Kirsten Kasper Impresses In New Plymouth

The United States’ Kirsten Kasper produced the perfect race execution to claim the title at the 2018 ITU New Plymouth World Cup on Sunday. It’s been a remarkable start to the year for Kasper with a fourth place in WTS Abu Dhabi, second place in Mooloolaba World Cup, and now a convincing win in the New Plymouth ITU World Cup.

Kasper, who dominated the race from the start, has maintained tradition in New Plymouth by keeping an American woman on top spot of the podium for the fifth consecutive year. New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay stormed across the finish line in second place, on home ground, to claim her first World Cup podium finish. The silver medal was a confidence boosting performance for the New Zealander as part of her final preparations for next month’s Commonwealth Games. The bronze medal was awarded to Belgium’s Claire Michel who put herself in the mix all day across the sprint distance format.

Kasper lead the elite women out of the water and onto the new technical bike course in New Plymouth. “I felt really good today right from the start so I just knew I had to go hard and give it my all,” Kasper said.

Read the complete recap at Triathlon.org

2018 New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup
New Plymouth, New Zealand – March 25, 2018
750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run

Women’s Results
1. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:03:20
2. Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) 1:03:28
3. Claire Michel (BEL) 1:03:37
4. Taylor Spivey (USA) 1:03:50
5. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) 1:03:51
6. Gillian Backhouse (AUS) 1:03:53
7. Angelica Olmo (ITA) 1:03:55
8. Amelie Kretz (CAN) 1:03:57
9. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:04:07
10. Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) 1:04:12

Complete results