Taylor Knibb roared back to the top of the T100 Triathlon podium with a dominant victory in Vancouver.
Knibb lost the first T100 race of her career in San Francisco two weeks ago but was back on top form in Canada, as she took the tape over two minutes ahead of Julie Derron.
The American’s strength on the bike once again proved pivotal, as she pulled ahead from the pack alongside Jess Learmonth before closing out victory on the run.
Learmonth eventually finished third to earn her first T100 podium behind Derron, and Knibb was pleased to have the Brit to battle against for much of the contest.
Knibb said: “My run felt a lot better than San Francisco. My coach made a few changes to my training to help me, and it really helped, so thank you.
“It was really fun racing with Jess. I’m really pleased she got a Hot Shot [for the T100 series] and she made me better out there and I was really grateful for it.
“It was a fun race; it’s so much better having Jess. Like on the technical section I wasn’t taking it as well as she was, so I ended up following her line and wheel and that made me better.
“That is the fun thing about a lap course, is that you can learn on each lap and get better. She was really strong on that section, and I was better at others and I’m glad that we could trade off each other.”
Knibb’s victory leaves her second in the overall standings, nine points behind Derron and four points ahead of Kate Waugh, who was absent in Vancouver.
Derron took the win in San Francisco a fortnight ago but was not quite able to make it back-to-back victories, as the Swiss athlete was left to rue difficult swim and bike legs.
“I gave myself quite a bit of work after the swim,” she said. “My swim was terrible today, I don’t know what happened.
“Then I found myself a bit in no man’s land on the bike, but I just had to focus and keep pushing away and onto the run I knew I was aiming for the podium and I was just hunting down Jess, which really kept me honest and kept me going all out until the finish line.
“To come second when things didn’t go that well, I’m really pleased with.
“After Singapore the goal was to get back on the podium in these two races [San Francisco and Vancouver] and I’ve done that so I couldn’t ask for more.”
The T100 Triathlon World Tour is a season-long schedule of World Championship level races competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run), where the world’s best triathletes go head-to-head in iconic locations. For more information visit www.T100Triathlon.com
