Des Moines - Aussie Emma Snowsill won her second Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup in Des Moines, Iowa today, topping countrywoman Emma Moffatt by 16 seconds. Snowsill came into T2 over a minute behind the leaders and then posted the day's best run split of 34:05 to take the win.
"I was angry about my position after the bike, so I used that aggression" Snowsill said. "I wanted to reel in as many girls as I could."
Britain's Helen Jenkins finished third, less than one second back of Moffatt, with Canadian youngster Paula Findlay finishing fourth.
Severe thunderstorms throughout the morning gave way to calm conditions for the start of the women's race. As expected, Americans Sarah McLarty and Hayley Peirsol broke away on the first of two laps on the swim, as the pair battled for the $5,000 swim prime. McLarty was the first to exit the water and earn the bonus, topping Peirsol with a hard sprint in the final 100 meters of the swim.
McLarty and Peirsol set off on the bike with a one-minute advantage on the chase pack, which contained a number of the pre-race favourites, including Americans Sarah Haskins and Laura Bennett, Moffatt, and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland. World number one Barbara Riveros Diaz and Snowsill entered T1 in the third group, another minute behind the chasers.
The pair of Americans held off the chase pack of 20 women throughout the entire 40K bike leg, losing only a handful of seconds on each of the eight laps. Peirsol and McLarty exited the second transition with a 40 second gap on the chase pack, but the lead didn't last long. Snowsill exited transition another 30 seconds back of the chase group, alongside current world number one Riveros Diaz.
A small pack of six women broke away from the first chase group to take the lead on the first lap of the run. In the group were Moffatt, Jenkins, Findlay, Brit Jodie Stimpson, American Laura Bennett and Kiwi Andrea Hewitt. By the halfway point of the run, Snowsill had caught all but the six women running in front. She finally caught the front group on the third of four run laps and immediately moved to the front of the bunch to take the lead. Snowsill broke away from the lead group on the final lap, extending her lead throughout the final two kilometres of the run.
"I knew I had a big gap to make up when I got to transition, but I just started reeling them in one by one and before I knew it I could see the lead group," Snowsill said.
The 2008 Hy-Vee champ broke the tape in 1:59:35, earning the top prize of $200,000 for the second time in her career. Moffatt's runner-up finish earned her $50,000, with Jenkins cashing in $25,000 for finishing third.
Emma Snowsill
"I knew I had a big gap to make up when I got to transition, but I just started reeling them in one by one and before I knew it I could see the lead group," Snowsill said.
"I was angry about my position, so I used that aggression" she said. "I wanted to reel in as many girls as I could."
"I was a bit angry with myself because in the first lap of the swim I got annihilated. Maybe I have to use my elbows a bit more, or maybe it just took me a while to get back into race mode because I was certainly off the pace at the start."
"I used that anger on the bike and tried to make amends for a poor start and for the disappointment of last year's race here. A lot has happened over the past 12 months and a lot has changed, so it was a matter of bottling that up and using it as energy. We did get a bit of time back on the leaders at one stage on the bike, but I was still pretty worried at the start of the run when I heard I was so far back."
"I caught them on the third lap (of the run) and I didn't want to hang around that group for too long because I didn't want to come down to a sprint finish. At that stage [Emma Moffatt] was my main concern, so I just kept going and tried to put some space between us and it seemed to work."
Emma Moffatt
"It's always good to be in the front pack on the bike, but I don't think we made the most of it and could have organised ourselves a bit better to put some more time on the rest of the girls. On the run, there were two U-turns on every lap so I could see Emma coming through the field pretty fast and there were also some good runners around me, so there was enough to worry about. Once Snowy caught me I tried to go with her, but that little campaign didn't last long because she was absolutely flying."
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