Jorgensen dominates Yokohama
Jorgensen capped off her 4th World Triathlon Series career victory with a typical race-best run split of 33:43 which brought her to the finish in 1:58:38 with a 36 seconds margin of victory over home country favorite Ai Ueda of Japan and 46 seconds over 3rd place finisher Agnieszka Jerzyk of Poland. Ueda’s silver and Jerzyk’s bronze were WTS podium breakthroughs for both women.
Jorgensen defended her title on the Yokohama course and was pleased after her error-free race. "I just love Japan, I don’t know why," said Jorgensen. "Three years ago I came here and had the 12th fastest run or something [and finished 22nd]. It is really hard to win two races in a row on the same course."
After suffering bad transitions and bike legs at the WTS season opener at Auckland where she finished 12th and at Cape Town, where her sizzling race–best 32:46 10k run only brought her to 3rd, Jorgensen stuck like glue to the front from start to T2.
"I know that if I give my competition an inch, they will take a mile so the bike is something I have really been focusing on," said Jorgensen. "I was fortunate today with a long run to transition so I think that helped as well."
Jorgensen said she was also inspired by the top ITU men and their overall mastery grasp of the game. 'I have really been working on the swim and the bike,' said Jorgensen. 'I know that I have to be a complete triathlete. I look at some of my peers on the men’s side. They execute on the swim bike and run and that is what I want to do as well."
At the end of the swim and transition, Jorgensen was 3rd just 4 seconds back of Lucy Hall of Great Britain and one second ahead of Hall’s countrywoman Jodie Stimpson, who won the first two WTS races this year.
Throughout a sticky bike leg which thwarted every attempt at a break, the lead pack ended with 43 women within 11 seconds. Jorgensen ran into T2 tied for the lead and started the run just behind Japanese heroine Ai Ueda and fellow countrywomen Mariko Adachi and Yuka Sato.
Stimpson, who seemed to be riding along smoothly all the way through the bike, tripped and fell in T2, breaking off her derailleur and cutting her foot (which required post-race stitches) while dropping 14 seconds behind the leaders and starting the run in 31st position.
After the first of four laps of the run, Stimpson pushed hard to surge to 6th place, 7 seconds behind a tightly packed quintet led by Ueda, followed closely by Jorgensen, Sato, Claire Michel of Belgium and Adachi.
However hot she was going into this race and however brave Stimpson was in her charge back toward the front after 2.5 kilometers, the 2013 WTS runner-up and 2014 WTS points leader coming into this race, was out of fuel and fell slowly back to 9th by the finish. Still, Stimpson’s 9th place finish was enough to maintain her lead in the WTS Threadneedle rankings with 2029 points. Jorgensen is 2nd with 1824 points and Helen Jenkins, who did not race at Yokohama, holds 3rd with 1425 points. Non Stanford, who won the 2013 WTS title, is still recovering from injury and did not race.
Ueda, whose best previous WTS finish was 13th at the 2013 Grand Final in London and who has won World Cups at Ishigaki in 2011 and Huatulco in 2010, charged into the lead on the first lap of the run and after the Jorgensen Express rolled by on lap 2, held on for the runner-up spot with a second-best 34:22 run.
“This is the first podium and I am so happy here in my home town,” said Ueda. “My swim was not very good. On the bike I was expecting some help from my team mates but I had to work hard on my own. Bridging the gap to the leaders on the bike was my ultimate goal – if I was not on the first pack alongside the strong runners, I would not be on the podium.”
Ueda was the second Japanese woman after Jure Ide to podium at Yokohama.
Jerzyk, the 2011 ITU Under 23 World Champion whose previous best WTS races include a 6th at Hamburg in 2013 and 8th at the tough climb at Kitzbühel, started the run in 36th position – but only 7 seconds down on the leaders. Jerzyk hammered up to 4th then passed Yuka Sato of Japan for the final spot on the podium on the third lap as she closed out her race with a 3rd-fastest 34:26 run.
“I am surprised and very happy because this is my first [WTS] podium,” said Jerzyk. “I have to change my stance about my swimming because it has not been so perfect. [her 20:38 swim split was 1 minute 37 seconds behind Jorgensen but she made up for it with a stellar, 3rd-fastest 1:02:49 bike split]. But today I changed my thinking because I am on the podium and I know I can fight at the Olympic distance.”
Yokohama World Triathlon Series
Yokohama, Japan
May 17, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Women
1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1:58:38
2. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1:59:14
3. Agnieszka Jerzyk (POL) 1:59:24
4. Yuka Sato (JPN) 1:59:43
5. Alice Betto (ITA) 1:59:58
6. Claire Michel (BEL) 1:59:59
7. Sarah-Anne Brault (CAN) 2:00:03
8. Mariko Adachi (JPN) 2:00:06
9. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 2:00:15
10. Gillian Sanders (RSA) 2:00:20
18. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 2:01:08
