Flora Duffy became the only woman
ever to win four World Triathlon titles on Friday afternoon in Abu Dhabi, with
yet another display to utterly underline her position as the greatest woman
that the sport has ever seen.
Shrugging off the soaring
temperatures, Bermuda’s Olympic hero was again able to produce the goods when
it mattered most, navigating plenty of drama on the 40km bike and then easing
away from the only woman who could stop her date with destiny, Georgia
Taylor-Brown. Gold secured Duffy the title, the race and Series silver went to
Taylor-Brown, an excellent first podium for Lena Meissner in third. Another
eventful fourth place finish for Taylor Knibb after coming off on the bike
secured her the Series bronze.
“I’m really, really proud of this
one,” said a beaming Duffy afterwards. “It was a difficult start to the year
for me coming out of the Olympics and Covid and everything and it took a lot of
work to get my mind back into it so I’m thrilled. I smiled a few times when it
was just me and Georgia… I feel like she brings me to another level. We don’t
really give each other an inch and I just wanted to stay safe because it’s
super hot out there. When I got a little bit of a gap on the third lap of the
run it was a little sooner than I anticipated but I thought; ‘well, gotta go
now!’
Knibb and Duffy spearhead swim
With temperatures hitting 33 degrees
and shade at a premium out on the course, the yellow hats of the top-ranked
athletes filed in and on to the right of the pontoon on the edge of Yas Bay.
Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown didn’t get the best of starts in the
water, but were soon digging in to hit the first buoy without any trouble
Taylor Knibb on the front.
It was the American out first at the
turn with Duffy on her feet from Beth Potter, Vittoria Lopes and Taylor-Brown
out in fifth, and that was largely how it stayed for the second 750m lap,
Summer Rappaport working her way to the front as the six came up and into
transition.
German duo Laura Lindemann and Lisa
Tertsch and Netherlands’ Maya Kingma were right there too, but Duffy was slick
through transition and away on the 40km first, Taylor-Brown and Potter in hot
pursuit, Knibb losing some ground on the six chasing the Bermudian.
9-Deep bike pack leads
It wouldn’t take long for Knibb to
catch on, Germany’s Lena Meissner too, and behind the front nine, Taylor Spivey
and Kirsten Kasper were riding together 23 seconds back, Cassandre Beaugrand
fronting another 11 athletes giving chase but now 54 seconds off the leaders
after three laps of nine.
Up front, Knibb was prodding and
probing, looking to work an opening from wide positions so the Series leaders
and championship chasers had to keep fully alert for any sign of an American
charge as well as for the tight and technical corners.
Duffy then started to test those
around her, a mini-break not sticking, the leaders stretching out then coming
together repeatedly, though Lindemann fell off the pace to join those behind,
now including Tertsch after the German came off but 90 seconds back after five
laps.
Duffy, Knibb and Taylor-Brown
continued to share duties out front, Potter having issues on lap six and next
to fall off the leaders and start to ride alone, 20 seconds back.
Knibb fall halts progress
More drama at the end of lap seven
saw Knibb’s wheel slide out taking Kingma with her, Lopes and Meissner just
able to avoid trouble and stay with Duffy and Taylor-Brown up ahead. Knibb wrestled
with her chain for what felt like an eternity but still managed to ride back up
to Kingma at the bell, but there was now suddenly just four main contenders for
the medals.
With the bikes racked, there was no
surprise to see the two title-chasers heading out together once more and the
best in the world ran together for two laps, the title and an epic season
coming right down to a 5km foot race to the line.
Duffy books date with triathlon
destiny
It was coming out onto lap three that
Duffy asked the big question, and as she accelerated up the small hill and back
out into the heart of the course, it quickly became clear that Taylor-Brown had
no answer. Soon the Bermudian was out of sight, looking undaunted by the heat,
fully focussed on the fourth title she slowly realised was hers.
Taylor-Brown finished with the silver
at the end of an exhausting campaign, Meissner with a gutsy first ever WTCS
podium ahead of Knibb. Leonie Periault (FRA) ran her way into fifth, Lopes hung
on for an excellent sixth ahead of Spivey, Emma Lombardi (FRA), Miriam Casillas
Garcia (ESP) and Cassandre Beaugrand rounding out the top 10.
“I gave it everything I had today,”
said Georgia Taylor-Brown. “It’s been a hard few months and I’ve tried to
forget about it all but i’m really proud of myself out there today and giving
it everything and doing all I could. We were battling it out to the end and I
wouldn’t have it any other way, and I don’t think she would. I’m still learning
in every race and I still want that world title one day.”
“I can’t believe that, I need a few
days to let it sink in,” said a thrilled Meissner. “It was tough but I got here
10 days ago and had good heat prep and there was lots of water and ice out
there. I just tried to stay calm and confident and it just worked perfectly for
me today.”
“I’m pretty shocked, there were a lot
of ups and downs in the season and today,” said Knibb. “The corner was entirely
my fault, I wasn’t full processing things at that point, it was a bit of user
error and I’m sorry to Maya and Vittoria and Lena behind me for that. Hopefully
I will be back here in March to go again.”
Full results, click here. https://triathlon.org/results/result/2022_world_triathlon_championship_finals_abu_dhabi/560517?mc_cid=3e47656f6c&mc_eid=6139649918
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
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transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
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