Lisa Norden must have felt a sense of déjà vu when she had to sprint with Anne Haug for the title of the ITU Yokohama WTS race, but here the fast Swede took the win.

Norden had lost a photo finish sprint decision at the London Olympics, but has since been winning with panache. She started with a win at home at the ITU Stockholm WTS race in late August and then followed it up with another clear victory at Hy-Vee the first weekend in September, where she successfully defended her title from 2011 and also earned a very nice pay check again.

The fairly small field of 31 women was spread out nicely after the swim in Yokohama Bay with Rachel Klamer, Sarah Groff and Emma Moffatt leading the bunch out of the water.

Once on the bikes the front bunch of 21 didn't look very motivated and the chasing group of 8 that included Barbara Riveros Diaz, Anne Haug, Gwen Jorgensen and Ashleigh Gentle slowly came across that gap of just under 60 seconds. About 20k into the event the two groups merged and from that point on not much was going on in terms of effort on the bike and it all came down to the run.

Haug was first to charge out of transition and she was followed by Gentle, Moffatt, Densham, Norden, Caelers and Riveros Diaz, and these 7 women pulled away from the rest of the field. Gentle and Densham set a wicked pace and Rivers Diaz was the first to fall off. Behind them Groff was hanging steady but could not really gain time on the leaders. Up front the lead kept changing throughout with Moffatt pushing hard with 1k left, followed by Haug with about 700 meters to go and eventually Norden took charge. But when Norden took the lead with about 500 meters to go , Haug hung with utmost determination. As they approached the finish line Haug managed to reel in Norden but it was not to be. It was very tight at the end but Norden took the win. Haug grabbed second and Caelers got the final podium spot, and all three seemed to be very delighted with the result.

Norden though apologized post race to the spectators for the general lackluster effort on the bike.


ITU Yokohama WTS
Yokohama, Japan / September 29, 2012

Leaderboard

1. Lisa Norden (SWE) 1:59:07
2. Anne Haug (GER) 1:59:08
3. Maaike Caelers (NED) 1:59:12
4. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:59:17
5. Erin Densham (AUS) 1:59:22
6. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 1:59:26
7. Sarah Groff (USA) 1:59:36
8. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1:59:56
9. Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) 2:00:22
10. Gillian Sanders (RSA) 2:02:29