Sers' blog: Auckland ITU World Triathlon 2015. Elite women. ... 28 PHOTOS

Auckland ITU World Triathlon 2015.Elie women.

28 PHOTOS

29 March 2015, Auckland hosted the second event of the 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS).

The event featured a standard Olympic-distance course, where athletes race a 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10-kilometer run.

Gwen Jorgensen was among the top ranked triathletes. She won the first WTS race of the season on March 7 in Abu Dhabi, bringing her career WTS win total to nine.

And she won the Auckland Triathlon 2015 on Sunday. The victory brings the Jorgensen to 10 WTS wins and cemented her top position in the world ranking. Another American Katie Zaferes got the silver medal with a time of 2:10:42.
The best New Zealand triathlete Andrea Hewitt performed great. She was in the leading group on the bike course although was unable to match the speed with Jorgensen.

After bike course Hewitt got a 15-second penalty. But despite the setback she was able during run course catch up with the competitors and to finish on third place. Her third result also secured her place on the New Zealand team for Rio 2016.
Jorgensen emerged from the water with a 40-second deficit but her effort on the early laps of the bike catapulted her into the lead group as she was able to remain their for the entire 40km before unleashing her lethal run. Crossing the finish-line at 2:09:04 with a lead of over 90 seconds, she earned her second gold medal and granted her the rights to an early perfect 2015 WTS season.
After the first transition, a strong lead group was led by Lucy Hall (GBR) and Sarah True (USA) for the first couple laps of the bike.
While entering into the third lap a huge push from the chase group made the leading group increase to 21 athletes.

During the last leg of the bike ride the leaders group decreased to an 11-person pack that included Jorgensen, True, Lisa Norden (SWE), Andrea Hewitt (NZL) and Vendula Frintova(CZE).

Norden executed a strong performance on the bike as she brought herself back from a forty-second deficit from the water to be the leader on the bike for five out of the eight-laps.

However she was forced to pull herself out of the race once she hit the run with Achilles trouble.
The three positions were determined early with Jorgensen, Zafares and Hewitt breaking away from the pack in the early stages. While Jorgensen took off on her trademark run, fellow teammate Zafares was able to hold onto a consistent pace to land her the second-place finish.

“I am super excited, last year was my first time in Auckland and it went as bad as I think it could go. This year it went as good as I think it could go. I run my own race the whole time, I don’t want to get caught up in someone else’s pace so I just do my own thing,” said Zafares.

2015 ITU World Triathlon Series Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand – March 29, 2015
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run

1 Gwen Jorgensen USA 2:09:04
2 Katie Zaferes USA 2:10:42
3 Andrea Hewitt NZL 2:10:58
4 Vendula Frintova CZE 2:11:23
5 Lisa Perterer AUT 2:11:40
6 Emma Moffatt AUS 2:11:43
7 Yuka Sato JPN 2:12:02
8 Sarah True USA 2:12:22
9 Sarah-anne Brault CAN 2:12:35
10 Simone Ackermann NZL 2:12:57