It was a day of firsts at the 2016 Salinas ITU World Cup as USA’s Kirsten Kasper and Spaniard David Castro Fajardo captured their very first World Cup titles in the debut event in Ecuador on Sunday.
Women’s Review
After starting her season with two back-to-back World Cup bronze medals, Kasper finally achieved her first gold at the 2016 Salinas ITU World Cup by outrunning USA compatriot Summer Cook in the final kilometres.
Kasper said of her win, “Words can’t describe how excited I am. I know Summer well from college, she ran for Villanova and I ran for Georgetown so we were big rivals. So I knew that if we just worked together and work off of each other we would do well. To get away from her I was just trying to listen to my body and know where I was. I obviously can’t control what she was doing, so I just try and focus on myself. I was feeling strong in the final lap, so I thought I would take over and push through to the finish.”
Taking the silver medal, Kasper was joined by Cook, grabbing her second World Cup podium of the year, while the bronze was earned by South Africa’s Gillian Sanders, who also recorded a career first by stepping onto her first World Cup podium.
Charging out of the ocean, Mari Rabie (RSA) with Canadian Dominika Jamnicky and Aussie Emma Jacksonmanaged to get the slight edge from the swim and led into the first transition, but the gap was only slightly as the rest of the field were only seconds behind.
While the sprint only offering up four short laps, a small pack of women found their moment to get ahead of the others and ride as the leaders. Training partners Rabie and Lisa Norden (SWE) were the frontrunners, creating the split after every lap. But while the group of nine women were not threatened by the trailing chase pack led by Ecuador’s Elizabeth Bravo because they were over a minute down, the strength of runners that were included in the leading nine did mean that someone was going to have to make a breakaway. Kasper, Cook, Sanders, Jamnicky, Jackson, Michelle Filpo (FRA) and Vanessa De La Torre (MEX) followed Rabie and Norden into the second transition looking forward to the two-lap five kilometre run.
It took no time for Kasper and Cook to separate themselves as the front two women. Gaining space from the rest of the women they cycled with, after one lap they had secured their spots as the gold and silver.
The battle for bronze then came down to a small bunch who had formed in the first 2.5km. Sanders, Rabie, Norden and De La Torre became a foursome, running side by side until the finish.
Down the finish chute, while Kasper and Cook ran as compatriots for the entire two laps, it was Kasper who had the extra push at the end as she was first down the finish chute to capture her first World Cup victory.
Cook then followed just seven seconds behind to claim the silver and snag her second World Cup podium of the year.
Sanders then was awarded with the bronze, after broke away from her pack in the final lap, a move that would grant her a first-time World Cup podium for her career.
