Flood injured in brutal surf while Eckstein rules the waves

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday February 8, 2010

Josh Rakic

REIGNING ironwoman champion Naomi Flood and heir apparent Hayley Bateup almost came to blows in a thrilling round-four encounter at the Sunshine Coast yesterday.Ironman champion Shannon Eckstein all but tied up the men's series before the final round in Cronulla after claiming his third win in four rounds, but it was the women's final that had people talking.In crunching two-metre swell, Flood was one of a host of victims on the ski leg as messy waves threw half the field off their skis, catapulting 3m projectiles into the air.Flood lost control of her ski, which smashed into Bateup's head, and immediately after the final, the two - who are sharing a room for the fourth-round event - had harsh words. "Your ski hit me in the head. You should learn to hold on to your ski," Flood said, among other things, sporting an ice pack on her head.Bateup shot back: "Yeah, I really like losing my ski."The head knock troubled Flood in the final, Bateup finishing second behind Elizabeth Pluimers to stretch her championship lead to four points ahead of Flood in third.Pluimers made up for a poor third-round effort the day before, when she failed to make the A final."We'll leave that one. I was ready to put my stuff on the car and go home [after yesterday] I was so angry with myself," she said."I had a lot of unlucky things happen as well, so I had a sit down with everyone and even my mum and dad gave me the tough love and said, 'You have to go back out there.'"[And today] there was definitely chaos out there in every single leg. Even the swim leg, after running these long transitions and trying to hold your breath with those big waves, it was pretty tough out there."Reigning champion Eckstein took out the men's final and waved a three-finger solute as he crossed the finish line to signify his third round win from four events. He was neck and neck with Olympic open-water swimmer Ky Hurst going into the final ski leg before Hurst was "smacked around" by the brutal swell, sending him swimming back to shore to regather his ski as Eckstein tore away."I've always said I wanted to improve on last year, and that was three wins, a second and a third," said Eckstein, whose dream of a clean sweep of the series was shattered yesterday when Hurst caught a freak wave to come from nowhere and claim the round win."I led every race around the final can last year, and I did the same yesterday. I was happy with how I went but it hurts losing. It's good to come back with the win."