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Kasper, who previously won three bronze medals in ITU World Cups, finished the 750-meter swim, 20 kilometer bike leg and 5 kilometer run in 59:16 which gave her a 7 seconds margin of victory over Cook and 15 seconds over 3rd-place finisher Gillian Sanders of South Africa.
Kasper, who started her World Cup season with back-to-back bronze medals, outran Cook 16:33 to 16:38 to take the gold.
“Words can’t describe how excited I am,” Kasper told ITU media. “I know Summer well from college, she ran for Villanova and I ran for Georgetown so we were big rivals. I knew that if we just worked together and work off of each other we would do well. I was feeling strong in the final lap, so I thought I would take over and push through to the finish.”
With her silver medal, Cook earned her second World Cup podium of the year. Sanders’ bronze marked the first World Cup podium of her career.
South African Mari Rabe swam 10:25, fronting a lead pack of 11 including Sanders and three U.S. women – Kasper, Cook and Taylor Spivey.
Training partners Lisa Norden of Sweden and Rabie led a pack of 9 women including Kasper, Cook, Sanders, Dominika Jamnicky of Canada, Emma Jackson of Australia, Michelle Flipo of France and Vanessa De La Torre of Mexico broke away to a one minute lead on the chasers.
At the start of the run, Kasper and Cook broke away to significant lead on their way to gold and silver.
Behind them, a pack of four including Sanders, Rabie, Norden and De La Torre ran side by side with 2 kilometers to go. Whereupon Sanders unleashed a kick which topped off a 3rd-best 16:47 run for the bronze – 12 seconds ahead of De La Torre, 27 seconds ahead of Jackson and 30 seconds ahead of Rabie.
Kasper, who started her World Cup season with back-to-back bronze medals, outran Cook 16:33 to 16:38 to take the gold.
“Words can’t describe how excited I am,” Kasper told ITU media. “I know Summer well from college, she ran for Villanova and I ran for Georgetown so we were big rivals. I knew that if we just worked together and work off of each other we would do well. I was feeling strong in the final lap, so I thought I would take over and push through to the finish.”
With her silver medal, Cook earned her second World Cup podium of the year. Sanders’ bronze marked the first World Cup podium of her career.
South African Mari Rabe swam 10:25, fronting a lead pack of 11 including Sanders and three U.S. women – Kasper, Cook and Taylor Spivey.
Training partners Lisa Norden of Sweden and Rabie led a pack of 9 women including Kasper, Cook, Sanders, Dominika Jamnicky of Canada, Emma Jackson of Australia, Michelle Flipo of France and Vanessa De La Torre of Mexico broke away to a one minute lead on the chasers.
At the start of the run, Kasper and Cook broke away to significant lead on their way to gold and silver.
Behind them, a pack of four including Sanders, Rabie, Norden and De La Torre ran side by side with 2 kilometers to go. Whereupon Sanders unleashed a kick which topped off a 3rd-best 16:47 run for the bronze – 12 seconds ahead of De La Torre, 27 seconds ahead of Jackson and 30 seconds ahead of Rabie.
