Findlay does it again Kitzbühel
Paula Findlay followed up her win in London with another victory at the ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series triathlon in Kitzbühel, Austria and thus became the first woman in 2010 to take to wins in the series.
Sara McLarty and Laura Bennett pushed the pace during the swim and eventually managed to create a small gap. When the two Americans reached the first transition they had 17 seconds on a good sized group led by Claudia Rivas.
A lead group of 22 women developed very early in the bike segment and managed to steadily pull away from all other pursuers. Noticeably absent from the front group were Nicola Spirig and Emma Snowsill, and while the Aussie eventually dropped out with mechanical problems, Spirig and company saw the lead of the front bunch balloon up to 1:45 by the time they hit T2.
Once out of transition, 5 women managed to leave the others behind, and with Emma Moffatt, Andrea Hewitt, Paula Findlay, Lisa Norden and Helen Jenkins making up this lead bunch, an exciting finale was expected. Moffatt and Jenkins were first to fall victim to the pace set by Hewitt, who looked like she was trying to decide things early. But Norden and Findlay never appeared to be in trouble and with about 1k left to go it was actually Hewitt who looked like the elastic was going to snap. With 800 meters to go it was down to Norden and Findlay and with 200 meters left, Findlay got the better of Norden to capture her second win in as many attempts. Norden held on to second and Hewitt finished third.
"I didn't think I was gonna win," said Findlay. "It'll give me confidence going into the Finals in Budapest."
With Emma Moffatt finishing 5th and Andrea Hewitt not finishing better than third Moffatt will be the Series leader going into the finals in Budapest, Hungary in 4 weeks.
ITU Dextro Energy WCS Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel, Austria / August 15, 2010
Top 10 women
1. Paula Findlay (CAN) 2:03:03
2. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:03:06
3. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:03:10
4. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2:04:06
5. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2:04:19
6. Kate Roberts (RSA) 2:04:41
7. Debbie Tanner (NZL) 2:04:43
8. Laura Bennett (USA) 2:04:51
9. Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 2:04:52
10. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:04:55
Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Rankings
(after race 6 of 7)
1. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2696
2. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2644
3. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2440
4. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2432
5. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 2386
