Off the 20km bike in Miyazaki, the scene looked set for another World Cup run to the sun for USA’s Gwen Jorgensen on Saturday morning, before a tumble threatened to derail all the hard work. Suddenly over 15 seconds back from the leaders, the American dug deep, picked her way through 15 athletes, and finally reeled in Switzerland’s Alissa Konig to score another gutsy gold right at the end of a wild chase to the tape.
Konig had taken the run out hard with Jolien Vermeylen, but the Belgian dropped back before Jorgensen’s final surge, Konig kicking early as the chute approached but running out of steam to cede the lead at the line.
“I feel like I made this race harder than it needed to be,” admitted Jorgensen, “but the theme was just not to give up, and I just kept telling myself to race. I’m not sure what happened in T2, I went into someone as they racked their bike and fell. At one point I thought a podium was enough but then I thought, ‘Gwen, stop. Race, give your best’. Alissa really made me work for it and sprinted early… but I kept in it and gave my all. A lot of things happened today so I’m really proud I never gave up.”
Vermeylen and Kropko slice through swim
The highest ranked athletes took to the left of the beach start, but it was the likes of Marta Kropko and Beatrice Mallozzi (ITA) further right and turning up the heat early on. Vermeylen then joined Kropko up front as the field bunched up, the Hungarian out and up the beach first, but a big group came into transition together.
Away onto the first of four bike laps, Vermeylen, Konig, Sian Rainsley, Jessica Fullagar looked to drop the hammer, Jorgensen tucked in just off the back and ahead of Emma Jeffcoat and Mallozzi.
There were nine athletes in that front pack at the end of lap one, including Erin McConnell, Erika Ackerlund and Yuko Takahashi, but the chasers had them firmly in their sights, Jeffcoat powering them on, Jorgensen with her.
Vermeylen and McConell then dropped off the back out of the leaders, perhaps foreseeing the merging of the packs that followed half a lap later, a further group of nine including Charlotte Derbyshire (AUS) already out of contention 90s back.
Chaos reigns in transition
GB’s Katie Rodda rolled the dice on lap three but the pack was all back together into transition, McConnell off her bike first but then took a big tumble, before Jorgensen also fell and lost potentially crucial time as Fullagar took to the front.
But while Vermeylen and Konig pressed on, Jorgensen was picking her way forward determinedly. At the bell the gap was still 10 seconds, then the Swiss dropped the Belgian before, at the final turn towards the home straight, it was suddenly Jorgensen right in behind the leader.
As Konig kicked, Jorgensen dug in for one last drive and found the sprint to pass her rival all the way to the tape in a dramatic finale, Vermeylen crossing for the bronze ahead of Sian Rainsley, Takahashi in fifth.
QUOTES
Alissa Konig:
“I feel very honoured to have a sprint with Gwen, I could hear her coming! At the beginning of the bike we tried to gap but never stayed away and then I became aware that I would need my energy on the run. This season is way more than I expected and I worked so hard on myself and it has paid off, I don’t have words for this season so I’m very excited for the next one.”
Jolien Vermeylen:
“The swim was excellent and I thought I was going to have a good day but the bike didn’t go great. I thought I was pushing a lot of power but just not as much as at the front. I was going into T2 and saw someone fall so I was very careful and avoided the problems.”
