High stakes, high energy, high quality racing marked the inaugural Professional Triathletes Organization Canadian Open for women that evolved into one of the dramatic twists and turns in the sport.
It was as race of many chapters as Vittoria Lopes burst out front on the swim with a 27:20 split that gave her a 13 seconds lead on Lauren Brandon, and 24 seconds lead on eventual winner Ashleigh Gentle. Lopes hung on to her lead midway through the 80 kilometer bike leg when Paula Findlay passed into the lead, with Ellie Salthouse, Gentle, Julie Derron of Switzerland, and Nicola Spirig and Sara Perez Sala all trailing within a minute.
By 1:33 into the race, early cofavorite Emma Pallant-Browne of Great Britain suffered a flat tire that left her too far back to race into contention.
By the third of four bike laps Findlay established a steady lead of 90 seconds over four women - Gentle, Ellie Salthouse, Nicola Spirig, Vittoria Lopes. In the next tier of chasers came Jocelyn McCauley of the U.S. (+2:16) , and pre-race favorite Laura Philipp of Germany (+2:52), who had a lot of ground to make up after a tardy swim that left her 5 minutes arrears.
By the end of the bike leg, Findlay had a 1:21 lead over Gentle, 2:28 over Philipp, 2:41 over Ellie Salthouse, 2:56 over McCauley, 3:06 over Spirig, 3:33 over Lopes.
Sadly, Lopes had to serve a 30 seconds penalty for crossing on the wrong side of a buoy on the swim and fell further out of contention. Also, strong contender Sarah Crowley overheated and dropped out.
Once on the first of four laps of the run, Gentle got fired up and passed Findlay for the lead at 2:53:50 race time.
Well on her way to the fastest run lap, Gentle opened up a 23 seconds lead on Findlay. After a strong surge to get into contention, Laura Philipp ran out of momentum and stalled at 3:38 off the lead. By that point, another early favorite Fenella Langridge also overheated and withdrew.
Coming to the line, U.S. super runner Chelsea Sodaro had sliced through the field and on the final turn disposed of Philipp to take the final spot on the podium.
Exhilarated by the $100,000 win and in anticipation of her imminent marriage to Josh Amberger, Gentle was thrilled in her post race comments: “I am so happy!” she told PTO media. “This is the most amazing day. These have not been the easiest 2-3 years. But this is an absolute dream that will take a while to sink in. This nis a feeling that I will never forget.”
PTO Canadian Open Professional Women
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
July 23, 2022
S 2k / B 80k / R 18k
1. Ashleigh Gentle 3:30:54 $100,000
2. Paula Findlay CAN 3:33:16 - $70,000
3. Chelsea Sodaro USA 3:34:56 - $50,000
4. Laura Philipp GER 3:35:10 - $40,000
5. Julie Derron SUI 3:36:18 - $35,000
6. Holly Lawrence GBR 3:37:43 - $30,000
7. Vittoria Lopes BRA 3:38:14 - $25,000
8. Ellie Salthouse AUS 3:38:34 - $20,000
9. Sophie Watts USA 3:39:28 - $18,000
10. Nicola Spirig SUI 3:39:50 - $16,000
