It was double trouble for Australia in Mooloolaba on Saturday, with Emma Jackson both adding their names to the winners list at the long-running ITU World Cup event. In addition, Australian athletes picked up four of the six podium places on offer in a strong showing at home.
Women's Race Review
Australia’s Emma Jackson (http://www.triathlon.org/athletes/profile/emma_jackson?mc_cid=f7dd695ae6&mc_eid=[UNIQID]) returned to the top of the World Cup podium for the first time in four years, with a strong all-round performance leading to her win at Mooloolaba on Saturday.
Jackson was one of the leaders out of the swim and then worked hard in a lead group of six on the bike to establish a gap to the chase, led by fellow Australian Ashleigh Gentle (http://www.triathlon.org/athletes/profile/ashleigh_gentle?mc_cid=f7dd695ae6&mc_eid=[UNIQID]) . While Jackson then spent the first lap of the run sitting behind fellow Australian Emma Jeffcoat (http://www.triathlon.org/athletes/profile/emma_jeffcoat?mc_cid=f7dd695ae6&mc_eid=[UNIQID]) , she sped up to take to the lead just before the 5km mark and was not headed from there.
She claimed the win in a time of 1 hour 56 minutes and 36 seconds. However she was slightly worried her race was over almost before it started, with a trip up on the beach start.
“I actually fell over running into the surf for the swim but I was fortunate enough to pick my self up and came out in the top two, so that was a good swim for me,” Jackson said. “We had a good group of girls who worked together on the bike and we had a gap back to Ashleigh which I was able to hold onto towards the end.”
“It shows me that I’m in alright form. I actually enjoy sprint distance racing I don’t enjoy the heat too much, with that an Olympic Distance race I thought I was going to struggle a bit. So it was actually really nice to go out there and prove myself wrong and have a good race.”
Gentle posted the fastest run split of the day to push herself up into second place, while Mexico's Claudia Rivas claimed bronze - just a week after competing in the Abu Dhabi World Triathlon Series opener.
Click here for full review. (http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/aussies_win_in_mooloolaba?mc_cid=f7dd695ae6&mc_eid=[UNIQID])
Elite Women's Race - Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup
Results: Elite Women | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Emma Jackson | AUS | 01:56:36 |
2. | Ashleigh Gentle | AUS | 01:56:52 |
3. | Claudia Rivas | MEX | 01:58:18 |
4. | Emma Jeffcoat | AUS | 01:58:39 |
5. | Nicole Van Der Kaay | NZL | 01:59:16 |
6. | Carolina Routier | ESP | 01:59:17 |
7. | Zsófia Kovács | HUN | 01:59:38 |
8. | Jaz Hedgeland | AUS | 02:00:09 |
9. | Natalie Van Coevorden | AUS | 02:00:42 |
10. | Tamsyn Moana-Veale | AUS | 02:01:11 |