Taylor Knibb takes huge win at PTO US Open
American star proves she's the sport's all-around master with another big win
Photo by:
That Cameraman/ PTO
She’s the reigning 70.3 world champion. She earned a silver medal as part of the USA mixed relay team in Tokyo. A few weeks after that she dominated the Collins Cup … riding a road bike. Suffice it to say, there’s a reason we called her triathlon’s “it” girl a the end of 2022.
Today she proved us prescient with a stunning win at the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) US Open, putting together a master class of swimming, biking and running. The American thrilled the Milwaukee crowd with a dominating performance, holding off Ashleigh Gentle on the run to prove both that she’s frighteningly fast regardless of the distance, but also incredibly fit as she heads to the Paris Test Event in 10 days.
Brandon leads the swim
There were no surprises in the water as super-swimmer Lauren Brandon led the way, with Taylor Knibb electing to take a different line and losing time. On Knibb’s feet was New Zealand’s Rebecca Clarke, with American Haley Chura about 21 seconds down through the Aussie exit halfway through the swim.
The two women expected to compete with Knibb for the win, Ashleigh Gentle and Paula Findlay were 34 and 39 seconds behind Brandon, sitting in a group of five that included Great Britain’s Holly Lawrence and Australia’s Ellie Salthouse.
Through the end of the swim Brandon’s lead was up to 29 seconds, with Clarke another second back in third. Chura was 43 seconds down, with the Gentle and Findlay group exiting the water about a minute behind Brandon.
Knibb had a slow transition, while Gentle flew through and gained some valuable time heading out onto the bike, starting the ride just nine seconds behind the 70.3 world champ. Findlay wasn’t quite as quick as the Aussie, and started the ride 56 seconds behind the leader.
Knibb pulls clear, but …
It wasn’t long before Knibb made her mark on the bike, as was expected, moving to the front before the end of the first of seven loops. Behind her a group of seven formed that included Findlay, Gentle, Salthouse, Great Britain’s India Lee, Brandon and Lawerence. Gentle and Salthouse did a lot of the work through the first couple of laps, but then Findlay moved ahead.
Halfway through the bike the gap was 1:32, which was surprising because it was expected that Knibb would open up a much larger gap on the women behind. (Last year at the PTO US Open in Dallas, Knibb’s lead was seven minutes on eventual champ Gentle.)
Heading into T2 … still Knibb, still close
Over the final few laps of the bike the big mover in the race was Great Britain’s Lucy Byram, who surged to the front of the chase group with about a lap and a half to go, and would steadily gain back time on Knibb. Only Findlay was able to stay with Byram, and the two pulled clear of the rest of the group, quickly gapping Gentle and the rest of the women by 30 seconds.
By the end of the bike Knibb’s lead was about 1:30 on Findlay and Byram, but the big news was that without Findlay and the group, Gentle had lost a lot more time as her group that included Lee and Salthouse were just under three minutes down.
Through the first lap Gentle was the big mover, steadily gaining on Findlay, who had moved ahead of Byram. The Aussie was into second place early into the second lap, setting up the chase for the win.
As fast as Gentle was running, though, Knibb was holding tough. While Gentle was passing the rest of the women like they were parked, she was only gradually gaining on Knibb, who has the Paris Test event (an important event for US Olympic qualifying) in just 10 days. If Knibb is to be competitive at that race, her running will need to be in top form, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the American holding on to her lead through the first two laps. The question was, could she hold off Gentle over an 18 km run?
Two woman race
As Knibb powered in front and Gentle ever so slowly gained time, it became clear that the rest of the women were racing for third. Findlay quickly put herself in the most likely winner of that spot on the podium, pulling clear of Byram as Lawrence moved ahead of her long-time rival Ellie Salthouse into fifth. Kat Matthews was also running her way towards the top-five, while Canadian Tamara Jewett was overcoming huge 11 minute gap to work her way towards the top-10.
With one lap to go Knibb’s lead was 1:17 on the Australian, which appeared to be enough for the American to hold off to take the win, but there would be no opportunity to to let up. In the end there was no touching Knibb, who took the win in 3:14:12, with Gentle crossing the line 51 seconds later. Findlay would hang tough for third a shade under five minutes behind the American.
There was a close race between the two Brits as Byram was able to just hold off Lawrence for fourth by just 16 seconds. Salthouse would sprint across the line just four seconds behind Lawrence and just 14 seconds ahead of Matthews. Jewett would end up with the day’s second-fastest run which got her 10th.
