Chris McCormack (triathlete)
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Chris McCormack (April 4, 1973) is an Australian triathlete, known affectionately to the triathlon community as Macca. McCormack began competing on international-distance courses in 1996, winning both the 1997 Triathlon World Championships and the 1997 ITU World Cup Series; to date, no-one else has won both titles in a single year.
After shifting focus to longer distance racing he displayed exceptional aptitude for the distance winning many races. McCormack won Ironman Australia in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Twice he has finished the Quelle Challenge Roth, an Iron-Distance triathlon in under 8 hours, a feat only 5 other athletes have completed. In 2007 he won the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii after 6 attempts at the race coming as close as second, within 2 minutes of the winner, in 2006.
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[edit] Personal life
Chris was born in Sydney, Australia on April 4, 1973, of a New Zealand-born mother (Theresa) and an Australian father (Ken). When Chris was a toddler his family moved to the Sutherland Shire in Southern Sydney.
At Primary School Chris tackled many team sports. He joined the school Soccer, Rugby and later the Basketball Team and was accomplished at all. However Chris was discouraged with team sports as not everyone gave 100% all the time.
High School years were spent at Kirrawee High School, a well credited public school in Sydney's South, where Chris continued his sporting endeavours winning several distinguished sporting awards including the 'NSW Sporting Blue' for the best athlete in the state. After graduating in the top 10% of the State, Chris decided to further his studies completing a Bachelor of Economics degree at the University of New South Wales.
Chris lost his mother, Theresa, to breast cancer on April 26, 1999, in the year leading up to the Sydney Olympics (2000).
Chris married his long term girlfriend Emma-Jane in August 2003 and their first daughter was born in January 2004. Their second daughter, Sienna Lily was born on September 14, 2006, at Kareena private Hospital in the south of Sydney.
When he is not training, Chris enjoys surfing and relaxing with family and friends
[edit] Triathlon career
Chris entered the professional triathlon circuit in 1996, having won the Australian Junior Championship in 1993, and rapidly rose to success only eight months after his debut, taking the World No. 1 position and destroying arguably the greatest field ever assembled in triathlon history to win both the 1997 Triathlon World Championships and the 1997 ITU World Cup Series. Macca is credited with being the first male triathlete ever to win both titles (the double) in the same year.
Before moving to Ironman distance races Chris won almost every major short course title on the global triathlon calendar including the ITU World Cup Series, Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon as well as some of the sports most prestigious triathlon events, Goodwill Games, Mrs T's Chicago International Triathlon, San Diego International Triathlon, New York City International Triathlon and LA International Triathlon. He also became the first triathlete in a decade to capture the US Triple Crown. In 2001, Chris was again crowned Global Triathlete Of The Year and Competitor Of The Year and became the only triathlete ever to hold the USA Professional Championship Title and the USA Sprint Course Title in one season.
After a devastating domestic season in 2000, culminating in a sprint finish for the Australian Triathlon title in Mooloolaba, where he was again runner up, Chris was controversially left off the Australian Olympic Team (Sydney 2000) despite being the highest ranked Australian on the World rankings (number 3). He immediately packed up his belongings and left Australian shores, bewildered at national selectors decisions to leave him off his first Olympic Team. Disillusioned with Australian racing, Chris relocated to America where he remained undefeated for 18 months.
In 2002 Macca shifted his focus to Ironman racing and saw him win Ironman Australia on debut in 2002 and then defend that title in 2003 winning again in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Macca's first race at the distance, in Europe in 2003, eventuated in one of the sport's greatest races in Roth Germany, where Macca was beaten in a sprint finish by Lothar Leder (winner of more than 13 Ironman events). Macca won the event eventually in 2005.
Chris has taken his time to understand what it takes to win the Ironman World Championships at Hawaii. After leading the 2002 race into the second transition, Chris "melted" in Kona's lava field marathon and failed to finish on his first attempt. He finished in 2003 in 9:32:11, a long way back from the winner. In 2004 he again failed to finish and abandoned into a race vehicle driven by six-time World Champion Mark Allen, who counseled Macca to race fewer iron-distance races during the year[1]. In 2005 he was able to finish 6th with the fastest run split of the day. 2006 saw Chris finish Hawaii in second place in one of the closest finishes seen in a long time. After Normann Stadler completed a new course record bike time of 4:18 Chris started the run some 10 minutes down. After running a 2:46 marathon time he was just 71 seconds behind Normann Stadler at the finish but he had given it absolutely everything he had.
He finally became Ironman World Champion in 2007, with a winning time of 8:15:34, including a 2:42 marathon in very hot conditions.
[edit] Controversy
In a post-race interview with Triathlete magazine, 2006 Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler accused Chris McCormack of having drafted during the cycling leg of the race despite the presence of a drafting judge near McCormack throughout the majority of the 112-mile ride[2]. Stadler's comments came in stark contrast to the praise he had given McCormack immediately following the race. Having received the news, McCormack confronted Stadler, who initially denied the report, during a post-race party. McCormack later responded by challenging Stadler and 2005 World Champion Faris Al-Sultan (who agreed with Stadler's account of the race) to meet him at any race for a rematch[3].
[edit] External links
- Chris McCormack's Website
- Ironman Live
- Triathlon Results for Chris Mccormack. TRIResults.com.
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