Pedersen (DEN) makes major comeback, France sweeps men's podium at Long Distance Triathlon World Champs

Madrid, Spain (21 September 2014) - Nearly one year since Camilla Pedersen (DEN) lay in an induced coma after a life-threatening bike crash, she today became a World Champion for the first time at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Weihai, China. In the men's race, France swept the podium with Bertrand Billard retaining his title as the fastest man across the 4km swim, 120km bike, 30km run course. 

Women's Review

In the comeback story of the year, Pedersen's win ended both a rollercoaster year and a streak of second-place finishes at the championship race.

"It is one year since my bad accident. I have come back and I am speechless," said Pedersen, who crashed on her bike nearly a year ago and was required to be in an induced coma for the better part of a month. 

As a strong cyclist, Pedersen clocked the fastest split of the day to move from the lead of the chase to the leader of the race. With a split three minutes faster than anybody else, Pedersen ran towards the finish line clear of the competition. Despite her healthy lead, Pederson never let up, crossing the line with the fastest time of the day and the second fastest run split. 

 Although Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) was more than four minutes down out of the swim, she also took charge of the bike to move into silver medal position. Lehtonen held onto her position with the fastest run of the day to win her first medal at her first appearance at the championship event.

Hewitt, who also tried her hand at the longer distance for the first time, was well positioned for gold or silver but a crash caused the Kiwi to fall behind. However, she managed to hang tough in the race and rounded out the top three.

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 2014 Weihai ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships

4km swim - 120km bike - 30km run - Final Results - Elite Women  

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