Pearson Finishes 42nd in Olympic Debut

TOKYO – Colorado track and field alum Morgan Pearson competed in his first Olympic triathlon Sunday afternoon, finishing 42nd overall for Team USA.
 
Pearson and the rest of the field has a bizarre start after there was a boat in the starting area and a false start caused half the field to enter the water. Once everyone was brought back, the race finally began. Two laps around the Marine Park, Pearson went through the first lap in 30th and made it up to 25th finishing the 1.5 kilometer swim in 18 minutes and two seconds.
 
Trouble struck Pearson in the first transition when he failed to get his swim goggles into the box, resulting in a 15-second penalty that would be assessed in the second transition. From the swim onto the bike, Pearson left the transition area in 20th place.
 
Through the first of eight laps on the bike, Pearson was in the chase pack in 24th, but fell to the back of that pack in the first 10 kilometers at 33rd. He lost contact with the pack throughout the race, dropping to 37th through 15 kilometers, 29 seconds off the lead. Halfway through the 40-kilometer bike race, Pearson was in 42nd overall, 46 minutes and 52 seconds into the race. He finished the bike race in 46th in one hour, 17 minutes and 33 seconds. The leader came through in one hour, 14 minutes and 45 seconds.
 
Heading into the run, fellow American Kevin McDowell gave the US men hope as they had never medaled at the Olympics in the event. He sat in second through the first half of the 10k run crossing in 1:30:05. Pearson crossed the first 5K in 44th at 1:33:37.
 
Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway took the win over Alex Yee of Great Britain in 1:45:04. Pearson finished 42nd in 1:52:05 while fellow American McDowell finished sixth in 1:45:54. Both US men will compete in the mixed triathlon Friday at 4:30 p.m. MT.