An emotional Emma Lombardi (FRA) won the women’s U23 World Championships in just under two hours in Edmonton on Saturday morning after a superb run saw her pull clear of the challengers at the 5km mark and go on to take the tape in her first Olympic-distance World Triathlon race, heralding the arrival of another bright new talent from France.
Behind her, Alberte Kjaer Pedersen
(DEN) and Annika Koch (GER) had powered their way into medal contention,
closing down a 90-second deficit off the bike to pass Kira Hedgeland (AUS) and
Olivia Mathias (GBR) late on and take silver and bronze respectively.
“That was my first Olympic distance
race, so I’m super happy,” said a delighted Lombardi. “The first two laps of
the run I was finding the rhythm with the other girls and at the beginning of
the third lap I felt good so I tried to raise it a bit and it worked.”
It was a chilly early start for the
U23 women as they got ready to kick off a big day of World Championship racing,
New Zealand’s top-ranked Ainsley Thorpe wearing the number one.
It was a short beach start on the
edge of Hawrelak Lake, Olivia Mathias setting up on the near side of the
pontoon with Sophie Alden and the British duo looked to put the pace on and try
to open up an early advantage over the likes of run specialist Lisa Tertsch
(GER). Erin McConell (IRL) was also moving well at the halfway point of the
first lap, Thorpe just a couple of seconds back with Hedgeland and Tertsch
likewise having a strong first lap just 11 seconds off the front.
Alden continued to carve through the
clear, calm waters out front across the second lap, Mathias sitting right on
her feet, Barbara De Koning (NED) looking to get into a position from which to
hang onto the front pack as they exited the water and came into transition.
Thorpe had dropped 20 seconds back of
the six-strong lead bunch that had formed with Emma Lombardi and Hedgeland both
straight on the power over the opening kilometres.
The New Zealander was in a chase
group with World Triathlon Cup Huatulco winner Alberte Kjaer Pedersen, their
sights soon set on McConell who couldn’t keep the rapid tempo ahead and dropped
off the lead five.
The chase packs soon merged and at
the end of the first of the six laps there was 35 seconds to Alden and co, who
were a full 18 seconds faster over the next lap to show just how well they had
organised themselves as they continued to pull away from the 16 chasers.
That pattern continued, so that by
the bell it was a significant 80-second advantage for the leaders and as
Mathias and Lombardi showed the way out of the second transition, it was 90
seconds to Kjaer and Lea Coninx (FRA) who had taken up the task of trying to
close the gap.
De Koning dropped back leaving the
trio of Hedgeland, Alden and Lombardi just off Mathias’ shoulder 2.5km into the
run, the quartet pulling back together over the second lap. Annika Koch,
Coninx, Kjaer and Tertsch were closing in on Koning and had also taken 15
seconds off the leaders.
The gap was down to 45 seconds with
5km to go, Tertsch dropping back but Kjaer, Koch and Coninx passing Koning and
getting into striking position.
It was Lombardi who then rolled the
dice, aware of what was happening behind her and wanting to take no risk of
getting caught. Very quickly she had significant daylight behind her, Hedgeland
and Mathias trying to keep in touch 13 seconds back at the bell as Alden
dropped out of contention.
Hedgeland then moved into second all
on her own but Kjaer and Koch were soon past Mathias and then had taken the
Australian too, running side-by-side in a battle for silver. It was the Dane
who was able to dig in for one final effort, a brilliant finish to continue her
strong season, Koch taking bronze.
Hedgeland hung in for fourth ahead of
Coninx, Mathias, Alden, Tertsch, Maria Tomé (POR) and Kate Waugh (GBR) rounding
out the top ten.
Full results are available here.
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 para triathlon 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.
MichaelPhelps 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. Learn more at https://tinyurl.com/v4nmne8h
No comments:
Post a Comment