World Triathlon Championship Series
Cagliari must be a lucky one for British silver Olympic medallist Georgia
Taylor-Brown. After not being able to finish on the top positions in the first events
of the season, the Brit claimed the victory in Cagliari in style, making it two
out of two for her in the Italian beach town. Along with her on the podium was
Frenchwoman Emma Lombardi, also second in Cagliari in 2022, while the bronze
medal was for USA’s Taylor Spivey, who claimed the Series leadership with her
performance this Saturday.
The swim in Cagliari is always a
challenging one, with undulating terrain as soon as the athletes touch the
water, and it proved to be decisive for some athletes, especially the ones that
choose the right side of the beach for the start. By the time the pack hit the
beach after the first loop, Vittoria Lopes (BRA) and Summer Rappaport (USA) had
elongated the field substantially, and while some of the favourites for the
race were still trying to hang on with the leaders, Rio 2016 Olympic champion
Gwen Jorgensen (USA) was struggling at the back.
At the end of the 1500 swim, it was
still Rappaport leading the group, taking with her Lopes, Emma Lombardi (FRA),
Maya Kingma (NED), Taylor Spivey (USA) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR). Behind
them, the long line of athletes heading to the transition included the likes of
Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA), Beth Potter (GBR), Katie Zaferes (USA) or Rosa Maria
Tapia Vidal (MEX), but neither of them was able to make it to the front group,
and on the chase they went.
The first lap of the 10 planned for
the bike course in Cagliari was just to get the front group of six athletes
organised, and what started on a 18 seconds difference with the chasers evolved
into a solid lead, with Kingma, Spivey, Rappaport, Lombardi, Lopes and
Taylor-Brown taking turns up front. Behind them, it was Natalie Van Coevorden
(AUS), Zsanett Bragmayer (HUN) and Katie Zaferes leading the chase, but it was
not easy to get a large group to work together on this technical course, so the
difference keep growing while the likes of Beaugrand and Tapia Vidal sit on the
back of the chase group, trying to save some legs for the 10k run.
The pace on the front group was
brutal, though, enough to lap athletes from the 5th lap of the race, including
Jorgensen, Leonie Periault (FRA) or two times Junior world champion Tilda
Mansson (SWE). By the time the leading six hit the second transition, they had
1 minute and 22 seconds lead over the chasers, and the game was on from the
first seconds they had their running shoes on.
Right after transition, Taylor-Brown
decided to go for it and only Lombardi was able to follow her. They quickly
dropped Summer Rappaport, who stayed in third place, and Spivey in fourth, but
behind them the path was also frantic. Half way through the 10k run,
Taylor-Brown and Lombardi were still shoulder to shoulder, but behind them
Rappaport faded and was caught first by Spivey, then by Cassandre Beaugrand and
Jeanne Lehair (LUX), both of them flying with the eyes set on the podium
places.
Beth Potter was also flying on the
run, while behind her Zaferes, Verena Steinhauer (ITA), Nina Eim (GER) and Lisa
Tertsch (GER) stayed on pace moving up through the ranks.
After almost 10k running together, it
was with only 300m to go when Taylor-Brown took the decisive move and dropped
Lombardi to claim her first victory of the season crossing the finish line solo
and in tears. With her win in Cagliari Team GB gets a full strike on the first
three races of the season, with Potter claiming gold in Abu Dhabi, Sophie
Coldwell in Yokohama and now Taylor-Brown in Cagliari.
“It is a massive relief to be back on
the podium. It is nice to be back”, said Taylor-Brown. “Since Au Dhabi, where I
had a terrible swim, I have been focusing on my swim. In Yokohama I gave
everything that I had but I still didn’t make the front pack, so this time I
was extra focused and extra determined to be up there on the first lap. I was
quite shocked after Yokohama, I am so used to be on the front pack on the swim
that it was shocking missing that the first races this year, but I am so happy
to be back. And then the run with Emma was just great, she is a fantastic
athlete, we were on a similar position next year and she is so nice and we kept
pushing each other, so it was great”, she explained.
Behind Georgia on the finish line was
Lombardi, repeating the same spot she got in Cagliari last year, and also by
finishing in the top five places securing a spot on the Paris Test Event this
summer. “I am beyond happy, it feels so great to be back on the podium, as I
was here also in Cagliari last year”, said Lombardi. “Last year it was amazing,
and this one did not dissapoint. We did a great job today the six on us on the bike,
we all did our part, and hen I tried to follow Georgia as much as possible but
in the last lap it was a bit too much”.
The bronze medal on the day was for
Taylor Spivey, a bronze that also puts her on the Series leadership after her
third place in Abu Dhabi and a fourth in Yokohama. “I had a feeling Cassandre
was coming for me during the last kilometers of the run, so I had to dig deep.
For a moment I thought I couldn’t hold her off but I didn’t want to finish in
fourth place again. I don’t know how I made it, I had COVID right after
Yokohama and I didn’t know where I was, but is really special to finish as I
did today and be on this position”, she said.
Beaugrand finished in the fourth
place, with Lehair claiming a career-best 5th place and Potter behind her in
6th. Rappaport, Tertsch, Eim, Tapia Vidal, Steinhauser and Zaferes closed the
top 12 on the day.
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