Last June, Canadian triathlon prodigy Kirsten Sweetland braved a crippling stress fracture in her foot in a futile try to cinch a Canadian Olympic slot at her home country World Championships in Vancouver. When that race was over, the dazzling daughter of a triathlon-loving Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer limped in 38th. The desperate icing doctors applied to kill the pain got her to the finish line but couldn’t make Sweetland’s fleet feet work at their blindingly fast best.
And too bad for Canada. At the tender age of 18, Sweetland won both the ITU junior World Championship and, matching the early success of Portugal’s superstar Vanessa Fernandes, won her first ITU World Cup at Richards Bay, South Africa. In that same magical year, she followed that with a second place at the Edmonton, Canada World Cup. Blazuing through that first year like a comet, Sweetland also fought an elbow-to-elbow duel with Laura Bennett and Annabel Luxford for the $200,000 first prize at the inaugural Hy-Vee Triathlon before she fainted in the tropical heat just half a mile from the finish.
Sunday at the season opening Mooloolaba World Cup in Queensland, Australia, Sweetland roared back to her 2007 form. Taking off from the bike in a tight pack of eight contenders, the 20-year-old Victoria, Canada star ran a race-best 35:14 10k to win her second ITU World Cup in a time of 2:02:00.
What a great way to come back," Sweetland told ITU media. "This is the first 10km run for me in a long while. I followed my coach's instructions and started slowly and felt great the second half."
Awakening daydreams of what might have been in China, Sweetland shut the door on home country favorite and Beijing bronze medalist Emma Moffat by a 55-second margin, with Olympic 7th place finisher Daniela Ryf of Switzerland, the 2008 Under 23 World Champion, another eight seconds back in third place.
"It hurt out there today," Moffat told ITU media. "The hills and the wind were a real battle...I have had a reasonably short prep with just five weeks with my new coach Craig Walton (Olympic gold medalist Emma Snowsill's coach and husband) so I feel good and am looking forward to the season ahead."
New Zealand’s Nicky Samuels, the bronze medalist at the 2006 ITU Under 23 World Championship, who recently took second to countrywoman Debbie Tanner at the Wellington Nzl ITU Oceania Cup and who won the New Zealand Sprint Championship, took fourth in 2:04:19, with Australian Felicity Abram 5th and top-placing USA competitor Jillian Petersen taking 6th.
Emma Snowsill, three-time ITU World Champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, was a spectator. Snowsill cracked a rib surfing a few months ago and said she was not yet in competitive shape. Watching Sweetland, almost precisely seven years younger, another mighty mite whose 5-foot 3-inch, 110 pound frame and foot speed are comparable, might have seemed just a little bit like a standing in front of a mirror.
Mooloolaba ITU World Cup
Mooloolaba, Australia
March 29, 2009
S 1.5k/ B 40k/R 10k
Results
Elite women
1. Kirsten Sweetland CAN 2:02:00
2. Emma Moffat AUS 2:02:55
3. Daniela Ryf SUI 2:03:03
4. Nicky Samuels NZL 2:04:19
5. Felicity Abram AUS 2:05:28
6. Jillian Petersen USA 2:05:33
7. Annabel Luxford AUS 2:05:53
8. Debbie Tanner NZL 2:06:24
9. Liz Blatchford GBR 2:06:36
10. M. Takagi JPN 2:06:49
13. Mary Beth Ellis USA 2:07:49
14. Jenna Shoemaker USA 2:08:17
