Digital magazines from the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and the World Triathlon Series
Issue link: http://worldtriathlon.uberflip.com/i/1313191
The 2020 Karlovy Vary World Cup saw Bermuda's Flora Duffy back on an Olympic-distance course for the first time since the 2019 Lausanne Grand Final. She took the tape by 90-seconds over newly crowned World Champion Georgia Taylor- Brown, Netherlands' Maya Kingma's rounding off a storming run to score her first ever World Cup podium with bronze. "Wow! It was so hard, man that was a shock to the system," admitted a thrilled Duffy. "A first Olympic distance of the year and on such a challenging course and with such a stacked field. Jess was unbelievable in the swim and I was just trying to recover from that for most of the bike to be honest, which isn't easy on this type of course. I wanted to ride strong but not over-extend myself and the run just felt like survival. I'm just so thrilled to win, it has been a while since I've done it at this level." One of the strongest World Cup fields in recent memory saw 54 athletes line up for the 1.5km lake swim, and predictably it was Jessica Learmonth who wasted no time getting out ahead. The Brit still led the field as she raced along the pontoon and dived back in for the second lap of Rolava Lake, Katie Zaferes (USA) in check with Vittoria Lopes (BRA) and Natalie van Coevorden (AUS). By the end of the second lap, Learmonth's lead was an incredible 25 seconds, but wetsuit issues in transition cost precious time and it was Zaferes narrowly out first onto the bike. The pair wasted no time worrying about how the pack behind them might be looking, riding aggressively on the point- to-point section and attacking the early stages of the 7 technical city laps. Behind them, Laura Lindemann (GER) and Duffy were also riding together as a pair and trying to close the gap, but they were joined by World Champion Taylor-Brown who was looking to make up the 60-second deficit on the front out of the swim. The chasers worked well together, including the Brazilian duo Luisa Baptista and Djenyfer Arnold, a small error from Duffy seeing her swerve erratically for a moment off the back of Taylor-Brown's bike and there was still 30 seconds to the front two with three laps to go. It was on the fifth lap that Zaferes chose to give her legs a break and drop back to join the chasers, Learmonth left to press on solo and try and keep the pressure on the field, but with the American working with Taylor-Brown and Duffy, it was a formidable bunch in pursuit. By the end of the first of the four run laps, Duffy had already picked her way to the front, Taylor- Brown also easing past Learmonth on lap two as Kingma then moved into third. Ahead, Duffy was really eating up the final few hundred metres, eventually taking the tape more than 90 seconds ahead of Taylor-Brown. Kingma was just 13 seconds behind the World Champion, and it was another 40 seconds to Learmonth in fourth. It was a career- best fifth place for Djenyfer Arnold followed by Lindemann, Miriam Casillas-Garcia (ESP), Verena Steinhauser (ITA), Luisa Baptista and Lisa Tertsch (GER) completing the top 10. Duffy back to her very best to land Karlovy Vary gold KARLOVY VARY WORLD CUP Full Results Watch the race on 42 contents