British junior Sophie Coldwell nearly pulled off a famous win at Tri Liverpool earlier today, pushing the world's top-ranked female triathlete Gwen Jorgensen (USA) all the way to a tightly-contested finish on the last lap.
In deteriorating weather conditions that saw the elite men's race cancelled later in the day due to safety concerns, Coldwell led the field out of the swim along with Jessica Learmonth. The two British athletes shared the lead on the bike before Coldwell – who recently won the ETU Junior Triathlon European Cup in Geneva – broke away on the run.
It wasn't to be for the young Brit however, with Jorgensen catching her on the final lap to cross the line in 1:02:38. Coldwell took a well-deserved silver in 1:03:13, followed by Learmonth with bronze in 1:03:36.
"I didn’t really know what to expect coming here," said Jorgensen afterwards. "Sophie and Jessica had a great swim and really pushed on the bike and got some more time on my group, I just worked hard and tried to stay up there.”
Absolutely over the moon to come 2nd to current world number 1 @gwenjorgensen and pick up my last ever national junior title!
— Sophie Coldwell (@sophiecoldwell) August 10, 2014Earlier in the day, Dave Ellis was first paratriathlete past the line at the British Paratriathlon Championships, racing in the PT5 category, while Faye McClelland (also PT5) was the first female paratriathlete to reach the finish.