Withrow, Albert win Victoria 70.3

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Withrow combined a women’s 2nd-fastest 24:34 swim, 2nd-best 2:28:30 bike split and 4th-best 1:29:40 run to finish in 4:25:11, with a 1:37 margin of victory over Jen Annett of Canada and 6:05 over fellow U.S. competitor Lauren Goss.

Albert led wire-to-wire with a race-best 22:55 swim, race-best 2:13:44 bike split and 5th-quickest 1:19:50 half marathon to finish in 3:58:36, with a 2:26 margin of victory over Taylor Reid of Canada and precisely 4 minutes over 3rd-place Christopher Baird of the U.S.

Women
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Lauren Goss of the U.S. led the pro women’s swim wave with a 24:33 split that gave her 2 seconds on Withrow, and 2:43, 2:47 and 2:49 on Canadians Steph Corker, Melanie McQuaid and Annie-Claude Gaudet. Canadian overall threat Jen Annett was 4:49 back and Lisa Roberts of the U.S. was three more seconds arrears.

Halfway through the bike leg, Withrow established a 2:29 lead on Goss, 4:27 on Annett and 5:54 on McQuaid. At the end of her women’s second-best 2:28:30 bike split, Withrow maintained a 2:29 lead on Annett (2:26:08 bike split), 6:36 on Goss, 8:42 on McQuaid, and 11:40 on Roberts.

On the run, Withrow proceeded to surrender from her lead in the most miserly possible fashion. Midway through the half marathon, Withrow’s lead was down to 2:24 on Annett, 4:54 on Goss and 10:36 on McQuaid. With 5 kilometers left, Withrow’s advantage was 2:18 on Annett and 5:47 on Goss.

After her women’s 4th-best 1:29:40 run, Withrow crossed the line in 4:25:11 with a 1:37 lead on Annett (1:28:56 run), 6:05 on Goss (1:29:21 run), and 8:16 on Roberts (women’s-best 1:26:20 run).

Men
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Albert led the swim in 22:55 which gave him a 3 seconds margin on Graham O’Grady of New Zealand, 43 seconds on Benjamin Collins of the U.S., 1:48 on Justin Metzler of the U.S., 1:50 on Taylor Reid of Canada, and 2:39 on Ricky Swindale of Australia.

Halfway through the bike leg, Albert increased his lead to 1:09 on O’Grady, 2:43 on Taylor, 2:44 on Collins, and 3:58 on Metzler. After a race-best 2:13:44 bike split, Albert led a trio composed of Collins, Reid and O’Grady by slightly less than 4 and a half minutes. Further behind were a quartet of U.S. competitors - Christopher Baird (+8:24), Justin Metzler (+8:25), Nicholas Chase (+8:28), and Jordan Rapp (+11:28).

Halfway through the run, Albert’s lead had slipped to 2:22 over Reid, 2:52 on O’Grady, 4:30 on Collins, 6:30 on Baird, 10:23 on Chase, and 11:36 on Rapp.

After that, Albert stiffened his resistance and stopped the bleeding. After a 5th-fastest 1:19:50 run, the Estonian crossed the line in 3:58:36 with a 2:26 lead on Reid (1:18:06 run), 4 minutes on 3rd-place Baird (1:15:17 run), 5:08 on 4th-place O’Grady, and 5:52 on 5th-place Collins.
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