Collins Cup MVP honours go to Jan Frodeno and Taylor Knibb
The Collins Cup ‘Most Valuable Player’ (MVP) honours go to Jan Frodeno and Taylor Knibb the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) have announced today.
Frodeno receives the Dave Scott Award named after the six-time IRONMAN World Champion who, PTO notes, ‘truly established the professional status of triathlon.’
Knibbs receives the Erin Baker Award named after New Zealand’s Erin Baker a nine-time world champion over all distances, from sprint to long-distance.
On the performance of Knibbs, PTO noted, ‘Knibb left no doubt that she is a force to be reckoned with by having the fastest time of the day by a full three minutes, and the fastest time on the bike, despite using a road bike on a flat, fast and windy course.’
With 6 points up for grabs in each race only the American Tyler Knibb succeeded in doing this in the women’s events. In her race she outclassed the four-time Hawaii winner from Switzerland, Daniela Ryf, by 16:45 minutes. Knibbs was the fastest woman of the day with a total time of 3:30:10 hours.
With regard to Frodeno’s award, Team Europe, Captain Normann Stadler said, “With some early surprises from the USA women, we needed Jan to step up and stabilise our Team and rack up some bonus points… It was a stellar performance worthy of the Dave Scott Award for the Men’s Most Valuable Player.”
With the early scoreboard awash with the red of Team USA, Frodeno, convincing win piled on another 5 points to the European’s total (and with no American wins for the men) this was enough for Team Europe to hold off the challenge from Team USA to win the Triathlon Team event in Slovakia and take the inaugural Collins Cup.
