Olympics triathlon results: USA’s Gwen Jorgensen wins gold
Complete results for the women’s Olympics triathlon at the 2016 Rio Olympics; Team USA’s Gwen Jorgensen wins gold.
While the early predictions about triathlon medalists ended up being (mostly) accurate, no one could have predicted how thrilling the 2016 Rio Olympics triathlon events would be for both the men and women.
Going into the event, Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain and Gwen Jorgensen of the United States were strong favorites. Brownlee easily won the gold medal on Thursday for the men, and Jorgensen didn’t disappoint with a monumental win that put her atop the podium with a Team USA gold medal.
Gwen Jorgensen was touted as the woman to beat in Saturday morning’s triathlon along Rio’s Copacabana beach. Jorgensen is known for her strength during the running segment, and today’s medal came down to a battle of runners. Jorgensen remained neck and neck with Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, who is a stronger cyclist than Jorgensen. Once the pair hit the street during the run, they exchanged control of the lead. At one point Spirig started tacking back and forth in an attempt to throw Jorgensen off.
In the last mile and a half, Jorgensen extended her lead over Spirig, placing the Swiss athlete in between Jorgensen’s lead and the battle for the bronze only slightly behind her between two athletes from Great Britain. While the British athletes may have competed for third and fourth place, it soon became clear that they might be able to catch up. Jorgensen extended her lead even further as she raced toward the finish line at Ipanema Beach.
Jorgensen finished the event with a time of 1:56.16. Spirig finished in the silver medal spot forty seconds behind Jorgensen, and the bronze medal came down to a sprint between Team Great Britain, with Vicky Holland winning the duel.
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On Thursday, brothers Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain raced for the gold medal. Alistair passed his brother toward the finish line and won the gold, making him a back-to-back Olympics triathlon gold medalist. Jonathan adds a silver medal to his medal collection after winning the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The highly touted Spanish triathletes did not perform as strongly as expected, with Mario Mola coming in eighth place. South African Henri Schoeman took home the bronze medal.
It’s too early for definitive answers but quite possible that Brownlee and Jorgensen will return for the 2020 Olympics in Japan.