Jonathan Brownlee edged his brother Alistair by six seconds for the men’s win and Sarah Groff of the U.S. held off New Zealander Andrea Hewitt by 4 seconds to earn her first World Triathlon Series victory.
Men
The win, combined with WTS points leader Javier Gomez dropping out on the run, gives the younger Brownlee a slim chance of taking the season long points chase for the world title. At this moment, Jonathan Brownlee is within 282 points of Gomez and 143 points ahead of 3rd-place Mario Mola of Spain going into the WTS Grand Final next weekend in Edmonton.
On a cloudy day with intermittent rain, Richard Varga of the Czech Republic led the swim in 8:57 followed by recent Commonwealth Games victor Alistair Brownlee at 9:03 and Jonathan Brownlee at 9:08. The trio immediately got organized and broke into a lead on the first of five laps on the narrow bike course filled with hills, tight turns and slick cobblestones. Sadly, Varga crashed leaving the brothers Brownlee to surge to an insurmountable 56 seconds lead on a 23-man chase pack led by Alessandro Fabian of Italy and Ben Kanute of the U.S with dangerous runners Richard Murray of South Africa, Mario Mola of Spain and Gregor Bucholz of Germany mid-pack a few seconds further back.
Jonathan broke first out of T2, while Alistair slowly and smoothly ran up to his brother’s shoulder midway through the first of two 2.5-kilometer laps through Stockholm’s historic city streets. While commentators on the ITU podcast speculated that Alistair, mathematically out of the points chase, might let his brother win in order to give him a shot for the world title, the brothers were having none of it.
“We are both pure runners and neither of us were thinking of anything but winning this race,” said Jonathan afterward. “I thought Jonny wasn't pushing hard enough on the final lap of the bike, so I gave him a bit of stick,” said Alistair. So, if no long term strategy was involved, perhaps Alistair, after his winning effort at Glasgow, was a bit down on energy. With a kilometer to go, Jonathan broke the invisible string that held them together and raced ahead to a tied-for-third-best 14:23 5k run split that gave him a 6 second margin of victory.
Gregor Bucholz of Germany, a former ITU Under 23 World Champion, surprised WTS, points contenders Mario Mola of Spain and Richard Murray of South Africa by winning the sprint uphill on the steep final chute to take 3rd, 56 seconds back of the winner. Mola posted a race-best 14:19 split to edge Richard Murray for 4th, one second behind Bucholz.
Ben Kanute was top American, finishing 11th, while Sean Jefferson was 18th .
Women
With an unassailable WTS season points lead, Gwen Jorgensen of the U.S. took the weekend off to prepare for the Grand Final at Edmonton, as did 3rd-place Helen Jenkins and 4th place Emma Jackson. This left WTS points runner-up Jodie Stimpson with a slim chance to bring her 903 points deficit down to a long shot chance for a world title – but only if she won in Sweden.
While Stimpson must have been in top shape after her victory at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow a few week ago, things did not go well for last year’s WTS world championship runner-up – but that left the door open for a career breakthrough by U.S. star Sarah Groff.
Groff came out of the water 2 seconds down to swim leader Caroline Routier of France with Katie Hursey of the U.S. and Lucy Hall of Great Britain 1 second further back. Charlotte Bonin of France was next at 9:55, followed by Kirsten Sweetland of Canada (9:56), Anja Knapp of Germany (9:59) Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand (10:01), Lindsey Jerdonek of the U.S. (10:03) and Nicky Samuels of New Zealand (10:06).
The top 11 women quickly got organized and surged to a lead that grew to over a minute on the chasers by the time a strong downpour on the fourth lap of the bike leg gave the leaders a case of the nerves. “I felt like a spastic monkey on the bike when the rain came down,” said Groff, who managed to stay upright through the worst of it.
On the final lap, Hursey, taking care not to fall on the slick conditions, fell back to a 13 seconds deficit.
Groff took charge leaving T2 and maintained a 3 seconds lead on Hewitt, Sweetland and Samuels with Jerdonek hanging on to the lead pack 4 seconds back at the midway point of the run leg. Near the end, Groff pulled away to a comfortable margin which gave her some leeway to soak in the cheers on the finish chute blue carpet just outside the Swedish Royal Palace.
“I tried to hang on in the run,” said Groff, “because I knew there were some speedy legs behind me.” Groff left nothing to chance as her race-best 16:21 run leg brought her to the finish in 1:03:00 with a 4 seconds margin of victory. The win thus topped Groff’s previous best WTS finish - a 3rd place at Kitzbühel in 2012.
The weekend was good for Groff and fiancé Ben True, who finished 8th in the 5,000 meters at the Diamond League international track meet in Stockholm in a fine time of 13:13.
Hewitt earned her first WTS podium in three years with a silver medal, one second ahead of fellow Kiwi and 2013 XTERRA World champion Nicky Samuels. Canadian Kirsten Sweetland hung tough for 4th place, 5 seconds behind Samuels. Americans took three spots in the top 10 as Lindsey Jerdonek finished 5th and Katie Hursey, who fell back to 11th when the rains hit late in bike, rebounded to take 7th.
Jodie Stimpson lost touch with the leaders on the bike and faded out of the top 10.
Going into the WTS Grand Final at Edmonton, Gwen Jorgensen leads with 3.885 points, followed by Groff (3037), Stimpson (2982), Helen Jenkins (2903), Andrea Hewitt (2735) Kirsten Sweetland (2540) and Emma Jackson (2489).
World Triathlon Series Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden
August 23, 2014
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Men
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:31 - $19,000
2. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 57:37 - $13,000
3. Gregor Bucholz (GER) 58:27 - $8,800
4. Mario Mola (ESP) 58:28 - $6,500
5. Richard Murray (RSA) 58:28 - $5,200
6. Joao Pereira (POR) 58:30 - $4,400
7. Anthony Pujades (FRA) 58:35 - $3,800
8. Vincent Luis (FRA) 58:43 - $3,300
9. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) 58:45 - $2,900
10. Alessandro Fabian (ITA) 58:59 - $2,400
11. Ben Kanute (USA) 59:05 - $2,000
18. Sean Jefferson (USA) 59:27 - $1,100
Men’s WTS points leaders
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 3833
2. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 3551
3. Mario Mola (ESP) 3491
4. Joao Pereira (POR) 2938
5. Richard Murray (RSA) 2911
6. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 2806
Women
1. Sarah Groff (USA) 1:03:00 - $19,000
2. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:03:04 - $13,000
3. Nicky Samuels (NZL) 1:03:05 - $8,500
4. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 1:03:10 - $6,500
5. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 1:03:23 - $5,200
6. Anja Knapp (GER) 1:03:56 - $4,400
7. Katie Hursey (USA) 1:04:04 - $3,800
8. Charlotte Bonin (FRA) 1:04:07 - $3,300
9. Lucy Hall (GBR) 1:04:08 - $2,900
10. Caroline Routier (FRA) 1:04:09 - $2,400
29. Renee Tomlin (USA) 1:05:37
Women's WTS points leaders
1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 3885
2. Sarah Groff (USA) 3,037
3. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 2,982
4. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2,903
5. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2,735
6. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 2,540
7. Emma Jackson (AUS) 2,489.
