Dodet edges Ueda at Tongyeong World Cup
On a sunny day on a scenic harbor side course with plenty of hills, Sandra Dodet of France saved her best for the final run to edge Ai Ueda of Japan by 3 seconds in the sprint distance Tongyeong World Cup.
After a tightly packed swim and run, the steep ascent on the run course helped sort out the contenders as Dodet, Ueda, Claire Michel of Belgium and Sophie Chase of the U.S. surged to create a gap on the rest of the 63-women field on the final lap of the 5 kilometer run.
Ueda, the defending champion who has been battling injury this season, made the first move to take the lead in the final meters. But Dodet, who had proven she had superior strength on the downhills, zoomed past and finished off a race-best 16:54 run split to finish in 57:11 with a 3 seconds margin of victory on Ueda and 8 seconds on 3rd place finisher Claire Michel of Belgium. Sophie Chase of the U.S. faded in the final meters to finish 4th in 57:33.
“The bike was aggressive and I knew I had to be very powerful on the run because of the hills and because of the strong girls,” Dodet told ITU Media. “I gave everything today.”
Ueda, who left the swim 35 seconds behind the leaders, unleashed a strong bike and run to take the silver medal. “Three months ago I was injured and to come back on the podium today, I am so happy,” said Ueda.
Michel was satisfied with her bronze medal performance. “I came here with a lot of specific goals that I wanted to execute,” she told ITU media. “I am happy with some things and some more progress to work on for [WTS] Miyazaki.”
Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, the 2012 Olympic Triathlon gold medalist and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, started her day 25 seconds behind after the swim but quickly zoomed to the head of the field on the three-lap bike leg. But Spirig lacked the run form to stay at the front and her 17:22 run split brought her home in 5th place, 5 seconds behind Sophie Chase.
Tongyeong World Cup
Tongyeong, South Korea
October 19. 2019
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Elite Women
1. Sandra Dodet FRA 57:11 S 8:41 T1 00:39 B 30:29 T2 00:26 R 16:54
2. Ai Ueda JPN 57:14 S 9:16 T1 00:39 B 29:53 T2 00:25 R 16:59
3. Claire Michel BEL 57:19 S 9:04 T1 00:41 B 30:10 T2 00:27 R 16:55
4. Sophie Chase USA 57:33 S 8:59 T1 00:46 B 30:04 T2 00:31 R 17:10
5. Nicola Spirig SUI 57:38 S 9:05 T1 00:42 B 29:58 T2 00:28 R 17:22
6. Anneke Jenkins NZL 57:39 S 9:06 T1 00:36 B 30:08 T2 00:24 R 17:23
7. Luisa Baptista BRA 57:41 S 8:50 T1 00:38 B 30:25 T2 00:26 R 17:19
8. Petra Kurikova CZE 57:43 S 9:02 T1 00:45 B 30:05 T2 00:25 R 17:23
9. Marlene Gomez-Islinger GER 57:45 S 9:02 T1 00:45 B 30:01 T2 00:31 R 17:22
10. Valerie Barthelmy BEL 57:46 S 8:28 T1 00:43 B 30:35 T2 00:28 R 17:29
