Hewitt out sprints Norden
Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand out sprinted Lisa Norden of Sweden and Jessica Harrison of France to win the second round of the ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series in Madrid, Spain Sunday.
Hewitt, the 2005 ITU Under 23 World Champion, edged Norden, the 2007 Under 23 World Champion, in a nerve-wracking dash in the finishing chute as both recorded the same finishing time of 2:05:57 on a hot, windless day in Madrid Spain. Harrison, the British-born French citizen, was just a second behind for third. Christiane Pilz of Germany was 4th, four seconds back while the USA’s Sarah Haskins was six seconds back in 5th.
Hewitt came strong Sunday after a crash on the bike in Tongyeong left her a disappointing 39th at the ITU World Championship Series Round 1 last month.
Aussie Annabel Luxford, American Sarahs Gross and Haskins and Japanese competitors Mariko Adachi and Juri Ide led out of the water in a virtual blanket at 19:36. Luxford and Haskins made a first, brief break on the first two loops of the bike over the 8-loop course with a challenging 80-meter climb in Madrid's Caso de Campo Park. Then strong young cyclists Lisa Norden of Sweden (18th at Beijing Olympics) and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland (7th at Olympics), aided by the aggressive riding of Vanessa Raw of Great Britain, led a surge that dropped reigning world titlist Helen Jenkins of Great Britain and Jure Ide of Japan, who had a third place at Round One in Tongyeong.
The lead pack of 13 also dropped Samantha Warriner of New Zealand, who won last year’s ITU World Cup points series and took third at the 2008 ITU World Championship in Vancouver. When the lead pack hit T2, they had carved out a 1:37 lead over the chasers.
On the run, Warriner fought back fiercely with a race-best 35:03 10km. While her run was 45 seconds faster than any other woman, Warriner could only rise from 14th off the bike to 7th at the line.
On the front pack run, Norden and Hewitt took the lead, but were pushed hard by Haskins, Harrison and Pilz so the group of five dropped Swiss stars, 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Magali di Marco Messmer and Ryf.
Norden broke into a slight lead with a few hundred meters to go, but Hewitt regrouped and edged out her rival by a few inches at the line in a finish reminiscent of fellow Kiwi Bevan Docherty’s finish line heroics over Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt at Tongyeong.
ITU officials held up official confirmation of the winner until they consulted photographic evidence.
“I’ve never been in a photo finish before,” Hewitt told ITU Media. “We paced off each other the whole run. The Kiwis have had a great start to the season.”
Norden, who missed the start of the season with injury, was pleased with her progress. ”I was feeling really good on the last lap and tried to give energy for a sprint,” she told ITU media, “but Andrea came up really fast on the inside.”
Five-time Madrid ITU World Cup winner Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 20-time ITU World Cup winner, was a late scratch due to a recent broken collarbone. Emma Snowsill of Australia, the 2008 Olympic Champion and 3-time ITU World Champion, who won the 2009 ITU World Championship Series Round 1 in Tongyeong, South Korea, passed up this race to focus on Round 3 next month in Washington D.C.
After two of eight races, Magali di Marco Messmer of Switzerland leads the ITU World Championship Series rankings with 1043 points after a seventh at Tongyeong and a sixth at Madrid. Jessica Harrison of France is second with 1024 points and Emma Moffat of Australia is third with 1018. In a peculiar aspect of the ITU World Championship series scoring, Moffat was given credit for her early season second place finish at the Mooloolaba World Cup – not a World Championship Series race.
2009 ITU World Championship Series 2
Madrid, Spain
May 31, 2009
S 1.5k/ B 40k/ R 10k
Results
Women
1. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:05:58
2. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:05:58
3. Jessica Harrison (FRA) 2:05:59
4. Christiane Pilz (GER) 2:06:02
5. Sarah Haskins (USA) 2:06:04
6. Magali di Marco Messmer (SUI) 2:06:18
7. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 2:06:45
8. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:06:52
9. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:07:25
10. Ai Ueda (JPN) 2:07:31
16. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2:08:36
17. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 2:08:54
35. Jure Ide (JPN) 2:18:06
