From start to finish Italy’s Sandra Mairhofer dominated the 2021 World Triathlon Winter Championships in Andorra. She took the lead during the run, extended the gap on the bike and maintained it during the final cross-country ski leg. Mairhofer took the win in 1:32:35 then, 48 seconds later, Austria’s Romana Slavinec crossed the line in second. Norway’s Elisabeth Sveum took the last podium spot (+1:06).
While the men’s race saw many different leaders throughout the race, the women’s race was dominated by one woman from start to finish. Mairhofer opened up a big gap in the first discipline: 6.2 km of running, taking 26:36 to take her bike off the rack. Romania’s Maria Luiza Rasina was 34 seconds behind her.
On the bike Mairhofer increased her lead to over 90 seconds on Czech Aneta Grabmullerova, who biked her way to second place. Yulia Surikova put on her skis for the final discipline in third position (+1:52).
Mairhofer’s lead extended during the final laps of cross-country skiing. Even though she had to take a fifteen-second penalty right in front of the finish, she easily claimed the win. Behind her there was a lot of shuffling for the final positions on the podium, with Slavinec taking second and Sveum taking third.
