

Sato, who won the running portion of the event, has already competed as an elite level athlete in five rounds of the ITU World Championship Series. Salthouse is the 2009 Aquathlon World Junior Champion. Coming in fourth was Barraza, and in fifth was Eszter Dudas of Hugary.

Up next for McDowell and Whitley is Thursday's 4x mixed team relay, with teams formed by region. They will be joined by two other athletes, and each will race a shortened version of the course: a 250m open water swim, 7km bike and 1.7km run. Medals will be awarded to the top three teams.

Kanute also excels: Meanwhile in San Diego, past champions Tanelle Berard and Ben Kanute captured the junior elite national titles, and Tamara Gorman and Eli Hemming brought home the youth elite championships Saturday to highlight day one of USA Triathlon's Junior Triathlon Festival at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

After winning last year's event in Colorado Springs, Colo., Berard (Clive, Iowa) repeated as female junior elite champion, while Kanute (Geneva) claimed his second junior elite title in the last three years. The 16- to 19-year-old junior elites covered a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike and a 5-kilometer run.

Berard took the first race of the day in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 25 seconds. She paired with Jennifer Clay (South Elgin) to pace the competitors out of the water, and the duo led for most of the bike before a group of five rode together for the final one-half lap entering T2.

From there, Berard pulled away on the first lap of the run. She closed with a 17:46 run split to earn the victory by 44 seconds over runner up Johanna Gartman (Chattanooga, Tenn.), who finished in 1:04:09. "On the run, I knew I had to give it my all so I made sure I was hydrated - and I just gave it all I had," said Berard.

Abigail Levene (Dublin, Neb.) posted a blistering run split of 16:42 to grab third and round out the podium in 1:04:22.

Berard and Kanute will compete at the 2010 ITU Junior World Championships next month in Budapest, Hungary.

Kanute, who won his third national title in the last four years, brought home the junior elite race in 57:04, 16 seconds ahead of the hard-charging Hunter Honeycutt (Tifton, Ga.), who clocked the day's top 5k run split of 15:35 to finish in 57:20.

After a group of around 10 athletes entered T1 together, Kanute and Luke Farkas (Franklin, Tenn.) broke away on the bike and carried nearly a lead of nearly one minute onto the run course. "It was a big group of guys coming out (of the water), so coming out of transition was a little hectic," said Kanute. "You had to weave your way out, but I got out okay."

Kanute, who won the junior national title in 2008 and the youth crown in 2007, then pulled away from Farkas on the first of two run laps and held on for yet another national title. "This one was kind of special. Coming in first is always special, but it's national championships," said Kanute. "It's a great race, and all the people putting it together did a great job."

"It's a great experience. The crowd was great," Kanute added. "It was really fun running down that chute. Everybody was going crazy; it was a fun time."

Led by Kanute's finish the Illinois-based Multisport Madness Triathlon Team captured the 2010 Development Team National Championship, which was based on Saturday's youth elite and junior elite events, as well as last month's Flatland Youth Elite Elite and Junior Elite Cup.