Olympic and World Champion Flora Duffy arrived this week in Abu Dhabi not knowing what to expect. After a few weeks of celebrating at home her Olympic success, it was time now to change her mindset and get back into racing mood, but it was just a matter of seconds that Duffy found out that she is back in form and ready for another season. The Bermudian crossed the finish line in first place at the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series Abu Dhabi, followed close by Georgia Taylor-Brown while another British woman, Sophie Coldwell, claimed the bronze medal at the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series Abu Dhabi.
it must have been weird for the likes
of Duffy, Taylor-Brown, Jessica Learmonth (GBR), Taylor Spivey (USA) or Taylor
Knibb (USA) to hear their names so far back during the athletes introductions,
but with all of them missing the first WTCS race of the season in Hamburg and
wearing bibs above #30, it was not such a bad deal to have all of them together
in the middle of the pontoon for the 750m swim to start the race.
The British team, with eight
extremely great swimmers lining up in Abu Dhabi, was decided to prove that they
all can be medal contenders at the Series, and Learmonth and Coldwell quickly
took the lead of the swimming pack, with Summer Rappaport (USA), Spivey,
Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) and Flora Duffy not losing their feet.
Learmonth, Coldwell and Rappaport
were the first ones out of the clear waters of the Yas Marina, followed closely
by Yuko Takahashi (JPN), Djenyfer Arnold (BRA) Sara Perez Sala (ESP) and Lucy
Charles Barclay (GBR). But Lucy had a slow transition, which allowed Duffy and
Knibb to catch up with the leaders, and even before they hit the Formula 1
track the four Brits -Learmonth, Taylor-Brown. Coldwell and Charles Barclay-
were just on a mission to break away, only followed by Duffy and Knibb.
A group of six is just the perfect
size for a bike circuit like the one in Abu Dhabi, and so they went on, but
Charles Barclay was just not able to keep up with the grit and determination of
Knibb, and was left to ride solo for four of the five laps. The American, one
of the strongest bikers of the circuit, took the lead and the other four just
tried to save some legs for the run, knowing that the heat will pay its toll on
them.
Behind them the chasers formed a
large group that make it extremely complicated for them to progress, with the
group stretching in the technical sections and charging hard in the wider parts
of the circuit, but when they all arrived to the second transition the five
leaders had almost one minute and a half over the chasers.
And it was Duffy the one deciding to
go hard from the beginning of the run, while Knibb quickly faded behind the
three British athletes, her legs tired after the bike effort, while Coldwell
and Learmonth were battling to stay close to Duffy and Taylor-Brown. The Tokyo
2020 silver medallist looked fresh when passing through transition for the
final lap, and decided to give it a try and close the gap with Duffy, but the
Bermudian showed her class not allowing her to go in front. In the last
downhill of the circuit, the Olympic champion made the final push and never
looked back. Not until she crossed the grabbed the tape to win for the first
time in Abu Dhabi, her Series victory number 12 of her career, to round up an
incredible 2021 that couldn’t have finished better for her.
“It was really hard out there. Coming
into this race I didn’t know what to expect, I had a very busy four past weeks,
my whole world flipped upside down after Tokyo. Today I really had to fight for
it, I used all my skills, experience and tactics to win today. I knew Georgia
would come, she is such a classy runner. I knew that I am good on downhills so
I tried to break her confidence on the downhill. The last 800m I just went as
hard as I could and it paid off”, she said after her victory.
Taylor-Brown was the one grabbing the
silver medal in her only appearance on the World Triathlon Championship Series
this year. “I found my legs again in the second lap and went for it, but to be
honest I did not have my best legs today. I didn’t know what shape I was in. I
came for a top ten today, so I surprised myself, I am really happy”, she
explained. An extremely happy Coldwell claimed the bronze, the second WTCS
podium of her career after her third place in Leeds 2021. “I have waited for so
long to podium at the Championship Series and now two in a row is just perfect,
I am so happy”, she said.
Fourth at the finish was Learmonth,
while Taylor Knibb closed the top five. The new Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon
Championship Series Rankings leader is Summer Rappaport (USA), leading the
rankings with 1143 points.
Results: Elite Women
1.Flora Duffy BER 00:55:41
2.Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR 00:55:53
3.Sophie Coldwell GBR 00:56:11
4.Jessica Learmonth GBR 00:56:27
5.Taylor Knibb USA 00:56:35
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.
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