Emma Lombardi of France basks in Glory with Gold in U23 World Triathlon Championships Edmonton
The 2021 Women’s Under23 World Championship title and gold went to Emma Lombardi of France after she outran her rivals to bask in glory as she ran through the blue carpet to the winning tape finish at Haerealk Park in Edmonton, Canada.
Running through with late strong runs Alberte Kjær Pedersen (DEN) earned silver and Annika Koch (GER) in bronze.
The women began the day with a swim start of 2 x 750m laps in Haerealk Park Pond where Irelands Erin McConnell lead the athletes out of the water just one second ahead of Frenchwomen Lombardi and Brits Mathais and Alden with further group just a couple of seconds behind.
Out of T1 and onto the 40km 6-lap bike leg a 5-woman strong pack formed as Australia’s Kira Hedgeland pushed the pace at the front with Emma Lombardi (FRA), Olivia Mathias (GBR), Sophie Alden (GBR) and Barbara De Koning (NED).
The chase group were riding 35-seconds down on the leaders headlined by Lisa Tertsch from Germany with Erica Hawley of Bermuda.
With the bell sounding off on the final lap of the bike, the five pack leaders were still stretching the gap, on the final lap of the bike, 1:20 ahead on the chase pack.
All hopes of a podium place were now down to the 10k run. Out of T2 and onto the run after 5km the leading 4 women: the Brits Olivia Mathias and Sophie Alden, Aussie Kira Hedgeland, and Emma Lombardi were running incredibly well together. Lea Coninx, Annika Koch and Alberte Kjær chasing 44-secs down.
Then the Frenchwomen Lombardi began to push the pace to open up a gap with Hedgeland and Mathias still looking strong in 2nd and 3rd still be chased down by Pedersen, Coninx and Koch some 34-seconds back.
Into the final kilometre of the race and onto to the blue carpet it was Lombardi who was to win the Womens U23 World Title in her first Olympic distance race in a time of 1:59:48. An outstanding results and impressive racing!
A sprint finish saw Pedersen (2:00:05) earn the silver while Koch (2:00:10) would take home the bronze.
| Results: U23 Women | |||
| 1. | Emma Lombardi | FRA | 01:59:48 |
| 2. | Alberte Kjær Pedersen | DEN | 02:00:05 |
| 3. | Annika Koch | GER | 02:00:10 |
| 4. | Kira Hedgeland | AUS | 02:00:28 |
| 5. | Lea Coninx | FRA | 02:00:40 |
The British quartet all raced exceptionally well, earning respectable placings: Mathias (6th), Alden (7th) Waugh (10th) and Green (16th).
