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Jackson, a 2012 Olympian who is eager to make up for missing the 2016 Olympics, finished in 1:56:36 with a 16 seconds margin of victory over 2016 Australian Olympian Ashleigh Gentle and 1:42 over 3rd place Claudia Rivas of Mexico.
Willian, an up and coming competitor at age 20, stayed with the men’s front pack on the swim and bike before surging away on the final lap of the run to finish in 1:43:48 with an 8 seconds margin of victory over fellow Aussie Drew Box and 10 seconds over 3rd place Sam Ward of New Zealand.
Despite the home country advantage, this was the first time one nation took both Mooloolaba titles since Australia’s Emma Snowsill and Brad Kahlefeldt won in 2007.
Women
Jackson overcame a fall running into the surf to emerge one second behind swim leader and fellow Australian Emma Jeffcoat’s 14:37 split. Crucially, that afforded Jackson a 23 seconds gap on top contender Ashleigh Gentle.
After the swim, Jeffcoat and Jackson combined with Natalie Van Coevorden of Australia, Carolina Routier of Spain, Rivas, and Natalie van der Kaay of New Zealand to break away to a 25 seconds lead on the first lap of the bike leg. At the end of the second lap, the leaders surged to a 35 seconds lead on the chasers led by Gentle. By the end of the 40km cycling leg, done in close to 1 hour and four minutes flat, the leaders hit T2 with a 1 minute lead on Gentle.
On the run, Jeffcoat and Jackson sped away from the rest of the bike front pack. Just before the 5k mark Jackson raced away from Jeffcoat and never looked back on her way to a 2nd-fastest 36:24 split. Gentle pushed hard to make up for her swim-bike deficit, but her race-best 35:44 10k run left her in the runner-up slot, 16 seconds behind Jackson. On the strength of her women’s 4th-best 38:03 run, Rivas ran past Jeffcoat to take the final spot on the podium, 1:42 behind the winner.
“I actually fell over running into the surf for the swim but I was fortunate enough to pick myself up and came out in the top two, so that was a good swim for me,” Jackson told ITU media. “We had a good group of girls who worked together on the bike and we had a gap back to Ashleigh which I was able to hold onto towards the end.”
Jackson thus became the fifth Australian woman to win the Mooloolaba World Cup, coming after Erin Densham, Emma Snowsill, Loretta Harrop and Annabel Luxford.
“I went to a few different places mentally throughout that two hours to be honest,” Gentle told ITU media. “I guess I built that run physically and mentally. I felt better as the run went on. Early stages I didn’t even think I would be on the podium so I am really happy with second.”
Men
Willian, an up and coming competitor at age 20, stayed with the men’s front pack on the swim and bike before surging away on the final lap of the run to finish in 1:43:48 with an 8 seconds margin of victory over fellow Aussie Drew Box and 10 seconds over 3rd place Sam Ward of New Zealand.
Despite the home country advantage, this was the first time one nation took both Mooloolaba titles since Australia’s Emma Snowsill and Brad Kahlefeldt won in 2007.
Women
Jackson overcame a fall running into the surf to emerge one second behind swim leader and fellow Australian Emma Jeffcoat’s 14:37 split. Crucially, that afforded Jackson a 23 seconds gap on top contender Ashleigh Gentle.
After the swim, Jeffcoat and Jackson combined with Natalie Van Coevorden of Australia, Carolina Routier of Spain, Rivas, and Natalie van der Kaay of New Zealand to break away to a 25 seconds lead on the first lap of the bike leg. At the end of the second lap, the leaders surged to a 35 seconds lead on the chasers led by Gentle. By the end of the 40km cycling leg, done in close to 1 hour and four minutes flat, the leaders hit T2 with a 1 minute lead on Gentle.
On the run, Jeffcoat and Jackson sped away from the rest of the bike front pack. Just before the 5k mark Jackson raced away from Jeffcoat and never looked back on her way to a 2nd-fastest 36:24 split. Gentle pushed hard to make up for her swim-bike deficit, but her race-best 35:44 10k run left her in the runner-up slot, 16 seconds behind Jackson. On the strength of her women’s 4th-best 38:03 run, Rivas ran past Jeffcoat to take the final spot on the podium, 1:42 behind the winner.
“I actually fell over running into the surf for the swim but I was fortunate enough to pick myself up and came out in the top two, so that was a good swim for me,” Jackson told ITU media. “We had a good group of girls who worked together on the bike and we had a gap back to Ashleigh which I was able to hold onto towards the end.”
Jackson thus became the fifth Australian woman to win the Mooloolaba World Cup, coming after Erin Densham, Emma Snowsill, Loretta Harrop and Annabel Luxford.
“I went to a few different places mentally throughout that two hours to be honest,” Gentle told ITU media. “I guess I built that run physically and mentally. I felt better as the run went on. Early stages I didn’t even think I would be on the podium so I am really happy with second.”
Men
