STOCKHOLM — Canada's Joanna Brown raced to fourth place on the World Triathlon Series on Saturday, for her third consecutive top-10 result.
The 24-year-old from Carp, Ont., recorded a time of two hours three minutes four seconds to finish just off the podium for the second consecutive race.
"Man it has been a good few weeks," said Brown, who backed up a seventh-place finish in Edmonton with a fourth-place result in Montreal earlier this month. "It was a fight from the start with choppy water. It felt amazing to cross the finish line in fourth again. I'm really excited to use this momentum going into the Grand Final, and I know that I have another performance in me — especially on a technical and challenging course."
Bermuda's Flora Duffy captured her fifth victory of the year with a time of 2:00:09. Jessica Learmonth of Great Britain placed second in 2:01:30, while Australia's Ashleigh Gentle battled from behind to win bronze in 2:01:42.
Brown, the lone Canadian in the race, struggled in the 1.5-kilometre swim, explaining she chose the wrong side of the pontoon. With the strong swimmers on the other side of the pack, Brown found her spots to slowly advance through the field throughout the rough waters.
"I came out of the water further back than I hoped. But luckily, the bike course was technical with some tight corners and the only long stretch had a nice tailwind," Brown said. "I used the bike to my advantage to catch up to the chase pack quickly. We rolled along and I stayed in good position on the corners."
After Duffy and Learmonth broke from the field on the bike, Brown settled into a pack of 10 for much of the 40-kilometre ride.
"We were able to drop a few girls from the pack, but nobody was motivated enough to help us out," added Brown. "I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I pushed my bike up the hill to get to the run."
Brown powered her way through the streets of Stockholm on the 10-kilometre run course to the finish.
"I felt good immediately on the run. My legs were still pretty bouncy and the most painful part of the run was the cobbled hill, and following downhill that made me feel like a baby giraffe," Brown said. "I waited patiently and stayed in good position, trying to stay relaxed as possible."
Brown, a bronze medallist at both the junior and under-23 world championships, has progressed steadily this summer, rebounding from some injuries that nearly derailed her career.
"It just feels amazing to have another fourth place finish on such a challenging and technical course," she said. "I'm very excited to prepare these next few weeks with a huge focus on having the performance I'm capable of to finish off the World Triathlon Series."
The Canadian Press
