Timaru skater Nicole Begg wins World Inline Cup

Fairfax Media

SKATING AWAY: Nicole Begg has proved her class in easily taking out the World Inline Cup marathon in South Korea.

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Timaru speedskater Nicole Begg has proved her class in easily taking out the World Inline Cup marathon in South Korea.

The Chuncheon race is one of the big four Grand Prix events on the skating calendar with double points on offer.

The win lifted Begg to third overall in the standings behind Columbian Cecilia Baena and Italy's Giovanna Turchiarelli.

Racing on a tough hilly course, Begg was too good with only Turchiarelli able to stay with her.

While Begg was rapt with the result, her main focus remains the World Championships in Columbia next month, so she will miss the next couple of WIC marathons in Berlin and Buenos Aires.

She will probably race the last event of 14 in Isla Margarita in Venezuela.

Her form has been excellent and in training with fellow Kiwi Peter Michael before Chuncheon, she recorded just a second outside the world record for 10km.

Lapping the 200m track in just over 19secs, Begg stopped the clock at 15min 44.848secs.

Begg was also keen to win after being swamped by the Chinese skaters in Haining so she had trained hard in hot and humid conditions at her Chinese base before flying to South Korea.

Such was the form of the 23-year-old, she broke away on the first hill, about 2km into the race.

"I wasn't trying to attack because everyone was sitting on me but I just put the pace on a bit. Then I turned round and there was only Giovanna, Nathalie, Cecilia and me."

Begg encouraged someone else to take the lead but no-one would come through, so when the opportunity arose again, she put the pace back on and dropped Baena off the back.

France's Nathalie Barbotin was next to fall by the wayside after 10km, leaving only Begg and Turchiarelli to fight out the win.

Begg said she went back to the front and picked up the pace to make sure she dropped Barbotin.

"I still felt pretty good, tired seeing I had done most the leading and had to pick up the pace each time I led."

Begg then realised she had the legs on Turchiarelli, so they shared the lead for about 25km before Begg pulled away just before the finish to win, with an,other 10 minutes back to the bunch and third place.

Michael, however, finished off the podium after making a mistake near the finish and being swamped.

He recovered a couple of places in the last 100m to finish fourth.

- © Fairfax NZ News