Australians One-Two In Hamburg, Groff Earns Bronze

Australia’s Erin Densham continued to show she is one of the top women in the sport with another win, while fellow countrywoman Emma Moffatt proved she is peaking at the right time for the Olympics with a second-place finish in Hamburg. American Sarah Groff matched her best performance in an ITU World Triathlon Series race with a third-place finish.

Read the race recap from Triathlon.org below:

It was the third time Densham had raced in Hamburg and her first podium, and she said it was brilliant to win in front of the great Hamburg crowd.

“It is awesome, they are always out, they are so passionate, and they do drive you on,” she said. “It’s just great to race here.”

While Densham’s other win in Sydney this year started with a strong swims, this time she came out of the water almost 30 seconds behind the leaders Pamela Oliveira, Moffatt, Groff, Aileen Morrison, and Rachel Klamer and was 20 seconds down leaving transition despite having the fastest T1 time. But in a busy first bike lap, Densham managed to get herself into the 19-strong lead bike pack, as did Anja Dittmer, Ricarda Lisk and Kate Roberts.

While the first chase pack, which was led by Ashleigh Gentle, Anne Haug and Emma Jackson, initially looked like they would catch the leaders, Moffatt’s blistering pace in the lead helped them stay in front. While there was just an eight second difference leaving T2 between the chase packs, it was enough for the leaders to get the jump and Moffatt and Roberts immediately rocketed to the front, overtaking Lisk who was first out of T2.

But Densham was looming just a few meters back, and quickly worked her way past the field. While Moffatt and Roberts stayed in front for the next kilometer, it wasn’t long until Densham made her move. Roberts dropped first, and while Moffatt hung on for a while longer, she couldn’t stay with Densham who pulled away in the final kilometer to win her second race in the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series.  She clocked a total time of 56 minutes and 7 seconds, anchored with a run split of 15 minutes and 50 seconds. Densham was the only woman to run under 16 minutes, adding another impressive stat to her pre-Olympic preparation. She said she was happy with her run, particularly after a tough week.

“I like to get into transition at the front but I wasn’t quite there, I just didn’t feel like I had the go straight away, but I just seemed to build into it really well,” Densham said. “I was really happy with how I ran because I felt flat all week, and I’m just thinking hopefully I can come out of this and have a good race.”

Behind her the race for podium places was far from over, as Groff pulled up to run with her training partner Roberts. After overtaking her, she had her sights set on Moffatt but couldn’t quite catch the reigning Hamburg champion who held on for second place – her first WTS podium since Yokohama last year, but her fourth podium in Hamburg. Moffatt hasn’t finished lower than second in the four years that Hamburg has been on the ITU World Triathlon Series circuit. Groff finished third, the second WTS podium of her career.

Read more: Triathlon.org

ITU World Triathlon Series Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany – July 22, 2012
.75K swim, 20K bike, 5K run

Women
1.             Erin Densham             AUS             00:56:07
2.             Emma Moffatt             AUS            +00:12
3.             Sarah Groff             USA            +00:14
4.             Anne Haug             GER             +00:28
5.             Kate Roberts             RSA             +00:33
6.             Agnieszka Jerzyk             POL            +00:42
7.             Ashleigh Gentle             AUS            +00:46
8.             Kate Mcilroy             NZL             +00:49
9.             Ainhoa Murua             ESP            +00:54
10.             Annamaria Mazzetti             ITA            +00:56