Gwen Jorgensen had been on an absolute tear having won every IRU World Triathlon Series event she had entered since coming in third in Cape Town in April 2014. That run finally came to an end as Jorgensen placed second, 41 seconds behind Helen Jenkins of Great Britain. Jorgensen was a second quicker on the swim and 51 seconds quicker on the run but gave up too much time, over a minute and a half, on the bike. Katie Zaferes in sixth, 2:11 back, and Kristin Kasper in tenth, 3:06 back, gave the US three of the top ten. Renee Tomlin, who was fifth at the last race in Abu Dhabi finished 18th here 4:02 behind the winner. Sarah True, runner-up here last year, was 25th, 5:20 behind.

For the US men Joe Maloy improved heavily on his 49th place finish in Abu Dhabi as he was sixth here and just 1:25 behind the winner. Gregory Billington gave the US two top-ten finishers with his tenth place finish 1:48 back of winner Mario Mola of Spain. Kevin McDowell was 19th, still just two and a half minutes behind the winner. Last year’s top American, Jarrod Shoemaker, did not finish.

The next IRU World Triathlon Series event will be April 24th in Cape Town, South Africa.

A month ago in Abu Dhabi was the start of the 2016 ITU World Triathlon Series. The US had two women and two men finish in the top 50 of the event. Renee Tomlin was the top American finishing in fifth place just 52 seconds behind winner Jodie Stimpson of Great Britain. Tomlin will be one of nine US women competing in Australia. Kaitlin Donner is the other American who was in the top 50 in Abu Dhabi where she finished 21st. Last year in this event Gwen Jorgensen, Sarah True, and Katie Zaferes went 1-2-3 and all are back competing again this year as well. The field is certainly full of US women  who are capable of a top three finish in this event.

On the men’s side the US has only five competitors, Joe Maloy is the top returning finisher from Abu Dhabi where he was 49th and within five minutes of the racer winner. Jarrod Shoemaker is the top returning finisher from last year’s Gold Coast event where he finished 22nd.

The race begins Friday night in America at 7:36 PM ET for the women and 10:36 PM ET for the men.