With Gwen Jorgensen not around to dishearten the field with her killer run, Vicky Holland of Great Britain found the spark to gain her first ITU World Triathlon Series victory by one second over Katie Zaferes of the U.S. and 5 seconds over Olympic champion Nicola Spirig at Cape Town.

Surprising more decorated rivals, Holland made a break with 1 kilometer to go on the run, opening up a 30 meter gap on Spirig and Zaferes and holding it until she slowed down to let the thrill sink in nearing the tape.

“I had injury problems in January but the last month I’ve had really good training,” said Holland. “I thought the last 10k might be a stretch, but I felt good the last lap and I wanted to see what I could do – and the experiment paid off.”

With her runner-up finish, Zaferes took over the lead in the Columbia Threadneedle WTS points chase with 2,905 points earned for her 2-2-3-2 finishes to start the 2015 season. Jorgensen dropped to 2nd with her perfect 3 wins totaling 2,400 points and Sarah True was 3rd with 1,947 points after her 13th place finish.

“I was waiting for someone to go and push the pace when Vicky did, and I tried to hold on,” said Zaferes. “I knew I was racing with the Olympic gold medalist behind me, so I was running scared.”

Zaferes was surprised and elated to take over the WTS points lead. “It is amazing,” she said. “I never dreamed of this – and I want to keep it going.”

After taking two years off the WTS circuit following her Olympic victory to have a baby and trying new athletic things like an Ironman and marathons – including one just last weekend – Spirig was satisfied with a podium. “I'm extremely happy,” said the Swiss champion. After coming out of the water 45 seconds down, she pulled the chase pack back to a four-woman lead group after two laps. “I was surprised we caught them so quickly,” she said. “I did not think I was that strong on the bike – I have been working hard on my swim and run but my bike today was really good.”

Race recap

U.S. star Katie Zaferes took the lead on the 750-meter swim, abridged because of 54 degrees Fahrenheit cold water. She was followed closely by Pamela Oliveira of Brazil and two-time ITU World Champion Helen Jenkins of Great Britain, back to the WTS circuit after a long hiatus due to plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendon problems.

Zaferes finished the swim in 9:04, followed by Oliveira (+3 seconds), Helen Jenkins (+7s), Claudia Rivas of Mexico (+10s), Rachel Klamer of Netherlands (+11s), Olympic bronze medalist Erin Densham of Australia (+12s). Top contenders within range included Sarah True of the U.S. (+14s), current XTERRA World Champion Flora Duffy (+15s), and Lindsey Jerdonek of the U.S (+30s). While much of the pack came in within range, Olympic champion Nicola Spirig had a slow swim (+45s) and came out 23rd.

On the first lap of the bike leg, a pack of four including Duffy, Oliveira, Zaferes and Jenkins created a remarkable 46-seconds gap. On the second lap, Oliveira fell back, leaving three at the lead. By the end of the second lap (at 8.6km), Oliveira was 10 seconds back and the main chase group of 22 riders, now led by Spirig, trailed from 16 to 22 seconds. In the midst of the chase pack were top contenders Rachel Klamer 11th, Lindsey Jerdonek 12th, Erin Densham 13th, Sarah True, 18th, Anne Haug 20th.

Having lost critical mass, the lead group of three were caught on the third lap by the chasers, creating a 28-woman front pack - all within 6 seconds. The next lap South African Mari Rabie took the lead, followed by Duffy, Jenkins, Zaferes, Sara Vilic of Austria – then Spirig and Vicky Holland of Great Britain.

After Lap 4, Duffy took a turn in the lead, followed 27 competitors all within 6 seconds led by Oliveira, Spirig, Jenkins, Rebecca Robisch of Germany and Rabie. Dangerous runners included Densham 9th, Haug 12th, Zaferes 14th, True 17th, and Jerdonek 22nd.

By Lap 5, Spirig took her turn at the front, followed closely in single file by Holland, Duffy, Jenkins, Haug and Emma Pallant – with the rest bunching up NASCAR-style two, three and four wide - all within 6 seconds. Mid-bike, U.S. teammates True, Zaferes and Jerdonek were working together 15th, 16th and 17th - two seconds down.

After Lap 6, Duffy, Spirig and Jenkins led but were unable to break away, with True moving up to 8th.

On the final lap of the bike, just three riders were single file, the rest were bunched up to 7 wide, jockeying for position coming into T2. Olympic champion Spirig led the field into T2 and out on the run, followed closely by Haug, Vendula Frintova, Robisch, Jenkins and Holland. Contenders True (10th), Densham (11th), Duffy 15th), Zaferes (22nd) and Jerdonek (28th) were no more than 7 seconds back.

Without Jorgensen and her jet-powered run looming over the psyches of the contenders like a storm cloud, the dynamics of the run were back to the usual human dimension. In the first kilometer, 18 women formed a much closer pack in the manner of an Olympic 1500 meters awaiting a last lap sprint. Sophia Saller of Germany led Spirig (4th), Zaferes (6th), Jenkins (9th) Haug (10th) Densham (14th) and True (18th).

Halfway, Saller leads the closely bunched pack which had been whittled down to 10.

At 7km, Zaferes looked calm and relaxed as she moved to the front, edging slightly away from Saller, Spirig, Jenkins, Haug and True. At 8km, Saller re-took a slight lead. With one lap to go, Zaferes led 9 other runners still within 1 second.

On the last lap, Holland made a small break with Spirig pushing back to her shoulder. Then Holland surged and opened a 10 meter, then 20 meter gap. With 1 kilometer to go, Holland extended the gap to a decisive 30 meters. With no hope of catching Holland, Spirig and Zaferes dug into a battle for silver and bronze. With 500 meters to go, Zaferes opened a 10-meter gap on Spirig.

When she hit the tape, Holland’s 2nd-best 34:20 run held off all attackers while Zaferes’ race-best 34:16 run split held off Spirig for 2nd.

The day was another very good one for the U.S. women as Kirsten Kasper of the U.S. had a breakthrough 6th place as did Chelsea Burns in 9th. Sarah True was 13th, Lindsey Jerdonek 18th and Erin Jones was 23rd. But of course the smile on the face of Katie Zafares was bright with the number one ranking in the world.

WTS Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
April 25, 2015
S 1.5k / B 40k / 10k

Results

Women

1. Vicky Holland (GBR) 1:49:51
2. Katie Zaferes (USA) 1:49:52
3. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 1:49:56
4. Sophia Saller (GER) 1:50:07
5. Rebecca Robisch (GER) 1:50:09
6. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:50:10
7. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 1:50:16
8. Anne Haug (GER) 1:50:21
9. Chelsea Burns (USA) 1:50:24
10. Emma Pallant (GBR) 1:50:34
13. Sarah True (USA) 1:50:52
18. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 1:51:20
23. Erin Jones (USA) 1:52:26
27. Flora Duffy (BER) 1:53:34