Precisely 4 years ago this day, Andrea Hewitt suffered “the saddest day of my life” when her life partner Laurent Vidal died. Today, after a difficult season when physical ailments left her unable to race much at all, tears flowed when she finished the Santo Domingo World Cup.
But these were tears of joy mixed with memories of her beloved Laurent as she made a come from behind win over Taylor Knibb of the U.S., who had to serve a penalty just before the finish.
Hewitt, an Olympian and a star for over a decade, had won her last ITU race in 2017 at the World Triathlon Series at Australia’s Gold Coast. She looked a mixture of confused and thrilled at what she had wrought. “It was crazy out there,” she told ITU media. “I didn’t know that Taylor (Knibb) had a 15-second penalty. I didn’t know until that last corner [when] I saw her in the penalty box. I was in third at halfway and I had two girls on my back. I was running for the podium but then I found myself in front of the tape. I didn’t even know that I had won today.”
Hewitt was overcome emotion. “For me it is crazy to also have to celebrate on a day like today, because today is the anniversary of the saddest day of my life.”
Knibb managed to take second despite the penalty and earn her only World Cup podium of the season. Halfway through the 5 kilometer run, Knibb tried to break away in a last ditch effort to open a gap of more than 15 seconds that could give her the win, with Rivas, Hewitt and Godoy Contreras close behind. But the American never managed to open a sufficient gap, so when she stopped at the penalty box, just a few meters before the finish line, she lost hope.
“I was planning to serve the penalty on the first lap and hopefully catch up with the leaders and race from there but one of the coaches said to take it on the second lap,” Knibb told ITU media. “I had about 100 meters to process it and then I decided to take it on the second lap because when I am racing I don’t look at the penalty board so I was hoping that Andrea (Hewitt) and Claudia (Rivas) didn’t see that I had a penalty.
"I expected to be sprinting in for fourth of fifth place so it’s better than expected. And for Andrea to finish ahead of me, you could not ask for a better person to beat you.”
Claudia Rivas of Mexico out sprinted Anna Godoy Contreras of Spain by 2 seconds at the finish line to take the final spot on the podium, 14 seconds behind Hewitt and 8 seconds behind Knibb.
Santa Domingo World Cup – Women
Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic
November 10, 2019
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 5k
Results
Elite Women
1. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:34:35 S 18:28 T1 00:30 B 57:24 T2 00:33 R 17:41
2. Taylor Knibb (USA) 1:34:41 S 18:30 T1 00:32 B 57:22 T2 00:38 R 17:41
3. Claudia Rivas (MEX) 1:34:49 S 18:29 T1 00:32 B 57:26 T2 00:35 R 17:50
4. Anna Godoy Contreras (ESP) 1:35:01 S 18:25 T1 00:31 B 57:28 T2 00:33 R 18:05
5. Cecilia Perez (MEX) 1:25:05 S 18:36 T1 00:31 B 57:21 T2 00:38 R 18:01
7. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:35:26 S 18:25 T1 00:31 B 57:27 T2 00:35 R 18:31
