Dimitry Gaag almost wasn't allowed to stay in the country.

The field for yesterday's Bermuda ITU World Cup Triathlon probably wishes he hadn't.

Gaag, who would've been sent back to Canada if not for a couple of quick-acting Bermudians, showed his gratitude by coming out of nowhere to win the $70,000 Olympic-distance event in a staggering time of one hour, 39 minutes and 54 seconds.

Twelve seconds back in second was another underdog, Paul Amey of New Zealand, followed nine seconds later by defending champion Ralf Eggert of Germany.

Gaag, a Russian who doesn't speak any English, arrived on Thursday with only a visa from Canada, where he finished 24th in last week's International Triathlon Union stop in Drummondville, Quebec. Problem was, his visa expired on June 30 -- the day of the race -- and he didn't have a return ticket.

"Immigration wouldn't let him stay,'' explained race coordinator Suthy Madeiros. "He was on his way back to Canada if we hadn't intervened.'' ITU marketing director Michael Gilmore said the problem arose when Gaag, travelling with a passport from the old Soviet Union, obtained a last-minute visa to compete in Canada and then a separate visa to come to the Island.

As ITU officials worked through an immigration lawyer in Ottawa to get Gaag's passport updated, Bermuda doctor Colin Couper agreed to purchase a ticket to England for him. Gilmore said Gaag's new papers should arrive by tomorrow and Couper will be able to cash in the ticket. If not, he will be reimbursed by the ITU.

But after capturing the $10,000 first prize yesterday, Gaag should have no trouble paying it back himself.

Few triathletes yesterday knew much about Gaag and fewer still expected the world's 25th-ranked competitor to win so easily. Not with a field featuring the world's top professionals, including number one Alexandre Manzan of Brazil, number two Leondro Macedo, also of Brazil, and Eggert, ranked third.

But then you knew it was going to be a strange day when Manzan was forced to pull out before the race started because of a stomach virus. Macedo said his good friend and countryman became ill the previous afternoon and wasn't able to eat dinner. He woke up yesterday too weak to compete.

It wasn't a good day for Macedo either. He finished 12th. But that should still put him on top of the standings heading into the next event on the circuit, the world championships on August 24 in Cleveland.

Gaag started off slowly -- he was 16th after the 1,500-metre swim -- but managed to stay in the lead pack during the 40-kilometre bike ride, when he was clocked in 54:03. It was in the run that he made up ground, screaming through the 10-kilometre course in 29.27.

This was actually the second-fastest run, behind the incredible 29.01 posted by American Andrew Kelsey, and just ahead of Amey's 29.48.

The run was officially listed as seven laps of a 1.4K loop along Front Street, making for a total of 9.8K. The consensus among the professionals, however, was that the run was as much as 500 metres short and none were taking their times too seriously.

Russian storms to surprise win From Page 19 "Everything was short,'' said Macedo, "The swim, the bike and the run.'' Macedo said this "made a difference'' -- particularly to long-course specialists such as himself -- but said he wouldn't have caught Gaag anyway.

France's Stephane Poulat led after the 1,500m swim, clocking 15.50, followed by Australian Chippy Slater and Mexico's Jose Luis Zepeda.

Another Australian, Chris McCormack led coming out of the transition area after the cycling. Slater, Poulat and Loch Vollmerhaus followed him.

But by the midway point of the run, McCormack had dropped back to fifth, with Gaag in front and Eggert in hot pursuit. Amey overtook Eggert with two laps left.

Three Bermuda amateurs entered the race: Neil de Ste. Croix, Kris Hedges and Adam Smith and they pulled up the rear, with de Ste. Croix the best of the bunch, posting a time of 1:58.16.

The happiest of the bunch was Hedges, who, at 16, was by far the youngest competitor. His time was eight minutes faster than what he posted at the national championships three weeks ago.

ON THE RUN -- Dimitry Gaag, a former modern pentathlon star in his native Russia, turned in a blistering 10K time to win yesterday's ITU World Cup triathlon.