The 2016 Olympic gold medalist made a comeback to triathlon racing a few years ago with the dream of competing in Paris last summer. While that didn’t pan out for Gwen Jorgensen, she has managed to win or make the podium at a bunch of races over the last year and a half. Put the American in a World Cup field with a few strong athletes and she’s likely to excel. Throw her into the competitive, star-studded fields of a World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) race, and she has struggled to finish as close to the front of the field.
Make no mistake, her performances at WTCS races have improved dramatically since she was lapped out at WTCS Cagliari in May, 2023 – she finished sixth at WTCS Weihai and then 12th at the Grand Final this fall. Put her in a field where there isn’t that same depth and, on paper, she should be one of the favourites, and like the champion she is, she’ll figure out how to get to the front and, quite often, win. Since last September, Jorgensen has won World Cup races in Valencia, Karlovy Vary, Tongyeong and Vina del Mar. She was second at last year’s World Cup race in Miyazaki, and also won the Americas Cup La Habana race in Cuba, too.
So it comes as little surprise that Jorgensen ran her way to another World Cup title this weekend, moving up a spot on the podium from last year in Miyazaki. Jorgensen did that despite falling in transition as she started the run, forcing her to run her way passed 15 athletes for the win.
“I feel like I made this race harder than it needed to be,” Jorgensen told World Triathlon media reporters after the race, “but the theme was just not to give up, and I just kept telling myself to race. I’m not sure what happened in T2, I went into someone as they racked their bike and fell. At one point I thought a podium was enough but then I thought, ‘Gwen, stop. Race, give your best’. Alissa really made me work for it and sprinted early… but I kept in it and gave my all. A lot of things happened today so I’m really proud I never gave up.”
Jorgensen was part of the big group that finished the swim together, After some attempted breaks on the bike, a big group ended up into T2 together, too, which set up both Jorgensen’s tumble and her run talent taking her to another win.
Switzerland’s Alissa König and Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen pushed the pace through the run. With one lap to go in the 5 km run they were 10 seconds up on Jorgensen. Konig would drop Vermeylen, only to find the American had surged up to her. Konig started her sprint early, but Jorgensen was able to take the sprint for the win, with Vermeylen rounding out the podium.
You can see full results here.
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Hueber-Moosbrugger takes men’s title
France’s Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger took his first World Cup podium thanks to an all-around performance.
“First gold, first podium for me, i’ve been looking for this since I first started in triathlon and taking the tape was a great day and end to the season,” Hueber-Moosbrugger said after the race. “I was first pack in the swim and had really good legs after the bike so I went for it. They were struggling to keep with me so I took it to the line. The bike was technical, it’s good to have sharp turns, it hurts the legs but, that’s triathlon. I felt really good these last two weeks in Japan and had a podium on my mind but you just never know, so I’m really happy.”
After the swim a group of about 20 formed on the bike, but a crash would take out four of the riders. Once out on the run, early leader Yanis Seguin (FRA) would learn he had a 10-second penalty, which effectively took him out of contention for the win. Hueber-Moosbrugger would eventually run his way clear of Ben Dijkstra to take the win, with Japan’s Kenji Nener taking advantage of Seguin’s penalty to take the bronze medal.
You can see full results here.
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