Gwen Jorgensen continued her strong second half of the season with another victory on the World Triathlon Cup circuit, this time at Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
The 2016 Olympic Champion, who returned to triathlon at the start of the year after a long hiatus, had roared to victory at World Triathlon Cup Valencia just a week earlier. She would repeat the feat on Sunday.
Racing over the Olympic distance, Jorgensen successfully pulled away from Dutch athlete Rachel Klamer on the blue carpet and significantly boosted her ranking, as she moved up 28 spots to World #52.
A matter of seconds for Jorgensen
After more than two hours of racing on a challenging course in Karlovy Vary, it came down to the wire after Klamer and Jorgensen were locked in battle for much of the second half of the 10km run.
Having lost around 20 seconds per lap in the swim to a lead group that included recent World Triathlon Cup winner Bianca Seregni of Italy, Jorgensen had a deficit of just under 45 seconds to make up as she exited transition alongside Klamer in the chase group.
Over the course of the 40km bike, which included close to 1000m of elevation gain, Swiss athlete Julie Derron contributed to a large amount of the work at the front of the chase pack, with the deficit to the four-person breakaway eliminated by the start of the third lap.
With 12 athletes glued together at the front over the remaining 20km, it seemed likely to be playing into Jorgensen’s favour and looked certain to come down to a run battle, despite Swiss athlete Anja Weber’s best efforts to make a break for it late on in the bike.
Coming into transition, the leaders had a 90-second lead to the chase pack, as Derron led the way through the first lap of the run with Jorgensen, Klamer and German Marlene Gomez-Goggel right on her heels.
Over the final 5km, Jorgensen made a move that only Klamer could live with, leaving the two veterans to battle it out before Jorgensen managed to hold off Klamer in a late sprint finish to the line, with Gomez-Goggel finishing in third despite having to serve a 15-second penalty.
World Triathlon Cup Karlovy Vary Results
Sunday September 10, 2023 – Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
- 1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) – 2:03:51
- 2. Rachel Klamer (NED) – 2:03:55
- 3. Marlene Gomez-Goggel (GER) – 2:04:12
- 4. Julie Derron (SUI) – 2:04:33
- 5. Selina Klamt (GER) – 2:04:58
