Monday, June 22, 2009
ITU RELEASE: Emma Moffatt Wins Round Three of Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series race in Washington DC
Washington DC, USA (June 21, 2009) - Emma Moffatt registered a surprise victory at round three of the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series as she outran compatriot and Olympic gold medallist Emma Snowsill for the win. Crossing the line in front of the Capitol Building in 1:59:55, Moffatt's win takes her to the top of the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Rankings.
The Australian Olympic bronze medallist put together a textbook race from start to finish, placing highly in the 1500m swim as a small group of women managed to take the initiative to establish an early lead. Snowsill found herself caught between the leaders and the chase pack, before being eventually reeled in by Switzerland 's Daniela Ryf. The hard work of the Swiss athlete eventually took the chasers up to the leaders as the front pack failed to work cohesively enough to maximise their advantage.
Late on the 40km cycle the home crowd were lifted by a breakaway orchestrated by Mary Beth Ellis and Sarah Haskins. The American pair drew out a 35 second advantage heading onto the 10km run, but were quickly caught by the charging Moffatt.
Whilst Moffatt pulled out her lead, further back Lisa Norden from Sweden was forced to the sidelines after 2.5km with cramp after moving into third. Snowsill, who hadn't lost a race since the Beijing World Cup in September 2007, looked to be struggling early on as she tussled with Ryf, whist Haskins looked strong in second.
It wasn't until the half way point that the Olympic and Commonwealth champion made her move as she started to pull back the gap, but it was too little too late as Moffatt crossed the line with time in hand. Snowsill took second with under23 world champion, Ryf, finding some extra energy in the final ten minutes to overtake Haskins for bronze.
" Washington DC is a spectacular place with the history and monuments. Although I didn't get a chance to take a look during the race! I'm really happy with how it went today; it's a hard year and you have to keep smart with your training and racing to be successful," said Moffatt. "It's nice to know when you take the run out that hard, and to know you're not hurting at all, that no one is catching you. It's a great feeling!"
"I think the ride was really where the push began," explained Snowsill. "There was even a surge in the swim right off the bat and those girls really pushed the pace to close that gap on the bike. Even then once we were together people were trying to make breakaways so we were all going really hard. It was surprisingly windy out there and we were all just hoping that the clouds didn't have any rain; thankfully they held off which was really great because that makes for such much faster racing for us."
"It was a pretty rough swim with the current. I tried a couple of times to get away on the bike but with no luck. The run was fantastic as I managed to stay with Emma [Snowsill] for the first 5km and I am incredibly happy with my race," said a delighted Ryf. "My finish gives me a lot of confidence. To stay and run with an Olympic Champion is pretty amazing. I knew that I had to do a lot of work to keep with the best girls in the world and today I did."
Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Rankings
After Race Three of Eight
1. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1818pts
2. Emma Snowsill (AUS) 1540pts
3. Jessica Harrison (FRA) 1525pts
4. Juri Ide (JPN) 1448pts
5. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 1405pts
Washington DC Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women - Unofficial Results
Gold - Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:59:55
Silver - Emma Snowsill (AUS) 2:00:20 +0:25
Bronze - Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:01:01 +1:06
4th - Sarah Haskins ( USA ) 2:01:18 +1:23
5th - Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2:01:27 +1:32
6th - Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:01:44 +1:49
7th - Jessica Harrison (FRA) 2:02:05 +2:10
8th - Juri Ide (JPN) 2:02:28 +2:33
9th - Sarah Groff ( USA ) 2:02:52 +2:57
10th - Lauren Groves (CAN) 2:02:59 +3:04
For more information on the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series, please visit www.triathlon.org
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The Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series is a new global triathlon series at the highest level of the sport. It represents an innovative change by creating seven first-class World Championship events and a Grand Final rather than a one-day world championship event. The world's best triathletes will compete head-to-head, featuring live international television for the first time from every event. A record of over USD 3 million (total prize money available for world championship and world cup series) will be at stake in the battle to become triathlon's 2009 world champion.
For more information, please contact:
Stephen Bourdeau, ITU Media Manager
Tel: +1 780-702-2001 Email: stephen.bourdeau@triathlon.org