The men's division of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Beijing BG Triathlon World Cup opened Sunday morning at the Changping Triathlon Venue at the Ming Tombs Reservoir. In the first stage of competition in swimming, Andy Potts, No. 24 of the United States, emerged the winner with a time of 17:29.00. With this result he also won the top prize for swimming, plus a money prize of 500 US dollars.
China's Zhang Yiming finished 61st in 18:21.00.
Placing second and third respectively were Clayton Fettell of Australia, and Hirokatsu Tayama of Japan.
The swimming competition was the first event, and participants had to swim 1.5km. To ensure the safety of the triathletes, there were divers and lifeguards along the course to offer help if needed.
According to rules and regulations, athletes can use their favorite stroke in the swimming competition. But competitors almost invariably choose the freestyle as it is the fastest of all swimming strokes.
In today's swimming event, soon after the competition started, the top swimmers began to show their superiority over the others. Andy Potts of the United States secured the lead position with Clayton Fettell of Australia just behind. In the end Andy Potts won the event two seconds ahead of the runner-up Clayton Fettell.
(BOCOG September 16, 2007)