Gwen Jorgensen (USA) takes World Triathlon Yokohama top spot for fourth time, Mario Mola (ESP) scores third win this year
By Wires
May 14, 2016
In a race that brought as much excitement and anticipation as perhaps the Olympic Games themselves, the ITU World Triathlon Yokohama concluded the two-year triathlon Olympic qualification period with USA’s Gwen Jorgensenclaiming her fourth consecutive Yokohama title with ease, while Mario Mola (ESP) scored his third win of the season, but his first-ever in Yokohama.
Women’s Review
While her second-place finish in Gold Coast ended a 12-WTS race winning streak that she started in Yokohama in 2014, Jorgensen returned to the top of the podium with the fastest run split ever in Yokohama history – 32:15.
Producing a consistently strong performance throughout the whole competition that saw her among the leaders in the swim and bike that set her up for a flawless run execution, Jorgensen was able to reclaim her spot on the top of the WTS podium. The victory also granted her the Yokohama title for the fourth consecutive year, a feat that no other elite athlete has done been able to do at the same venue.
Earning the silver medal was Aussie Ashleigh Gentle. Gentle constructed a monster of a race to come from behind and ultimately take the second spot on the podium. Her silver medal also allowed her to demonstrate a strong case going forward with her national federation’s Olympic selection for the final two Australian women’s spots.
Despite being 30 seconds down on the swim, Gentle and Ai Ueda worked to pull up on the bike. Heading out of T2, Ueda and Gentle were able to get a wide enough gap and stride away from the others. Sticking together until the final metres, Gentle had a little bit more left in her legs to get ahead of Ueda and grab the silver. While Ueda followed behind in third.
On the Olympic qualification front, Lisa Norden’s 22nd place finish was enough to keep her in the European new flag quota spot. Unless the US opts to use their final women’s spot as a discretionary position, Katie Zaferes finished the Olympic qualification period as the highest athlete on the rankings list outside of previously-qualified Jorgensen and Sarah True. Amelie Kretz’ incredible eighth-place finish means she moved ahead of Maryia Shoret, who was the last athlete to qualify for the Olympics via rankings, which bodes well for Canada.
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Men’s Review
In a series of firsts, Spaniard Mario Mola was finally able to capture the gold medal in Japan at the 2016 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama. While the other two podium spots were earned by Mexico’s Crisanto Grajales and Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt, both of whom graced the WTS podium for the very first time. Their medals also meant that Mexico and Norway were represented on a World Triathlon Series podium for the first time in history.
Heading out onto the bike it looked as though different groups were going to form, but after the first lap the course was simply a giant sea of cyclists as the pack tallied well over 50 men. As the pack never decreased in size of the course of the nine-laps, the second transition zone would become a gathering of all contenders at the same time.
Mola executed on his run right out of the T2 gate and was able to stride his way into his third WTS victory of the season. Also capitalizing on the run was Grajales who captured the silver medal, when he overtook Blummenfelt in the final kilometres of the course to advance into second place, while Blummenfelt was left to finish off the day with an impressive third.
The big topic on many athletes’ minds was where they needed to finish to qualify for the Rio Olympics. The USA’s Joe Maloy and Ben Kanute clocked 11th- and 17th-place finishes, which were strong enough for the US to name them to the Olympic team. While Greg Billington didn’t finish, his standing was high enough with USA Triathlon’s own rankings that he, too, was named to their Olympic team.
While Jason Wilson didn’t improve his ranking, his biggest competition Manuel Huerta didn’t race, so Wilson should theoretically make his first Olympic Team and become the first triathlete from Barbados to go to the Olympics. A 29th place finish from Ivan Ivanov was not enough to overtake Thomas Springer for the European new flag quota spot.
The biggest points mover of the day was Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN). His 10th place finish saw him surge to 2781 points, moving up ahead of teammates Andrew Yorke and Kyle Jones. While Canada’s two positions are in tact, selectors now have to choose which of the three men to take to Rio.
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