A debut World Triathlon Cup win for Alberte Kjær Pedersen lit up the Mexican coastline on Saturday evening as the Dane delivered a sizzling 5km run to take the tape in Huatulco. She managed to pull away from the main group out of transition and didn’t look back until the final straight, where a battle for second was raging between USA’s Kirsten Kasper and Austria’s Lisa Perterer, the American timing her final push to perfection to edge the silver.
“It was really nice racing here, it
went really well,” said Pedersen. “My legs were feeling good and I was feeling
comfortable and when I turned round I realised there was nobody close. I was
injured for the start of the qualification period for Tokyo but who knows what
might happen and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
The steam was rising off the streets
of Huatulco as the women lined up on Saturday evening for the final World
Triathlon action of the Olympic Qualification period, and while the rain was
holding off, both humidity and temperatures were high.
Kasper led the athletes out for the
beach start, looking for one final effort to impress the US Olympic selectors,
followed by Perterer who was one of the first to qualify for Tokyo at the Test
Event back in 2019.
The American had a great swim too,
exiting through the waves out front alongside Anastasia Gorbunova (RUS), with
Claudia Rivas (MEX) and Yuka Sato (JPN) close by, Pedersen some 20 seconds back
with Niina Kishimoto (JPN) and Amelie Kretz (CAN). Kasper’s teammate Erika
Ackerlund was also among the leaders as they headed into transition, and it was
a large bike group that quickly merged over the first of the four 5km laps.
Pedersen was straight on the gas as
she laid it all down in a bid to join with the leaders and a group of 20 snaked
into transition at the end of the first lap, and by the halfway point there was
44 seconds between them and the chasers, including Romina Biagioli (ARG) and
Yuliya Yelistratova (UKR).
By the end of the four laps, the gap
was almost a minute, and while Perterer didn’t have the smoothest of
transitions, she wasted no time getting back to the front, where Kasper, Kretz
and Pedersen were already striding clear of the group.
Ecuador’s Elizabeth Bravo, Japan’s
Niina Kishimoto and Ackerlund couldn’t quite match the pace of that lead quartet,
and it wasn’t long before Pedersen started to ease through the gears once
again.
There was little doubt who looked the
most comfortable, and the Dane was able to extend her advantage over each of
the descents back into the town centre, Perterer and Kasper eventually dropping
Kretz and locking into a brilliant game of cat and mouse over the final two
kilometres as Pedersen vanished from sight, taking the tape with a huge smile.
After looking like she had blown up,
Kasper reeled in Perterer one last time and passed her on the chute for the
silver, Bravo taking fourth from Kretz, Ackerlund, Gorbunova, Kishimoto, Renee
Tomlin (USA) and Dominika Jamnicky (CAN) rounding out the top ten.
“I came here to win and I didn’t get
that today but I am happy with second and my result overall, it’s good practice
to race in the heat and hopefully it shows the selectors that I can perform in
the heat,” said Kasper. “We’ve trained together (with Lisa) before so it felt
like practice and she’s a great competitor and so I had a lot of fun with that.
I really wanted second so I went for it and had a little more left in the tank
than I thought!”
“It was a good test for Tokyo,” said
Perterer. “I think I did well and felt comfortable. I hope I can get some
running in over the next five weeks. I am really excited already. I was super
surprised with my run. It didn’t feel as smooth as I wanted to feel but I was
so happy to finish third, the sprint finish with Kirsten was great.”
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while paratriathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
Most of us can swim, but there’s a difference
between dog paddling on vacation and swimming for fitness. If you’re looking to
unlock the low-impact, calorie-burning benefits of swimming, check out this
course from Michael Phelps on This Skills. The 26-time Olympic gold medalist
will cover everything you need to feel confidant and comfortable swimming laps.
You’ll learn all the basic strokes, plus wall kicking, diving and other
techniques, but you’ll also get a glimpse into the mindset of the most
decorated Olympian of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment