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The sun was shining and historic German city of Regensburg was ready to welcome triathletes from all over the world to take on the inaugural Challenge Regensburg. But it would be home athletes, Germans Jan Rafael and Julia Viellehner that would take the victory.
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The race began with the 3.8km swim in Lake Guggenberger See before racing through the surrounding beautiful Bavarian countryside and the historic city’s streets, which were filled with a party atmosphere.
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British eyes were firmly on Joe Skipper who was hoping to win here after a fantastic performance at Challenge Roth two weeks ago where he broke the British Iron-distance record.
Sadly though a recent bout of food poisoning meant he wasn’t at full strength and he exited the water eight minutes behind the leader Sebastian Veith. From then Skipper never troubled the leaders and decided to retire on the beginning of the run, saying he felt weak and decided to just enjoy the swim and bike.
The bike leg had a 1,500 metre elevation and took the athletes through the beautiful Bavarian Forest Nature Park, and by mid-day temperatures rose to 24°C.
The first ascent began at 14km, where the athletes climbed to the highest point of the course at Brennberg. A fast descent and a long flat passage, which is only interrupted by a short climb at the southernmost point of the course, will allow athletes to speed up, before the course leads back towards Regensburg, before turning right at Donaustauf for the second bike lap which partly follows along the River Danube into Regensburg.
German Jan Rafael had a great T1 and started the bike leg in the lead, from then he never faulted. By the time he came to the run he had 13 minutes lead on fellow German Sebastian Neef and Chis Fischer from Denmark. However one KM into the run Fischer moved into second and started to gain on Rafael and at 36km mark was just 5 minutes behind but Rafael hung on for the victory, winning in 8:27:27 with Fischer taking 2nd in 08:31:30
The women’s race was won by fellow German Julia Viellehner, Julia in a time of 09:37:32, with Erika Csomor from Hungary in 2nd and Sylvia Felt, also from Germany in third.
Katherin Walther from Germany led after the swim with fellow German Nicole Woysch, in second but after 60km on the bike Woysch took the lead until the run when Walther overtook her again. However this was the end of the two athletes dominance on the race, as after 6km Csomor took the lead and by 16km Viellehner had moved up to second, and had Csomor in her sights. At 21.7km she finally overtook her, in the end winning by 07:32 from Csomor.
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Check out the results of Challenge Regensburg here
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Alistair Brownlee has continued Great Britain’s winning Rio Olympic form by taking the men’s triathlon title here in Rio today. The multiple world and European champ made his move over brother Jonny with 4km left of the run to cement his position as the greatest Olympic-distance athlete in history.
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The fifth Olympic Games triathlon took place in Rio with Alistair Brownlee aiming to become the first athlete in history to defend his Olympic crown. But where tri great Simon Whitfield, Hamish Carter and Jan Frodeno had failed, Alistair made history on the Copacabana after breaking his brother Jonny halfway through the run.
Ali was followed in 31secs later by Jonny, who went one better than at London 2012 to take silver. Henri Schoeman of South Africa was third.
HISTORY BECKONS
The non-wetsuit sea swim took place in water temperatures of 21C, with the heat outside rising swiftly from an overcast morning to 27C by 11am. The gun went and the fifth Olympic Games triathlon was a go, with the Brownlees, Brit Gordon Benson and unofficial swim domestique Richard Varga taking the right hand side to utilise the right to left currents.
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Unusually three distinct swim groups formed, but the plan worked for the Brits and they entered the first buoy in the lead and escaped the first buoy carnage that followed. The pack would string out during the course of the swim, with Varga and Schoeman
Slovakia’s Richard Varga led out the swim followed closely by South Africa’s Henri Schoeman and the Brownlees. Mario Mola was 19sescs down on Varga when he excited, crucially missing the front swim pack.
By lap two of the bike, the Brownlees lead pack of cyclists had increased their lead to 40 seconds over Mario Mola, a minute over Richard Murray. At the halfway stage the lead was 1:13mins, with the two lead chase packs forming.
The Brownlees were pushing the pace on the bike, with plenty of athletes tucking in behind much to the Yorkshire’s boys annoyance (Jonny was clearly heard from the grandstand giving France’s Vincent Luis a piece of his mind). With the chase pack already over a minute in arrears, Mola and Murray would need to pull out huge performances to reach the podium.
A bike crash involving four athletes ended Gordon Benson’s hopes of finishing his debut Olympics, with the bell for the final lap showing little change in the gap from the lead to chase group.
The Brownlees entered T2 with the leaders, alongside Luis, with Schoeman and Aaron Royle not far behind. The brothers had broken free by the first of four run laps, with Schoeman looking strong for third and Luis dropping off the pace. That lead over Schoeman was 13secs by 5km, with the fight coming down to which Brownlee brother would take the title.
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That would be decided early on lap three as Ali made his move surprisingly early, ruthlessly leaving Jonny trailing by 15secs by the end of the third of four run laps. Alistair’s relentless pace saw him hit the finish at 1:45:01 (and this having strolled the finishing straight) with Jonny 6secs behind.
Brit ITU racer Mark Buckingham competed at the Rio Test Event in 2015. Here are his insights into where the Olympic Games races will be won… and lost
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The Swim Start
With a beach run in, strong swimmers won’t get away as quickly as usual. But once the race goes round the first buoy, expect things to quickly string out.
The Swim
The swim is one lap of 1,500m, which gives the athletes near the front an extra advantage as the race lines out. Add to that the possibility of choppy water and rolling waves, and there’s a strong chance of an early break in both the men’s and women’s races. T1 is a short run up the beach, but zaps the energy out of the legs.
The Bike Climb 1
Onto the bike, athletes will have about 200m of road before a sweeping 180° turn, so expect them to get their feet into their shoes before this. The next 1km is extremely fast to the foot of the very steep climb that hits a 20% gradient (Climb 1).
The Bike Climb 2
The descent from Climb 1 is very fast and has two technical bends, anyone trying to chase on to a pack will need to join by the foot of Climb 2, which the athletes will soon get over as it’s not hugely steep or long.
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The Run
On the run, expect to see athletes tucking behind each other for shelter, especially if there’s a strong coastal wind. The last 180° turn before the finish is still 1km to go, so anyone who kicks from here is either feeling very good, or very brave. Simply, this is one of the most demanding Olympic/ITU courses ever!
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Having obliterated the field at the Rio Olympic Games triathlon, the Brownlee brothers pulled off another fine performance in the press conference at the Forte Copacabana as well. Here Yorkshire’s finest open up on the Rio experience, sibling support and the lure of racing Ironman…
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ON ENJOYING IT
ALI: The odds are that it won’t happen again. Four years is a long time until the Tokyo Olympics and we shouldn’t be thinking about it too much. We should be enjoying what we’ve managed to pull off today and be appreciative that the last three months of hard training paid off. When we crossed the line we looked at each other and said ‘We’ve done it’.
ON MAKING THE BREAK
ALI: Our plan was to get out of the swim as fast as we could and push it hard on the bike quickly. And we got a gap between us and the chasers, so it worked. We pushed on to drop Vincent Luis as we knew he was starting to struggle. I’ve spent my life racing so I know what to look for when an athlete is starting to struggle.
ON MILKING COWS
JONNY: Our mum and dad are here but our brother Ed didn’t bother coming and stayed at home. He’s training to be a vet so he’s probably milking cows right now, something far more interesting than watching us! We saw our parents in the stand holding a Great Britain and a Yorkshire flag.
ON RETAINING THE OLYMPIC TITLE
ALI: It’s very special but the important thing is I showed up today after training as hard as I could and executed it on the day. The record isn’t the big thing for me. It’s turning up on this day and winning the race. Maybe the enormity of it will sink in over the next couple of weeks.
ON KILLING IT IN TRAINING
ALI: I had ankle surgery in August 2015 and didn’t run pain-free until the new year. But once I started training, which is something that I love, Jonny helped push me on. We were doing sessions that were harder than races a few times a week and absolutely killing ourselves, I was waking up unable to walk. And it’s been like that for the past six months.
ON ALISTAIR RACING IRONMAN
ALI: Tokyo is a possibility that I need to think about. Triathlon is what I love doing and I want to do Ironman one day. Whether that’s before Tokyo in the next four years I don’t know. Or I do Ironman and then have a crack at Tokyo. But triathlon for me has always been about the Olympics, starting from watching Sydney in 2000.
ON THE RIO SETTING
ALI: The setting is fantastic and the sport of triathlon really showcases locations. We really noticed the British support out on the course; the fans outnumbered every other nation on the course.
JONNY: The water quality was absolutely fine. Our friends have all swam in it and are fine. The only difference we made this time was not swimming in it the day before the race. The bike course made for an interesting and proper triathlon, instead of just a run race. Although being from Yorkshire, we wanted even more hills!
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ON JONNY’S FUTURE
JONNY: I thought Alistair was waiting for me at one point, and I thought I could do him at the end! But if any athlete is going to beat me then I’m happy it’s Alistair. I’m 26 now and still have hopefully a few years in me to get a gold medal. Maybe I’ll start to feel jealous of Alistair if I’m still chasing that medal at the end of my career.
ON SIBLING EMOTIONS
JONNY: Rio was the most emotional moment that I’ve had racing. I’m not usually an emotional racer but maybe after the tough year we’ve had where we’ve gone through a lot more together, it made it more special than ever before me. We’ve been written off so getting gold and silver couldn’t have gone any better.
ON QUITTING TRI
JONNY: If I didn’t have Alistair then I don’t think I would be sat here. There was a time when I was about 14 when I wasn’t sure of doing the sport any longer, but Alistair made it really easy to come back to. He’s a great training partner and would get me out of bed in the morning. We’d cycle to school together and he’d show me great run routes. It’s all about trust and knowing someone has your best interests at heart.
ON HENRI SCHOEMAN’S BRONZE
ALI: Today was about being an all-round triathlete. We said to Henri at the starting line that we’re going to swim hard and take it on. Triathlon at the Olympics is all about doing it on the day, and Henri did that.
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ON UK SPORT
ALI: We’re a sport-mad nation and the funding and input from UK Sport is phenomenal. There are cycling and running routes all around Britain, and the ITU races in Leeds and London have the biggest crowds on the circuit. We’ve got the attitude that the Olympics is everything, and the access to the doctors, physios, coaches and more means that I’ve got all I need. And Yorkshire has a massive sporting heritage, which is crucial. And long may that continue.
It’d taken years of planning, deals, courting, boycotts and, with the implementation of draft-legal racing, a fundamental change to the nature of Olympic-distance elite triathlon. But finally, on 16 September 2000, triathlon’s time in the Olympic Games spotlight had arrived.
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The women were the first off the Sydney Harbour starting pontoon, with hometown girl Michellie Jones the overwhelming favourite for the title. Jones had won the Sydney World Cup races/test events in May 1999 and April 2000 to establish herself as the main athlete to fear in the dominant Australian women’s team.
In front of an expectant crowd, Jones and Switzerland’s Brigitte McMahon would be level-pegging throughout until the Swiss 33-year-old broke free late on the run to break Aussie hearts and become triathlon’s first Olympic champion. McMahon’s victory may not have been as out-of-the-blue as some have suggested (the Swiss athlete beat Jones in Lausanne a month before the Olympics), yet the Swiss athlete would never scale such heights again and retired from the elite circuit in 2005 after testing positive for blood-boosting EPO.
“Hopefully I’ll be at the next Olympics,” said an elated and defiant Jones at the Sydney finish line, yet it wasn’t to be for the Aussie at Athens 2004, with the Triathlon Australia selectors overlooking Jones (and Emma Snowsill) in favour of the rookie athlete Maxine Seear, who would DNF at the Games. The omission of Jones, overlooking the fact that she’d won the Athens test event, saw the Aussie move to non-drafting long-course racing. And with it, the Ironman world title in 2006 and a place at the top of our female triathletes of all-time list.
WHITFIELD RISES
The men’s event would also witness a surprise in Sydney, with the favourites falling by the wayside. Going into the race, New Zealand’s Hamish Carter was in fine fettle, with a gold, silver and a top five in his three ITU races that season. The scene was set for an Opera House showdown with Simon Lessing of Great Britain, the four-time ITU world champion who’d dominated ITU racing alongside Spencer Smith in the 1990s. But it wasn’t to be for Lessing and Carter, with the former overcooking the bike leg to place ninth and the latter succumbing to pressure.
“The Olympic environment can be a huge distraction,” Carter has said. “There’s a lot of added pressure with a once-every-four-year spectacle. The desire to be successful can crush you. That was my mistake in Sydney; getting caught up in it all.”
Coming soon after his MBE from the Queen, Lessing also endured a tough experience in Sydney to finish ninth. “By trying to keep pace during the cycling I wore myself out,” Lessing told The Independent post-race. The scene was set for a new star of triathlon. That man was Canada’s Simon Whitfield. “Lessing just didn’t seem to be enjoying the occasion,” Whitfield recalls. “But I was having a blast!”
The Canadian would later become famous for his tactical knowhow and big race ability. But there was little to outside observers that suggested that an Olympic title was imminent. In hindsight, however, the race best run split at the ITU World Cup race in Corner Brook six weeks before Sydney was a sign of an athlete peaking at the optimum time.
After declining a spot on the Australian team due to his dual citizenship (his father is Australian), Whitfield, his coach Lance Watson and ‘Big Brother’ Greg Bennett (who was only named as a substitute for the Aussie squad), began working on Whitfield’s anaerobic run speed, producing 2:40mins 1km repeats. “When he ran 400m in 54secs at the end of a hard track workout in Nike Air Max trainers, not spikes, we knew he was in great shape,” says Watson.
Cut to race day and Whitfield came out of the Sydney Harbour waters 30secs behind Lessing and Carter, and would exit T2 in 25th place after a bike collision nearly wiped him out. “The crash was almost the perfect stimulus to fire me up,” he says. Whitfield charged out of transition to leave a host of world-beaters in his wake.
With 2km to go, Germany’s Stefan Vuckovic had control of the race, at one point opening a 20m gap between himself and the chasing Canadian. “I was thinking, silver at the Olympics is actually quite awesome,” Whitfield adds, “and then I looked over my shoulder and saw third and fourth stacking up behind and thought that fourth would be terrible, so I upped the pace.”
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With the Opera House finish line in sight, Whitfield’s sprint reps reaped the rewards and he passed the German to win by 13secs and enter triathlon immortality.
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Bike course carnage, an injured home hero battling the odds and the closest sprint finish imaginable. Hyde Park 2012 may be synonymous with the Brownlees but, as a race, the women’s event was even better.
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Four years on, it’s strange to say that the women’s 2012 Olympic race is something of a lost classic, overshadowed by the unforgettable 46 minutes of Super Saturday hours later in the Olympic Stadium and, in UK triathlon, by the Brownlees’ exploits in Hyde Park three days later. But what remains is a bruising encounter full of blood, sweat and tears.
With British hopes resting on Helen Jenkins to repeat her winning 2011 Hyde Park form, the day started well with Jenkins’ GB domestique Lucy Hall first out of the water. Early rain had left the SW1 roads slippery, with former ITU World Champ Emma Moffatt one of the bike course casualties. A lead group of 22 would enter T2 together before the true drama was unleashed.
By the midpoint there were five contenders for the title: Jenkins, Australia’s Erin Densham, USA’s Sarah Groff, Lisa Norden of Sweden and Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig. Spirig dictated the unrelenting pace, with Groff being dropped before returning to the pack and Jenkins – who’d reveal post-race that she’d been carrying an injury for 10 weeks – the next to go at 8km.
Groff was again dropped as the three-way fight entered the finishing chute, with Densham the next to go as Spirig – whose coach Brett Sutton had sent to race an Ironman 70.3 event two weeks before to quell her urge to train – pushed the pace further.
20m from the line and the gold looked to be heading to Switzerland before a late Norden comeback pushed it literally to the line. Both athletes broke the tape together and plummeted to the floor. There was brief talk of a tie as Norden raised both arms first in celebration, with third-placed Densham still assuming that the Swede had won until the podium presentation. But it was to be Spirig to take the title. Groff would finish fourth and Jenkins fifth, then a best-ever position for a Brit female at the Olympics.
Following their efforts on that muggy London morning, the top three have rarely been seen on the ITU scene in the intervening period, with Spirig becoming a mother in 2013, Norden experimenting with longer-course racing and Densham plagued by injury. We’ll find out today if they’ll trouble the finish line photographers at Rio 2016.
GB HISTORY IS MADE
After injuries, broken bikes, tummy troubles and more, Alistair Brownlee finally broke the British Olympic curse in 2012 to become Olympic champion. In the process, the 24-year-old from Leeds secured Britain’s first-ever triathlon medal since the sport was accepted into the Olympics at Sydney 2000.
In front of a packed Central London, with crowds 10 deep lining the Mall and watching on giant screens in Hyde Park, the fourth ever men’s Olympic triathlon event began at 11.30am with a 1.5km wetsuit swim in the Serpentine.
The Brownlees followed their training partner, Slovakia’s Richard Varga, out of the water and quickly established a five-man breakaway with Gomez and Italy’s Alessandro Fabian.
The gap wasn’t enough, however, and by the end of the 43km bike leg that took in seven laps of Hyde Park, the leading pack contained just over 20 riders, including the dangerous Russian trio of Brykhankov, Polyansky and Vasiliev, Swiss Sven Riederer, 2008 Olympic champion Jan Frodeno and the Brownlees’ domestique, Stuart Hayes. (Simon Whitfield, the four time Olympian and winner at Sydney 2000 was missing, however, after a nasty crash exiting T1).
During the bike leg, Jonny Brownlee had been notified that he had to serve a 15sec penalty for mounting his bike too early after T1. The 22-year-old Sprint World Champion knew he had to serve the penalty at the start of one of the four 2.5km laps, and chose to do it at the end of the third/start of the fourth.
By that stage the medal contenders were down to three after Alistair had opened the run leg at a high intensity and dropped everyone bar Gomez and Jonny. The younger Brownlee was beginning to drop off the staggering pace at the end of lap three, which saw the race for gold come down to Ali and Gomez, both double World Champions and the two previous winners of the Hyde Park ITU World Series event.
But it was to be Alistair’s day as he started to drop Gomez on the southern side of the Serpentine with 2km to go. Gomez desperately clung on to keep the gap to a handful of seconds but Alistair’s continued pace had extended the lead to nearly 20secs by the home straight, enough time for the older Brownlee to celebrate in front of a rapturous grandstand, with his overall split being 1:46:25, 11secs in front of Gomez.
Jonny would come home in 1:46:56 and was taken straight to the medical tent for a check-up (he’d return for the medal ceremony). Stuart Hayes would come home in 37th.
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“Alistair’s as tough as teak and he showed it today,” Malcolm Brown, Olympic performance manager said post-race. On his penalty, Jonny said, “The first thing I thought was “What an idiot, getting a penalty.” Then I realised it was me!”
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USA’s Gwen Jorgensen has been crowned Olympic champion here in Rio today after an epic battle with reigning champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland. There would also be another medal for the British team, with Gloucester’s Vicky Holland outpacing her housemate Non Stanford on the finishing straight.
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The 1.5km swim kicked-off in waves bigger and choppier than the men’s race on Thursday, and the first three out were Spain’s Carolina Routier, USA’s Katie Zafares and Mari Rabie of South Africa. All the contenders were in the large lead pack of 31, including Gwen, the Brits of Non Stanford and Vicky Holland, plus Bermuda’s Flora Duffy and reigning Olympic champion Nicola Spirig.
The hills and frenetic pace was pushed on the 40km bike leg by Spirig of Switzerland, Xterra off-road world champ Flora Duffy and GB’s Non Stanford, with the lead pack of 31 was halved by lap 2 of the bike. Brit Helen Jenkins had been dropped to 55secs back.
With Gwen Jorgensen also taking turns at the front the leaders were playing with danger allowing a runner of Jorgensen’s stature to stay in contention. Simply, she needed to be dropped before the run.
At the end of lap six that lead pack was still a pack and the chase group of Jenkins and co. was over two minutes back. The Welsh athlete’s Olympic dream was over.
Onto the 10km run and Jorgensen and Spirig were soon in front, a showdown for the ages between the reigning Olympic champion and the new superstar of the sport.
RUN BATTLE
The battle would continue throughout the 10km, with Spirig – coached by famed trainer and tactician Brett Sutton – on the shoulder of Gwen throughout. The Brits of Stanford and Holland would now be battling for bronze against Emma Moffatt and Barbara Riveros Diaz.
Spirig took control of the pace after 5km but still nothing could separate the athletes. There was plenty of talk between the two (more of which when we find out later) but the move by Jorgensen came after the bell of the final run lap and it quickly proved decisive. The long loping stride of the American has broken Spirig and America’s first Olympic triathlon gold medal was in touching distance.
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After 1:56:16 of racing Gwen was Olympic champ with Nicola taking silver, and Vicky Holland outpacing her housemate Non Stanford for bronze.
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Gwen Jorgensen today became the first American triathlete to win gold at an Olympic Games. After a flat tyre at London 2012 led to a 38th-place finish, Gwen had clocked up a record 12 out of 12 wins on the ITU circuit, with the 2014 and 2015 ITU World Championship titles both heading to the 30-year-old’s trophy cabinet. And now the Rio Olympic title is hers.
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After the race in Rio, Gwen talked about her epic duel with Nicola Spirig in Rio, what was said between the two on the run, and the support of the Wollongong Wizards…
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ON WHAT WAS SAID TO SPIRIG
Me and Nicola were playing a few games and not wanting to take the lead into the headwind. On the run, we were talking about ‘you take a turn, I’ve taken a turn.’ She said to me that she’s already got an Olympic gold medal, which is fair enough as she now has two and I only have one!
ON BECOMING A TRIATHLETE
[USAT Recruitment Program Coordinator] Barbara Lindquist came to me and said I could be an Olympian. I didn’t believe that as my passion was swimming and I wanted to go to the Olympics with that. It was a shock to me qualifying for London 2012, but I’ve had a lot of support by a lot of people throughout.
ON THE WOLLONGONG WIZARDS
Jamie Turner and my husband Pat have invested so much in me, more than anyone can ever know. I’m the grandma and Pat’s the granddad at the Wollongong Wizards team, I’m 30 and the rest of the squad make me feel young. I’ve learnt a lot from them and hopefully have taught them things too. Jamie I feel is the best triathlon coach in the world.
ON HER FOUR-YEAR GOAL
This, the Olympic Games triathlon on 20 August 2016, has been my goal for four years. To have my family, Pat and Jamie here means so much. I wish I could’ve had Pat and Jamie on the podium with me. At London I had a flat tyre and I sat down after the race and said that I wanted to come back to Rio to win gold.
ON RACING SPIRIG
You can never underestimate an Olympic gold medallist. I didn’t think about not having raced her since 2012, we were probably both learning about each other during the race.
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ON THE RIO EXPERIENCE
The Rio course was wonderful, the fans were amazing and lining the whole course. The water quality was fine and it passed the checks that are conducted before the race, so we were given the all-clear.
Fresh from becoming the first British female triathlete to claim an Olympic Games medal here in Rio, Vicky Holland opened up to the world’s press about beating her housemate Non Stanford to bronze in the sprint finish.
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“I have such mixed emotions [about winning bronze ahead of Non Stanford]. I was absolutely delighted when I crossed the line and I still am. To come and win a medal for Team GB and for myself is absolutely what I came here for. But to have to beat out your best friend, your training partner, your housemate is hard. And I guess about 5km into the run, I knew that it was going to come down to me or Non for a medal.
“We’ve always said it’s fair game when it comes to the run. We knew we wanted a medal and we didn’t want to let Barbara Riveros [of Chile] back in from behind. So at that point we just had to keep the pressure on and keep running for the bronze. I wanted both of us to do it.
“Non is a huge part of what I do. Half of this medal is hers. I wouldn’t be the athlete I am if it wasn’t for her. I moved in with Non at the end of 2013 and I’ve become an exponentially better athlete for it. I have to give so much credit to her and she’ll be back in four years time. I wouldn’t bet against her in Tokyo.
“I had to put out of my mind that it was Non. I had to imagine it was another competitor. I had to find her at the finish line and say I’m sorry as fourth is the worst position to finish, especially at the Olympic Games. But she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.
“The first time we ever raced each other was a 1,500m event at U18 level, I think I outsprinted her then but I was a few years older. Maybe I’ll give it a few weeks before I hang my medal up in the house! I wanted it to be both of us and I think Non deserved a medal as much as I do. I don’t know if I would’ve won a medal if it wasn’t for Non and I hope she knows that.
“Both myself and Helen [Jenkins] have both had a virus, but being athletes neither of us had told each other! I’ve had problems with my stomach for the last day, but I’ve been patched up by the great medical team here and given plenty of Imodium!”
WELSH HEARTBREAK
Vicky Holland’s eventual winning margin over Welsh athlete and 2013 ITU world champ Stanford was just three seconds after almost two hours of racing, and Stanford suggested that her tactics had cost her the reverse result or better.
“I was within 20secs of winning a medal and maybe I played it tactically a bit wrong,” Stanford said post-race. “I didn’t feel great out there but I wanted to try and push on and make sure we got rid of Barbara [Riveros] so one of the medals was secure. Maybe I pushed a bit too hard and sacrificed my own race.”
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The third of the British trio Helen Jenkins, who was fifth at the last Olympics in London in 2012, admitted she wasn’t good enough after placing 19th in Copacabana in her third Olympic appearance. The Welsh athlete said: “I don’t want to make excuses; I wasn’t good enough. It isn’t anything too serious, on this kind of course if you are a per cent off it’s not going to happen.”
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The world of tri has watched, admired and marvelled at American Gwen Jorgensen’s complete and total destruction of the WTS women’s circuit over the last few years. Mouths agape, time and again we’ve seen her devour the tarmac to claw back seemingly insurmountable time deficits post-T2.
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Her running style has been described as near-perfect by some of the top coaches in the sport. Darren Smith, coach to Olympic silver medallist Lisa Norden and Commonwealth gold medallist Jodie Stimpson, told 220: “Jorgensen’s just killing everyone, isn’t she? If you look at her, everything’s straight.”
But where has this long-limbed leopard come from? How does one go from accountant, specialising in corporation tax, to the most successful female Olympic-distance triathlete to have ever graced the ITU’s distinctive blue carpet?
Marked potential
Older sister Elizabeth may well be the answer. Herself a keen track and field athlete in high school, Liz’s coach, Eric Lehmann, approached her one day to demand “You have to get your sister to start running”. Gwen, however, was in love with swimming, refusing to miss a day in the pool for any other sport.
Lehmann, clearly unperturbed and aware of the potential talent in his midst, said he would be flexible, allowing her to swim around two run sessions a week. Success on two feet came swiftly, even though the hours devoted to running were significantly less than those swimming.
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Moving to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to study general accountancy (“not knowing what I wanted to study, but I just found this very interesting”) in 2004, Lehmann continued to encourage her, convincing her to try for the college team – “I just thought he was nuts,” admits Gwen now. “But he called up the coach, Jim Stintzi and I was on the team later that year. And then I did a time-trial and qualified for the NCAA’s [National Collegiate Athletic Association], so it was crazy.”
Multisport fortune would come a-knockin’ in 2009 in the shape of former American pro triathlete Barb Lindquist, who had started working for (America’s equivalent of the BTF) USA Triathlon to identify, recruit and ultimately mentor talent from college swimming and track teams for their Olympic programme.
“Barb was the reason I started doing triathlon,” says Gwen, who by now was on a one-year Masters programme. “She came to me as part of that programme and asked me if I would try a triathlon. At the time I had a full-time job lined up at Ernst & Young, so it was kind of a hard decision. She told me to just give it a shot and see if I liked it. She said I could work full time and do tri.”
Qualifying for the London Olympics one year later, she became the programme’s first success story. After making the team, she took a leave of absence from her job, a position that she still technically holds: “I could go back! That’s always nice to know when your athletic career may one day be over.”
But could she honestly see herself going back to a desk job? “I really did enjoy my work with Ernst & Young, I enjoyed what I was doing, but I can’t complain about my job now. I mean I love being outside and getting to do what I love every day.”
School of wizardry
Despite the fanfare leading up to the 2012 Games, Gwen’s race in London was effectively ruined by a flat tyre, leaving her trailing in 38th place as her teammate Sara Groff took fourth. But before the Olympics, Gwen had approached Triathlon Canada’s national high-performance coach, Jamie Turner, a Kiwi, drawn by the idea of working in a dedicated triathlon team. In October of that year, she joined his squad, the Wollongong Wizards, whose Twitter biog reads: “Illawarra-based Triathlon School of Wizardry. We make magic happen.”
“It’s been phenomenal,” says Gwen of the set-up. “I knew that in order for me to become more successful and become the best athlete, I needed to join this type of group. And Jamie was incredible, the way he has this group set up, everyone is encouraging, everyone is happy and truly happy for other athletes when they do well. I wouldn’t have this success without the Wollongong Wizards and Jamie, they have really helped me and pushed me every day.”
While Gwen’s results pre-Games were solid, including a second place behind Helen Jenkins at the 2011 London WTS race, post Wollongong Wizard-enrollment her success on the ITU course has been relentless, with 11 top-five World Tri Series finishes out of 17 starts. And of those 11, eight were wins.
When Gwen first started working with Jamie, the focus was inevitably on building up her swim and bike strength – which, ironically, while still not nearly as strong as her run strength, have both resulted in an even stronger run. “The stronger we get on the swim and the bike, the better my run is. I’m not as fatigued going into it and I have more strength. We worked on glute strength a lot with my running, which is important as well as core work.”
“We’re seeing Gwen running faster because she’s now more economical and efficient on the swim and the bike,” says Turner. “So we will continue to see Gwen run faster as she improves in the swim and the bike.”
But what exactly makes Gwen’s run so good? In short, everything. Turner highlights the following elements:
“Her mechanics are good, her stride length, her ability to hold her form under stress is good, she is good at extracting the most out of herself in the run and she thrives and enjoys the challenge of running fast. It’s something she really prides herself on. Physiologically her numbers are good too.”
“A lot of it has to do with genetics,” says Gwen. “When I was growing up I did everything I could to be successful at swimming. However, I wasn’t world class. I still have to work extremely hard at swimming, whereas running comes more naturally. I’m also consistent in my running – running about 50–60km a week.”
Finding the balance
Often compared to another of the great triathlon runners, Emma Snowsill (who also helps mentor a number of the Wollongong Wizards), Jorgensen has divided opinion as to whether she can ever be truly classed as a great triathlete when she relies so heavily on one discipline to win races.
“I look at my competitors and at the men on the circuit and I see those who are dominant on the swim, bike and run – the Brownlees, Javier Gomez – and that’s what I want to be,” she admits.
“And the thing I love about ITU racing is that every race is different,” she continues. “Sometimes swim/bikers get away. Sometimes everyone is together coming into the run. You have to be able to swim with the best, bike with the best, and run away from the best to win. I’m still trying to balance all three.
“I treat the swim like a swim race, bike like a bike race and running like a run race. The cycling is not a 40k TT like in non-drafting. The accelerations and power output on the bike are difficult and can really affect the run off the bike. You need to be able to accelerate and surge throughout the race. It’s a lot of sprinting and recovering.”
Investing for the future
“There are improvements every day to aim towards in terms of stability and strength,” says Turner on Gwen’s training focus leading into a new season. “When you take up the sport late like Gwen did you miss all of those junior opportunities. Gwen came in as a 24-year-old accountant, remember, not a triathlete. So the challenge is to keep investing in the process. Yes, she has a gift, certainly genetically as well, but she works just as hard as everybody else.”
Jorgensen said: “The Olympics are the biggest one-day race in our sport and crazy things can and will happen. Triathlon is unique in that there are so many variables: there can be a swim/bike breakaway, a mechanical on the bike, the race may all come together. The challenge of the sport is also its beauty.”
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(Images: Laughing Dog / Delly Carr)