Non Stanford wins London Grand Final and WTS title
On a dark, misty, cold day full of drama, Non Stanford of Great Britain survived a 15-second penalty for throwing her wetsuit outside her designated equipment box to win the World Triathlon Series Grand Final in London and the season long points world championship.
"Being the World Champion, it’s crazy, it hasn’t really sunk in yet," said Stanford. "I’m just trying to take it my stride, but when I get 5 minutes to reflect on it I will probably get quite emotional. I just can’t believe it to be honest. All the hard work over the last year and it’s paid off."
Stanford's way to the season long World title was cleared in shocking early race developments as close series rivals Gwen Jorgensen of the U.S. and Anne Haug of Germany met with competitive disaster. The top 3 women had been separated by only 13 points going into this race
Haug got hit on the first buoy of the swim, knocked under and swallowed water thus needing to tread water and do the breast stroke to recover her senses. When the swim was over, Haug was dead last and over 3 minutes down and out of contention no matter how hard she biked. As one of the best cyclists on the WTS circuit, Haug had hopes and fellow German Anja Knapp waited to work with her, but at best Haug could only manage to stay even with the leading pack.
Jorgensen, after a great swim that should have left her in position to use her dominant run to win, crashed hard on the second lap of the bike leg. Although she got up quickly, her bike was badly damaged and she was unable to keep the pace and had to drop out. The disappointment was Jorgensen's second straight on the Hyde Park course as she met a similar fate 13 months ago at the London Olympics. Adding to her trauma, Jorgensen had been the second woman after Paula Findlay of Canada to have won 3 of the elite World Triathlon'/World Championship Series races in one year.
"I prepared to win today’s race and was disappointed to not be able to finish. The fall happened so quickly that I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, I must have made a small error that in the rain turns into a big mistake. I am absolutely gutted – I came to London to win," said Jorgensen. "I’ll leave London even more motivated, and am very much looking forward to what next year holds."
As her two rivals dropped out of contention, Stanford still had to focus hard. Fellow British triathlete Jodie Stimpson was nearby in the lead pack of 24 riders — and Stimpson was close enough in points to win the season points championship if she won the race and Stanford finished no better than 3rd. Making Stanford's task harder, she incurred a 15-seconds penalty for throwing her wetsuit outside her personal equipment box at the first transition – a penalty she would serve on the final lap of the run.
As the riders kept a conservative pace on the wet, slippery corners, no one tried a breakaway and Stanford and Stimpson led a large pack of women into T2 with Sarah Groff of the U.S. trailing close behind.
While Stimpson fumble a bit in T2, Stanford started the run like rocket — showing the form of her sub-33 minute run at the Auckland round of the WTS early in the year. Groff was second while Stimpson, Aileen Reid of Ireland, Emma Moffatt of Australia, Alice Betto of Italy and Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand chased hard to close a growing 30 meter gap.
Knowing she had to serve a 15-second penalty, Stanford unleashed what turned out to be a race-best 33:12 run that would indeed have broken the 33-minute mark if not for the 15-second penalty for sloppy T1 housekeeping. Any drama that lingered was erased as Stanford burst out of the penalty box with a mile to go with 10-plus seconds in hand over Groff who was fading at the end of her time in the runner-up slot.
Stanford broke the tape in 2:01:32 and thus became the first woman to win a senior elite World Triathlon Series victory the year after she won an Under 23 gold.
As Groff dropped to 7th place at the line, Emma Moffatt went by her into second. But at the finish chute, Ireland's Aileen Reid sprinted past to take the silver — 25 seconds behind Britain's new World Championship home town hero and 3 seconds ahead of Moffatt, who was coming off a $100,00 victory at the Hy-Vee Triathlon two weeks prior.
Fellow Brit Jodie Stimpson closed fast to take 4th place in the Grand Final, 6 seconds behind Moffatt and 3 seconds ahead of 5th place Alice Betto of Italy. Stimpson's finish vaulted her to 2nd place and a silver medal in the season-long WTS points chase.
Anne Haug, by soldiering through to the finish in 35th place – took 3rd place on the WTS points chase, 77 points ahead of Jorgensen, who fell from 1st to 4th due to her unfortunate crash. Before her crash, Jorgensen was the odds on favorite to be the first American woman since Sheila Taormina in 2004 to win an ITU Olympic distance World Championship gold.
ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final
London, England
September 14, 2013
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Women
1. Non Stanford (GBR) 2:01:32
2. Aileen Reid (IRL) 2:01:57
3. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2:02:00
4. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 2:02:06
5. Alice Betto (ITA) 2:02:09
6. Emma Jackson (AUS) 2:02:11
7. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:02:16
8. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:02:56
9. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 2:03:06
10. Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 2:03:26
35. Anne Haug (GER) 2:06:28
DNF Gwen Jorgensen (USA)
World Triathlon Series Elite Women Final Rankings
1. Non Stanford (GBR) 4220 points
2. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 3805
3. Anne Haug (GER) 3110
4. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 3033
5. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 3004
6. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2906
7. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 2720
8. Aileen Reid (IRL) 2681
9. Sarah Groff (USA) 2295
10. Alice Betto (ITA) 2270
