Hewitt wins GF, Jenkins takes WCS
After two years of Aussie women's domination of both the ITU World Championship Series yearlong points chase and the series wrapup Grand Final event, all three Emmas and three other contenders in the green and gold were shut out Sunday in the 2011 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Grand Final Sunday in Beijing.
In the absence of the usually dominant Aussies, Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand stepped up to the plate and blazed to a race-best 34:52 run to take the Grand Final by 14 seconds over Great Britain's Helen Jenkins. Lending luster to Hewitt's victory, her 1:58:26 finish time precisely matched the dominating 2008 Olympic gold medal winning time of Emma Snowsill.
Jenkins, meanwhile, could console herself with the World Championship Series title for the year – earned with the best 4 performances of 6 races in the WCS – a win at London and runner-up finishes at Madrid, Kitzbuhel and Beijing.
With her victory, Hewitt took second place in the yearlong World Championship Series chase – best ever for a New Zealand woman in the WCS's three year history.
While the configuration for the ITU World Championship changed from a single day event to a yearlong series in 2009, the Jenkins' ITU World title was her second, following her win at the 2008 ITU World Championship in Vancouver in a duel with American Sarah Haskins.
In this wide open race in Beijing, Americans distinguished themselves as Laura Bennett placed 5th in the single day Grand Final and Sarah Groff placed 10th – taking bronze for the WCS yearlong series points chase. In 2011, Groff thus became the first American to make the podium at a WCS race, taking third at Kitzbuhel, as well as the first American woman to finish the WCS season with a medal – bronze.
Melanie Anaheim of Switzerland took outsprinted Lisa Norden by 2 seconds and Laura Bennett by 4 seconds to take third, 18 seconds behind Jenkins. A week after her $151,500 victory at the non-drafting Hy-Vee 5150 event, Sweden's s Lisa Norden took 4th place.
Interestingly, while Australia's Emma Moffatt, Emma Jackson and Felicity Abram finished 11th, 12th and 13th – they ran the three fastest 10ks in the field, 34:48, 34:50 and 34:48 respectively. Three-time ITU World Champion ands 2008 Olympic champion Emma Snowsill ran 35:24 to take 17th place. While Moffatt was right in line with the fastest swimmers with her 19:22 split, all three Aussies lost it on the bike with splits that gave up two minutes to top cyclists Hewitt, Jenkins, Annaheim and six others who placed in the race's top 10 overall.
Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series Grand Final
Beijing, China
September 11, 2011
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Elite Women Results
1. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:58:26
2. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 1:58:40
3. Melanie Annaheim (SUI) 1:58:58
4. Lisa Norden (SWE) 1:59:00
5. Laura Bennett (USA) 1:59:02
6. Kate McIlroy (NZL) 1:59:04
7. Jessica Harrison (FRA) 1:59:09
8. Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:00:11
9. Flora Duffy (BER) 2:00:24
10. Sarah Groff (2:00:37
11. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2:00:42
12. Emma Jackson (AUS) 2:00:43
13. Felicity Abram (AUS) 2:00:48
17. Emma Snowsill (AUS) 2:01:23
20. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 2:01:40
44. Barbara Riveros-Diaz (CHI) 2:05:16
55. Jillian Peterson (USA) 2:07:38
