RIO DE JANEIRO Hot favorite Gwen Jorgensen produced the ideal race to win the Olympic women’s triathlon gold on Saturday, the American unusually staying with her rivals on the bike before surging clear of defending champion Nicola Spirig-Hug on the run. That’s about four times as long as Olympic triathlons.
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“She said she already had a medal and that was fair enough, now she has two and I still only have one”, Jorgensen said. “I think that’s something you have to be aware of and prepared for”.
“Nicola Spirig was playing some games and it was fun to do that and hopefully it made it more exciting for the fans too”. You can read about her here (see Big Four Olympian goes for gold in London). The only runner to stay right with Jorgensen during the 10-kilometer run along the scenic Copacabana course was veteran Nicola Spirig Hug of Switzerland.
In the last mile and a half, Jorgensen extended her lead over Spirig, placing the Swiss athlete in between Jorgensen’s lead and the battle for the bronze only slightly behind her between two athletes from Great Britain. No American had won triathlon gold since it became an Olympic sport in 2000. She described competing with Jorgensen during the run: “She was leading first and then she left me in front and I was leading in the headwind”.
Gwen Jorgensen lived up to her billing as favourite with victory in the women’s triathlon at Rio 2016 on Saturday.
Now at her peak, Jorgensen prevailed for the 16th time in her last 18 top-level global races. Jorgensen was in 23rd place after the swim and started the bike race in 24th place after the transition. The climb up the hill each lap on the bike will be a test and perhaps provide a chance for a break. Think German Jan Frodeno, who won gold at the Beijing Games and then won the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, last year. In the third lap nobody wanted to lead.
Jorgensen won the event with a time of 1:56:16, which is both a first for her as well as first for the United States. Pre-race favorite for a potential swim-bike breakaway Flora Duffy was 11th, True 13th, Zaferes 14th while Jorgensen was 24th, but just 11 seconds down.
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As uber-cyclist Spirig pulled the lead group for the majority of the bike course, Jorgensen took the lead once or twice but seemed content to sit back and save herself for the run. They had a 23-second lead on the rest of the field by the halfway point and traded places on the lead.
