After the excitement of the Olympic triathlons won by Alistair Brownlee and Gwen Jorgensen, the thrill of this weekend’s WTS Grand Finals in Cozumel and the settling of the WTS season-long World Championship titles takes second priority. Nonetheless, history, glory and money are at stake.
On the men’s side, Mario Mola of Spain won four WTS events this year and thus leads the World Triathlon Series season-long contest with 3,940 points – 235 ahead of runner-up Jonny Brownlee of Great Britain. With a maximum 1,200 points due to the winner of this weekend’s clash, if Brownlee wins, Mola must finish 2nd or 3rd in order to defend his lead and become World Champion.
Lucky for both men, Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee will not race at Cozumel and 5-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion Javier Gomez remains out of action with his arm injury.
Mola finished 2nd in the 2013 and 2014 WTS season long points chases, one spot out of the World Championship title that goes to the points leader. Last year, he won the Grand Final in Chicago, a single day distinction that earned the ITU World Championship title from the beginning in 1989 until the Championship became decided by a season-long points accumulation in 2009.
Mola, who won four WTS races this year, proved he could be vulnerable with an 8th place finish at the Rio Olympics. But with all-flat Cozumel lacking the challenging bike hills of Rio, Mola’s foot speed virtually guarantees a podium finish.
Jonny Brownlee, who has one 2016 WTS win, would like to add to the one WTS World Championship he won for season-long excellence in 2012. A 2016 win would bring him into a tie with his two-time WTS season-long World Champion brother Alistair. A win would also bring Jonny his first Grand Final title – a single day mark that would still leave him three behind Alistair’s 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 GF crowns.
Theoretically, if Mola and Jonny Brownlee met with misfortune and failed to finish, Fernando Alarza of Spain might surpass both men, advancing from 3,444 points to 4,644 with a win or eking out an improbable victory win with a lesser finish.
In the women’s contest, points leader Flora Duffy of Bermuda and Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen have plenty of motivation.
For Duffy, a WTS World Championship would be a remarkable boost to the resume of the fast-rising two-time XTERRA World Champion. Duffy earned her first WTS victory this year compared to Jorgensen’s 17, and Duffy’s 5 WTS podiums are far behind Jorgensen’s 22.
Duffy now has 3,491 points to Jorgensen’s 3,325 – a gap of 166 points. If Jorgensen wins and earns 1,200 points, Duffy must finish 2nd to protect her lead and earn the World Championship.
But with Cozumel’s tabletop-flat terrain providing little opportunity for Duffy to break away on the bike, the odds are stacked even more in Jorgensen’s favor.
Theoretically, Jodie Stimpson in 3rd place (3,145 points), Katie Zaferes in 4th (2,966 points), Andrea Hewitt in 5th (2,878 points), Ai Ueda in 6th (2,737 points), Helen Jenkins in 7th (2,460 points), Vicky Holland in 8th (2,446 points), and Rachel Klamer in 9th (2,302 points) have a chance if catastrophe strikes the two leaders and bad luck afflicts all but one of the top 9.
After winning the Olympics, Jorgensen still has a great deal of motivation. If she wins the points chase, that will be her third straight ITU World Championship, tying her with Emma Snowsill for the most in ITU Olympic distance history.
At stake at the Grand Final will be $30,000 to the day’s winner, $22,000 for second place, $16,000 for 3rd place, and on down to $1,000 for 21st through 25th. Even bigger checks will go to the WTS season-long bonus pool starting with $80,000 for 1st place, $55,000 for 2nd, $38,000 for 3rd, and on down to $1,800 for 35th.
