America’s Kirsten Kasper produced the perfect race execution to claim the title at the 2018 ITU New Plymouth World Cup in New Zealand, with Erica Hawley finishing 31st in her first World Cup event.
The 2018 New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup is a sprint distance triathlon covering a 750m Swim, 20km Bike and 5km Run. The event was be held at Ngamotu Beach and the surrounding scenic roads of Taranaki.
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 clocking 1:03.20. Kasper, who dominated the race from the start, has maintained tradition in New Plymouth by keeping an America woman on top spot of the podium for the fifth consecutive year.
Hawley clocked a time of 1:09.46, this after clocking 11:11 on the Swim, 37:46 on the Bike and 19:42 on the Run Course.
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 stopping the clock in 1:03.28. 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 with a time of 1:03.37.
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.
|
