Gwen Jorgensen began her 2016 season – her ultimate goal is an assault on the Rio Olympics in August – with a decisive victory at the sprint distance New Plymouth World Cup.

Jorgensen started her day racing with the front pack in the swim, coming out just 3 seconds behind Mari Rabe of South Africa and Summer Cook of the U.S. and one second behind Carolina Routier of Spain and fellow U.S. competitor Kirsten Kasper.

Soon, a front pack of 22 formed on the tight, technical course and raced to a 36-seconds advantage by T2. New Zealander Nicole Van Der Kay took a quick lead and was cheered by the home country crowd. But a pack which included Rabe, Routier, Hewitt, Emma Jeffcoat of Australia and Jorgensen soon took control. After the first lap, Jorgensen and Hewitt took off together.

Ultimately, Jorgensen sped ahead to a race-best 15:54 5k run split which brought her to the line in 58:51 with a 22 seconds lead on runner-up Hewitt (16:24 run) and 29 seconds on Kasper (16:32 run). The win was the 15th career ITU victory for Jorgensen, the 2014 and 2015 ITU WTS World Champion.

“I have been in New Plymouth for a couple weeks now because my coach (Jamie Turner) is originally from here and I have loved being here,” Jorgensen said. “There were a lot of good and tough athletes, a lot of fast swimmers so it was a good test. We were really pushing it on the swim, the bike and the run.”

Jorgensen put this win in perspective with respect to her Olympic ambition.

“Next week I will start my WTS debut for 2016 in Gold Coast, but the sole focus for me is August 20th, the Rio Olympics, so all of this has just been kind of training for that,” she said.

Hewitt was pleased with her finish and her close quarters racing with Jorgensen at the start of the run.

“I did not know what to expect today, this was my first race of the season for me,” said Hewitt. “My training has gone really well and I came here wanting a good result. I was pleased that Gwen was racing; we had a good battle out there, especially on the first lap of the run.”

Kasper earned her third World Cup podium after starting 2016 with a 2nd place at the Woolongong Oceania Cup and a 3rd place at the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup.

“I have loved the racing and training over here for a little bit, so it has been a great way to start the season,” said Kasper. “Today I think I executed what me and my coach set out to do, I swam hard, I worked on the bike and then it just came down to the run, where I just was able to follow my instinct the best I could.”

New Plymouth World Cup
New Plymouth, New Zealand
April 3, 2016
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Elite Women

1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 58:51
2. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 59:13
3. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 59:20
4. Mari Rabe (RSA) 59:28
5. Miriam Casillas Garcia (ESP) 59:38
6. Amelie Kretz (CAN) 59:42
7. Arina Shulgina (RUS) 59:56
8. Summer Cook (USA) 1:00:02
9. Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 1:00:06
10. Agnieszka Jerzyk (POL) 1:00:08
20. Taylor Spivey (USA) 1:00:47