Renee Tomlin earned her second consecutive win at the Tiszaujvaros sprint distance World Cup in a dramatic finish line sprint with French Under 23 triathlete Leonie Periault.

One week after her 7th place finish at the Hamburg World Triathlon Series sprint distance event, Tomlin and fellow U.S. competitors Erin Dolan and Tamara Gorman missed the front pack on the swim and started the bike leg 39 seconds back of swim leaders Sara Perez Sala of Spain, Zsanett Bragmayer of Hungary, Anastasia Abrosimova of Russia, and the majority of the 30-woman field.

Pushing hard, Tomlin managed to join the 18-woman front pack by the end of the 20 kilometer bike leg.

At the start of the run, Tomlin joined a breakaway group of eight women including Adriana Barraza of Portugal, Maaike Caelers of Netherlands, Periault and Emilie Morier of France. Employing a savvy strategy, Tomlin placed herself right behind pack leaders Barraza and then Periault. When Periault started her sprint with 200 meters to go, Tomlin utilized her NCAA Division I track experience to wait before unleashing her sprint on the blue carpet.

After a second-fastest 17:22 5 kilometer run, Tomlin hit the line in 1:00:45 with a 1 second margin on Periault and 6 seconds on a photo finish between 3rd place Caelers and 4th place Giorgia Priarone of Italy.

“I was feeling a bit tired during the swim, coming straight from Hamburg and having raced also yesterday [qualifying in the semifinals]," Tomlin told ITU media. “But I managed to keep my mind clear and tell myself that I know how to race this, and I executed.”

Periault was happy with her first Worlds Cup podium, but explained she lost a few seconds in transition. “I realized that I had left my helmet out of the box, so I had to come back before leaving transition and I lost some seconds there,” said Periault after the race.

Tiszaujvaros World Cup
Tiszaujvaros, Hungary
July 23, 2017
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Elite Women

1. Renee Tomlin (USA) 1:00:45
2. Leonie Periault (FRA) 1:00:46
3. Maaike Caelers (NED) 1:00:51
4. Giorgia Priarone (ITA) 1:00:51
5. Sandra Dodet (FRA) 1:00:54
11. Erin Dolan (USA) 1:01:36
12. Tamara Gorman (USA) 1:01:41