Helen Jenkins places fourth in New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup

Britain’s Helen Jenkins took fourth place at the New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup in New Zealand last weekend, her first race since the London 2012 Olympics.

Despite a two-year absence from the sport due to injury, Jenkins covered the sprint distance course in under an hour (57:54mins), saying afterwards that the result was better than she had expected. Her next race will be the opening round of the ITU World Triathlon Series in Auckland on 6 April.

Katie Hursey (USA) secured the win in 57:27mins for her third ITU World Cup victory in a career that covers just 12 races. Home favourite Andrea Hewitt (NZL) outsprinted Britain’s Jodie Stimpson to silver. Other British women to finish included Vicky Holland (17th) and Lucy Hall (25th).

The men’s race was dominated by Iberians, with Spain’s Mario Mola narrowly beating compatriot (and reigning ITU world champ) Javier Gomez with a time of 52:30mins, while João Silva (POR) took bronze. Top-placing British male was Matt Sharp (12th).

Women’s results

1.

Katie Hursey

USA

00:57:27

2.

Andrea Hewitt

NZL

00:57:38

3.

Jodie Stimpson

GBR

00:57:39

4.

Helen Jenkins

GBR

00:57:54

5.

Kirsten Sweetland

CAN

00:58:02

6.

Nicky Samuels

NZL

00:58:17

7.

Sarah Groff

USA

00:58:33

8.

Pamela Oliveira

BRA

00:58:40

9.

Paula Findlay

CAN

00:58:44

10.

Yuka Sato

JPN

00:58:55

Array

Men’s results

1.

Mario Mola

ESP

00:52:30

2.

Javier Gomez

ESP

00:52:33

3.

Joao Silva

POR

00:52:56

4.

Fernando Alarza

ESP

00:53:03

5.

Brendan Sexton

AUS

00:53:08

6.

Ryan Sissons

NZL

00:53:10

7.

David Hauss

FRA

00:53:11

8.

Kyle Jones

CAN

00:53:13

9.

Dan Wilson

AUS

00:53:22

10.

Laurent Vidal

FRA

00:53:26

Array

(Main image: Scott Taylor/ITU)