Helen Jenkins of Great Britain joined a three-woman bike breakaway that created a 90-second lead on Gwen Jorgensen, and then held off the U.S. star to win the Gold Coast WTS event.

Halfway through the 40k bike leg, Jenkins, Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand and Flora Duffy of Bermuda surged away from a 22-woman pack and by the end of the bike leg had established a 90 seconds lead on a pack of 11 women that included Jorgensen.

During her long win streak, Jorgensen had erased leads as large as 2 minutes during Olympic distance WTS races. But not on this day.

Jenkins quickly broke away and established a 20-seconds lead on Hewitt and Duffy on the first of four laps on the run. Most important, she maintained a 1:29 lead on Jorgensen at the 2.5k mark, 1:26 through 5k and 1:16 through 7.5k.

By the time Jorgensen got rolling on a tropically hot day toward a race-best 34:17 run, she was able to pass Duffy with 500 meters to go, and outsprinted Hewitt on the blue finish carpet by one second. But she fell 41 seconds short of the Jenkins and the win.

“I can’t quite believe it,” said Jenkins, a two-time ITU World Champion whose last WTS victory came in April of 2012 in San Diego. “I did not have the best swim today and then on the bike, because this course was so technical, it was just as hard even of you were on the front. So I sat in and me, Flora and Andrea were able to get a gap. I have so much respect for those girls, they were smashing it today. And I got to the run and just went for it. The whole time I was just waiting for Gwen.”

Jorgensen was gracious about her first loss since the spring of 2014.

“Helen was really strong today and she was the better athlete,” said Jorgensen. “Her, Andres and Flora were riding really strong and they just had a great race. I was trying to run as fast as I could. A lot goes through your head and it is hot out there. It didn’t look like I was gaining any ground on Helen, she was going for it. It was great to be back racing against Helen. She was gone for a bit, so it was great to see her race well.”

Jenkins lost a lot of time with injuries and illnesses the past few years and only just regained form this year. While the outcome is still in doubt, this race did a lot for her 2016 Olympic ambitions. Thanks to their 2nd and 3rd place finishes at the 2015 WTS Grand Final in Chicago, Vicky Holland and Non Stanford locked up the first two places on the 2016 Great Britain Women's Olympic Triathlon team. With one slot left, Jodie Stimpson appeared to be the favorite thanks to her win at the 2016 WTS opener in Abu Dhabi where Jenkins finished 3rd. But after Jenkins’ impressive Gold Coast win paired with Stimpson’s 12th place finish, Jenkins appears to be the leading contender.

There was no doubt about Emma Moffatt’s reward for finishing top Australian woman in the top 10. After her 7th place finish, Moffatt punched her ticket to her third Olympics. While Moffatt joined the front pack on the bike after the swim, Ashleigh Gentle had a bad swim and languished in a chase pack that finished the bike more than 2 minutes down and finished 12th. Moffatt had been off the form that brought her two ITU World Championships and a bronze at the 2008 Olympics, but came good when it counted Saturday.

Moffatt admitted she had to put thoughts of Rio from her mind today.

“I tried not to think about it, I was blocking those thoughts until I crossed the line, it might take a little while to absorb it,” said Moffatt. “My aim was to come into this race and try to get that automatic spot, to eliminate any doubt or political issue.”

While the U.S. women's 2016 Olympic final slot selection won’t be made until May, Katie Zaferes made a promising statement with her 6th place finish. Jorgensen and Sarah True locked up the first two slots with their 1st and 7th place finishes at the Chicago Grand Final. Zaferes, who occupied the podium on many WTS races last year, was left seeking the final spot in 2016 races. Her 6th place finish was the first American woman after Jorgensen and if she maintains this form in subsequent WTS races she will be a favorite for the final U.S. women's Olympic Triathlon slot.

World Triathlon Series Gold Coast
Gold Coast Queensland, Australia
April 9, 2016
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Elite Women

1. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 1:56:03
2. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1:56:44
3. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:56:45
4. Flora Duffy (BER) 1:56:58
5. Rachel Klamer (NED) 1:58:06
6. Katie Zaferes (USA) 1:58:14
7. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:58:47
8. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:59:06
9. Lisa Perterer (AUT) 1:59:07
10. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:59:08
12. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 1:59:21
15. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 1:59:47
18. Renee Tomlin (USA) 2:00:05
23. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 2:00:56
25. Sarah True (USA) 2:01:23
31. Taylor Spivey (USA) 2:02:15
34. Erin Jones (USA) 2:02:40
35. Erin Densham (AUS) 2:03:04