Non Stanford Takes First ITU WTS Win In Madrid

Great Britain’s Non Stanford outruns an impressive field in Spain to take her first World Triathlon Series win at the age of 24. American Gwen Jorgensen finishes fourth to maintain her top spot in the rankings.

Spain’s Carolina Routier, Brazil’s Pamela Oliveira, the United States’ Sarah Groff, Italy’s Alice Betto and New Zealand’s Nicky Samuels led the women out of the 1.5K non-wetsuit swim. The non-wetsuit swim hurt pre-race favorites Jorgensen, Anne Haug (GER) and Stanford as they all came onto the bike with time to make up on that lead group.

Groff and Samuels used their strong cycling skills to build a lead over two chase groups. Eventually the two chase groups became one, with Stanford leading the charge. Despite the hard work out front by Groff and Samuels, the chase group behind got organized on the sixth lap and were able to catch the pair.

With a large pack heading into T2, the race would come down to the 10K run. With Jorgensen 30 seconds back from the leaders, it looked like she would not be able to earn her third-straight WTS win.

Stanford blazed out of transition and never looked back. Her 34:29 10K run split earned the reigning U-23 world champion her first WTS win in a time of 2:04:39. Haug worked her way from last out of the swim to second at the podium thanks to resilient efforts on the bike and run. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) made it an all-European podium, finishing in third. Jorgensen ran her way up to fourth to secure the number one spot in the WTS rankings after four of eight races.

The men’s race will take place on Sunday, June 2.

2013 ITU WTS Madrid
Madrid, Spain – June 1, 2013
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run

Women
1. Non Stanford (GBR) 2:04:39
2. Anne Haug (GER) 2:05:05
3. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 2:05:14
4. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 2:05:44
5. Felicity Abram (AUS) 2:05:54

Complete results.

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