Spirig success in London
Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig powered her way to victory in the women’s Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series race.
Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig powered her way to victory in the women’s race with an impressive display of strength. Having exited the water behind the leaders, Spirig pulled herself into the front group on the bike as she pulled the chase pack up to the front of the race.
The original lead group of twelve had been lead by Annabel Luxford from Australia, however Spirig’s time trialling enabled her to make contact after 20km of riding swelling the group to 24. Despite attacks from New Zealand’s Rebecca Spence, the leaders stayed in close contention, with the host nation placing six athletes in the mix.
Jodie Stimpson lead the women through the first 5km of the run, pushing the pace and dropping respected names. As she fell back the main contenders came to the fore with reigning world champion Helen Jenkins in the thick of the action along with Debbie Tanner from New Zealand, Spirig, Liz May from Luxembourg and Sweden’s Lisa Norden.
Tanner was the first to succumb to the pace, falling off the pace with one lap of running to go, and May soon followed as Spirig pushed for the line. Having made the initial move Spirig then eased off before unleashing her sprint 400m from the finish. Norden responded but had to settle for second, the same result as in Madrid and Hamburg, with Jenkins holding on for third.
Spirig: “It’s been an absolutely amazing year for me, I don’t really know what to say, I am very very happy. I knew that Lisa Norden is a very good sprinter, and I didn’t know about Helen [Jenkins] so I tried to break away early but they were just too strong so I just had to wait until the finish and see. I guess I was fast enough!”
Jenkins: “I’m so pleased, especially in front of a home crowd. To get on the podium is brilliant! I was a bit worried about my sprint, and then I saw Liz May drop off the pace, and I thought ‘I have to keep this up and just try and hang on to Lisa [Norden] and Nicola [Spirig], but they’re such good finishers and they’ve been up there all year, so I’m just pleased to be so close to them.”
London Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women – Official Results
Gold – Nicola Spirig (SUI) 01:54:24
Silver – Lisa Norden (SWE) 01:54:26 +:02
Bronze – Helen Jenkins (GBR) 01:54:29 +:05
4th – Elizabeth May (LUX) 01:54:38 +:14
5th – Anja Dittmer (GER) 01:54:55 +:31
6th – Daniela Ryf (SUI) 01:54:57 +:33
7th – Ricarda Lisk (GER) 01:55:00 +:36
8th – Debbie Tanner (NZL) 01:55:05 +:41
9th – Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 01:55:07 +:43
10th – Sarah Groff (USA) 01:55:16 +:52
Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series
Official Rankings
1st – Emma Moffatt (AUS) 3,140 pts
2nd – Lisa Norden (SWE) 2,534
3rd – Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2,455
4th – Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2,374
5th – Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2,146
Despite her absence, Australia’s Emma Moffatt retained the lead of the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series. Norden moves into second place in the overall rankings with her silver medal performance with Andrea Hewitt from New Zealand slipping to third. Jenkins rises to fifth from tenth.
Photo: Delly Carr
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
