Yokohama WTCS: French women set stall out for Paris success
Leonie Periault won a first World Triathlon Championship Series race ahead of USA's Taylor Knibb, with France team-mate Emma Lombardi in third
The French women showed they will be a force to be reckoned with at their home Olympics later this summer as Leonie Periault took victory in Yokohama with compatriot Emma Lombardi in third.
They were separated on the podium by Paris-bound Taylor Knibb of the USA, whose fellow Americans Taylor Spivey and Kirsten Kasper finished in fourth and fifth.
Kate Waugh was the best placed of the British athletes in 10th with Vicky Holland in 18th, Olivia Mathias in 40th and recent World Cup winner Sian Rainsley being frustratingly forced to drop out with a mechanical deep into the bike leg while riding in the front pack.
Reigning Olympic champion Flora Duffy was seventh after missing the past 18 months with injury, but it wasn’t the day 2016 Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen was looking for, who despite posting the second fastest run split had to settle for 15th.
With the first round of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Abu Dhabi cancelled because of the threat of a storm, it meant Periault automatically moved to the top of the WTCS standings.
But at the forefront of most of the triathletes’ minds was the opportunity to seal Olympic selection, with several federations using the race as one of their final qualification events.
While the French pair of Periault and Lombardi should now be secure, Spivey just missed out on the podium she required to guarantee her own spot, which means the remaining two USA places will come down to the discretion of selectors.
The final two British spots alongside already-qualified Beth Potter couldn’t be assured in Japan, with the next round of the WTCS in Cagliari, Italy in a fortnight being the designated a key selection race.
What happened in the swim?
The Netherlands’ Maya Kingma led out the two-lap swim hoping to reprise memories of three years ago when she broke clear with Knibb on the bike and eventually finished third.
She was followed out of the water by Brazilian Vittoria Lopes, but it was a big pack of leading contenders that left transition together.
What happened on the bike?
The nine-lap bike course was flat and technical, but unlike previous years in Yokohama, the triathletes were blessed with blue skies and ideal temperatures.
Eighteen women got away in a large front pack, but it was bad news for Kingma whose challenge was derailed by a puncture.
Waugh and Mathias were in contention for GB, along with Duffy and Germany’s Laura Lindemann.
What happened on the run?
Lombardi and Waugh took on the pace early on the four-lap run, but then it was Periault who exerted her authority to break clear at the front and take a first World Series win after three runners-up finishes.
A 33:02 run split gave her the victory over Knibb by a comfortable 36sec, as Knibb managed to get the better of Lombardi for second.
Athlete quotes
“I don’t understand it but I’m very happy. It was a big step [forward] for me,” Periault said. ”I’ve had a good winter with a new group and new coach.”
Knibb described her performance as the “quintessential Taylor race”. She said: “It was raw, open and that’s what we’re working with. I made a lot of changes last year and have a new head coach [Dan Lorang] and new swim coach [Julie Dibens]”
With the joint-slowest second transition time in the field, Knibb admitted there is work to do, adding: “I’ll be doing transition practice every day!”
WTCS Yokohama: Final standings
- Leonie Periault 1.52.28
- Taylor Knibb +36
- Emma Lombardi +40
- Taylor Spivey +.57
- Kirsten Kasper +1:06
- Britain’s Claire Cashmore won the paratriathlon PTS5 class in Yokohama after Canada’s Kamylle Frenette miscounted her laps and had to settle for silver. A former swimmer, Cashmore will be lining up in her sixth Paralympic Games in Paris hoping to improve on paratri bronze from Tokyo.
Top pic credit: World Triathlon
Tim Heming
Freelance triathlon journalist 
