Riveros Diaz in Lausanne
Barbara Riveros Diaz stormed past Emma Jackson with 200 meters to go to take the win at the ITU Sprint World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. The always consistent Andrea Hewitt finished third.
Brit swim ace Lucy Hall led the Pro women out of the water, followed closely by London WCS winner Helen Jenkins. The two Brits had almost 30 seconds on the rest of the field and on such a short course that is a nice advantage.
Jenkins pushed the pace hard on the bike and managed to stay away for half of the big segment. Just as the big pack behind her started to catch Jenkins, a second pack driven by Nicola Spirig latched on to the end of the first pack and that now meant a big field was cruising towards T2.
Jenkins again went to the front of the run and only Ashleigh Gentle, Emma Jackson, Andrea Hewitt and Barbara Riveros Diaz could match her pace. 20-year old Aussie Gentle then moved to the front and set the pace for a good part of the 5k run. Jackson then took over as Gentle started to drop off the pace and for a while it seemed that only Jenkins was in a position to hang on. But with about 500 meters to go, Riveros Diaz ran past Hewitt and then Jenkins to be in second position and moved closer and closer to Jackson. The U23 World Champion from 2010 tried her best to keep Riveros Diaz at bay, but in the end the Chilean proved to be stronger. Riveros Diaz took the win in 58:35 with Jackson right on her shoulder taking second place. Hewitt passed Jenkins for third place, but Jenkins moved into the lead of the series.
Defending champion Lisa Norden finished 8th.
Lausanne ITU Sprint Championships
Lausanne, Switzerland / August 20, 2011
Top women
1. Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) 58:35
2. Emma Jackson (AUS) 58:35
3. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 58:37
4. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 58:40
5. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 58:42
6. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 59:02
7. Sarah Groff (USA) 59:06
8. Lisa Norden (SWE) 59:07
9. Emmie Charayron (FRA) 59:09
10. Felicity Abram (AUS) 59:11
ITU World Championship ranking
1. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2913
2. Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) 2712
3. Paula Findlay (CAN) 2637
4. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2636
5. Emma Jackson (AUS) 2251
6. Sarah Groff (USA) 2188
7. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2061
8. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1802
9. Laura Bennett (USA) 1681
10. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1669
