SYDNEY - Bevan Docherty of New Zealand won the men's race and Chile's Barbara Riveros Diaz took out a near photo finish in the women's event at the opening ITU World Championship series triathlon races on Sunday. Docherty, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist and bronze winner at Beijing in 2008, overtook the race leaders, France's Tony Moulai and American Matt Chrabot, to win comfortably in a time of 1 hour, 51 minutes, 27 seconds. Russian Alexander Brukhankov was second, six seconds behind, and David Hauss of France third, one second behind the Russian. Moulai and Chrabot finished sixth and ninth respectively. Riveros Diaz won the women's race in 2:04.20, with second-place Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand finishing in the same time after being just edged out at the line. Emma Moffatt of Australia, the Beijing bronze medallist, was third, just one second behind. “I was a bit nervous heading into the final lap,” Riveros Diaz said. “I'm usually not very good at a sprint finish, but today [Sunday] it all worked out very well.” Hewitt said Riveros Diaz was ‘amazing'. “We really pushed each other hard on the run,” Hewitt said. “Barbara was just too tough coming down that final hill and I couldn't stay with her.” Moffatt, the reigning world champion, suffered a broken shoulder in bike training and had not been able to swim for about six weeks. Another Australian Emma on the Beijing podium, gold medalist Emma Snowsill, did not compete on Sunday due to a virus. “You have to be a tough racer, particularly in this series if you want to go well,” said Moffatt, 25, who claimed valuable series points with her podium finish.”
