Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Report: Edmonton

The cool conditions of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, played host to the penultimate event in the 2016 World Triathlon Series on Sunday. Two very different races provided two very different winners; one who is no stranger to a WTS presentation and another whose very first visit the podium was to collect a Gold medal that few had predicted. Let’s look a little deeper into the statistics and stories from Edmonton.

Women’s Review

From a DNF 12 months ago due to freezing conditions, to World Triathlon Series race winner, Sunday was certainly quite a day for Summer Cook (USA). Cook has shown form this season, winning on the ITU World Cup circuit in Chengdu, China, but few if any were expecting her to repeat that on Sunday. That was her first WTS podium finish in only her fourth start.

Cook made it tough for herself too, regularly having to work hard to close the gap on the bike after losing time on the technical sections. A slow entry into T2, combined with a poor transition had seemingly put her well out of contention – but a race best run split changed all of that. As she gains more experience and improves on some of those technical aspects, you would have to predict that we will be seeing a lot more of Summer Cook at the front end of World Triathlon Series racing over the coming years.

After finishing second and third respectively in the year-end Columbia Threadneedle Rankings for the past two seasons, 2016 has been a difficult one for Sarah True (USA). After being unable to finish the Olympic Games due to a leg injury, True showed immense mental strength to bounce back from that heartbreak and come close to a third career WTS win in Edmonton. While the she couldn’t hold off the charge of the flying Cook in the final kilometre, an eighth WTS podium and another four place improvement on the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings to 12th, should provide significant comfort, plus added motivation for the Grand Final in Cozumel.

Since starting her year with a DNF in Abu Dhabi, Katie Zaferes (USA) has now built a run of five consecutive top ten finishes in World Triathlon Series racing during 2016. Following her magnificent victory in Hamburg, Bronze in Edmonton shows that she is holding her form well in the later part of the year as well as leap-frogging her to fourth place in the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings. Having missed a World Championship medal last year with an uncharacteristic 24th at the Grand Final in Chicago, Zaferes is now well positioned to gain the medal that she’ll feel she missed out on last year. She will be full of motivation with plenty to race for in Cozumel.

Of course, we have to mention the U.S.A. women’s team in aggregate. That’s the third time in the past two seasons that they have achieved a complete podium sweep, following London and Gold Coast and London last year. Sarah True …

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