Despite incurring a 15-seconds penalty for an improperly parked bike at T2, Gwen Jorgensen won her 8th straight and 11th career WTS race while leading fellow U.S. women Sarah True and Katie Zaferes to a 1-2-3 finish at the Gold Coast WTS event.

The 1-2-3 finish is only the second time in WTS history that a nation has swept the podium. Emmas Moffatt, Snowsill and Jackson claimed the three podium spots in 2011 at the WTS series stop in Hamburg, Germany.

Despite her transition kerfuffle, Jorgensen executed her most perfect all-around race. The American record setter emerged from the first transition virtually tied with swim leader Carolina Routier of Spain, hung smoothly in a runaway bike pack of seven women and finished the bike just 2 seconds back of leaders Flora Duffy and Lucy Hall. Just 200 meters into the run, Jorgensen took control and by the end of 5 kilometers casually served her 15-seconds penalty without losing her lead. By the end, Jorgensen’s race-best 33:35 run was 1 minute and 16 seconds better than True’s 34:51 and 1:33 better than Katie Zaferes’ 35:08.

After doing yeoman’s work pushing the lead pack on the bike, XTERRA World champion Flora Duffy ran hard but surrendered to a late race surge by Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand, who ran 34:34 and took 4th place, 25 seconds back of Zaferes. Duffy ran 35:43 to finish 5th, 5 seconds back of Hewitt.

Jorgensen hit the finish in 1:56:59 with a 1:18 lead on True and 1:36 on Zaferes.

“I don’t think you ever have a perfect race,” Jorgensen told USA Triathlon media. “But I was really thrilled to come out of the water and be in the front pack right away. I mean one, two three for team USA, it could not get any better… going to be able to stand up here and hear our national anthem with all three girls – you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

“Last year in London, the two of us [Jorgensen and True] were one-two, and I knew Katie was a podium athlete,” said True. “I’m happy to be back on the podium, especially with a couple of U.S. athletes.”

“I’m super excited,” Zaferes told USA Triathlon media. “When I saw Gwen and Sarah [early in the race], I was like, ‘I have to stay here. I want the all-American podium!’ So it gave me a lot of incentive to keep pushing to be with my teammates.”

Three races into the 2015 WTS season, Jorgensen has won all three by dominating margins and leads the Columbia Threadneedle WTS rankings with 2,400 points. Zaferes has two runner-up finishes and a third place and remains in 2nd with 2,165 points. True’s runner-up finish moves her to 4th with 1,633 points while Lindsay Jerdonek’s 8th-place finish moves her to 7th with 1,174 points.

The race

WTS newcomer Jessica Learmonth of Great Britain led the swim in 19:21, followed closely by Margit Vanek of Hungary, Carolina Routier of Spain, Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand and, shockingly, Gwen Jorgensen of the USA was just 4 seconds down. Jorgensen was followed closely by Flora Duffy of Bermuda, Lucy Hall of Great Britain, Sarah True of the USA, and Yuka Sato of Japan 6 seconds arrears. By the end of T1, Jorgensen was equal with Routier as the women began the bike leg.

On the first lap of the bike, Routier crashed heavily on a hairpin turn and had to retire with a broken wheel. By lap 2 of 8, a lead group of eight women broke away, led by Duffy, Jorgensen, Zaferes, True, Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand, Learmonth, Oliveira and Lucy Hall of Great Britain. After 5k, that group led a group of 18 chasers led by Yuko Takahashi of Japan and Aileen Reid of Ireland by 4 seconds. Soon thereafter the chasers dropped much further back and at 10k, the Gang of Eight extended that lead to 31 seconds on the chasers led by Jessica Broderick of the U.S., Ashleigh Gentle of Australia, and Lindsay Jerdonek of the U.S.

By 35k, Clarke dropped back with a mechanical and the breakaway seven led by Duffy, Hall and Jorgensen hit T2 with a 1:03 lead on a pack of 16 whose best runners – Hewitt, Klamer, Ide, Gentle, and Reid - had only a slim chance of contending for the podium.

By 200 meters Jorgensen passed Duffy and her only real rival was the record book. At the end of the first lap, Jorgensen held a 21 seconds lead on True and Zaferes, 35 seconds on Duffy, 48 seconds on Hall, 54 seconds on Oliveira, and 1:27 on Hewitt, Broderick and Klamer as Learmonth was falling back.

At 5k, after serving her 15 seconds penalty for messy bike housekeeping, Jorgensen led True by 30 seconds, Zaferes by 32 seconds, Duffy by 1 minute, Hewitt and Oliveira by 1:32, and Klamer by 1:33. At 8.75 kilometers, Jorgensen led True by 1:12 and True had 14 seconds on Zaferes. Hewitt was just six seconds back of Duffy and made the pass in the final kilometer.

WTS Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Australia
April 11, 2015
S 1.5k / B 43.2k / R 10k

Results

Elite Women

1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1:56:59
2. Sarah True (USA) 1:58:17
3. Katie Zaferes (USA) 1:58:35
4. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:59:00
5. Flora Duffy (BER) 1:59:05
6. Rachel Klamer (NED) 1:59:20
7. Aileen Reid (IRL) 1:59:36
8. Lindsay Jerdonek (USA) 1:59:54
9. Pamela Oliveira (BRA) 2:00:03
10. Maaike Caelers (NED) 2:00:04
14. Jessica Broderick (USA) 2:00:22
20. Renee Tomlin (USA) 2:00:46
21. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 2:00:47
33. Chelsea Burns (USA) 2:03:26
39. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 2:05:12