Triathlon: Whitcombe is best of British four

With their season just about to start, Great Britain's small squad of just four triathletes did not manage to make any significant impact at the World Championships in New Zealand.

In the alpine scenery of Queenstown, Andrea Whitcombe grabbed sixth place in the women's event yesterday after finishing in 2hr 9min 18sec for the 1,500 metres swim, 40-kilometre bike ride and 10km run.

"I didn't have a good swim, coming out of the water in the third group, but the rest went fine," she said.

Richard Stannard finished in 40th place, recording 2:00:04 in the men's race, but had little to prove after his win at the World Aquathlon Championships on Tuesday. The 29-year-old led out of the swim but then missed the breakaway group on the bike. He "blew his legs" trying to close the gap, with no energy left for the run.

"This is just the start of the season for us," said Stannard. "We've got Olympic trials in April and May and hope to get ready for that."

Marc Jenkins came in 23rd in a time of 1:57:29, while the world No 3 Andrew Johns did not finish. The Australians Emma Snowsill (2:06:40) and Peter Robertson (1:54:13) were crowned world champions on Queenstown's hilly course.