Britain’s Sophie Coldwell has just won the WTCS in Yokohama: under very wet conditions, Coldwell proved to be the smartest as well as the fastest during the final ten-kilometer run, allowing her to claim victory from the leading group of then seven women.
During the swim, it was Dutch Maya Kingma who, at least in the end, set the pace and returned to land after 18:35 minutes. Then the ladies followed in quick succession and it was first Summer Rappaport, Taylor Knibb and Sophie Coldwell who also headed for T2.
During the swim, the first significant differences were already made, because on the bike, a leading group of seven women formed almost immediately. In addition to Coldwell, Knibb and Kingma, they included Taylor Spivey, Kirsten Kasper, Kate Waugh and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal. Rappaport just missed the connection and would not return to the lead group either. No one did, for that matter, as the seven women only managed to increase their lead during the forty kilometers of biking and even extend it to eventually one and a half minutes despite a number of chasing groups.
During the run, Coldwell took off immediately. Slowly but surely she saw her lead grow larger and larger, and at the halfway point she already had a 25-second lead on Taylor Knibb, who was in second at the time. Yet it didn’t stay that way, because while Coldwell continued to run in the lead, it was Mexican Tapia Vidal who provided perhaps the biggest surprise; she caught up with Knibb, among others, and eventually ran to a second place finish.
Coldwell won the race in 1:53:32. Tapia Vidal finished second, 18 seconds behind. Knibb finished third at 31 seconds behind.
