The Triathlon Chronicles

The Racing Diary

Potts Captures Gold For U.S. With Pan American Games Triumph

By Brent Smith

Blazing through the 10-kilometer run with the fastest time of the day, Athens Olympian Andy Potts passed Canadian Brent McMahon less than a mile from the finish to secure the win for the United States and become the new Pan American Games Triathlon champion. With his win, Potts earned his fourth victory and fifth podium spot of the 2007 season.

RIO DE JANIERO (July 15, 2007) – While 2004 Olympian Andy Potts continues to set his individual standards quite high, as captain of the U.S. Triathlon team he expected no less from his teammates, and the stakes were certainly high. The top male and female triathlete at the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games would secure an automatic Olympic spot for their country. While individual athlete selection will be determined at races later this year and next year, earning your country an automatic spot ensures their presence in Beijing.

“The organizing committee really did a great job and definitely bolstered support for their bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games,” said Potts. “The whole lead-up to the race was really enjoyable, there’s camaraderie among the delegations and a feeling of being a part of a national team that isn’t there at World Cups.”

Reversing the normal sequence, the men started in the slightly choppy water before the women. Race officials soon realized that the swim course was longer than the standard 1500-meter length, and while they adjusted the buoys for the women’s race, Potts took advantage of the favorable mistake and began to string the athletes out. After establishing a lead after the first lap, Potts stretched the margin to about 20 seconds over a small chase pack.

Potts decided to tackle the seven-lap bike course on his own and remained solo for nearly four of those laps, unable to stretch his lead to more than 35 seconds. Once the chase group picked up the tempo and reeled him in, athletes started attacking and attempting to break away. While all of the early attempts were unsuccessful, a small group including Canadian Brent McMahon severed their ties to the group.

“I was frustrated that I didn’t do anything about the break,” said Potts, “but I was confident that I could catch them with a good run if we didn’t let them get too far ahead. My running has been going well and I was happy to showcase that.”

Off the bike McMahon quickly established himself as the man to catch and Potts started the pursuit nearly a minute behind, but was running strong. With about a half-mile remaining, Potts caught the Canadian and made a small move to gauge his competitor’s response. When McMahon was slow to react, Potts pulled away and entered the finishing straight on his own.

In capturing the Pan American gold, Potts received quite a bit of publicity for himself and the sport. “I was on the cover of their multisport magazine in addition to the Inside Triathlon cover,” said Potts, “and getting in Sports Illustrated was definitely a career highlight and is great exposure for the sport in the U.S.”

“And as team captain, I was glad we achieved our goal to win both the men and women’s races, picking up both of the automatic Olympic spots for our country. Only six countries get three spots on the Olympic Games starting line, eight countries get two spots and everyone else only gets one, so it’s important to make sure we are one of the countries with a full team represented. I’m very proud of our performance this week.”

Potts is now preparing to compete at the Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships on September 2, followed by the Beijing BG Triathlon World Cup two weeks later, which will determine the first member of the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team for the 2008 Olympics.