World Triathlon Series 2015 Results: Men's and Women's Top Finishers in Auckland

The second stop of the 2015 World Triathlon Series saw the men's and women’s elite touch down in Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday, following the thrilling curtain-raiser in Abu Dhabi at the start of March.

There, last year’s champions, Javier Gomez and Gwen Jorgensen, kicked off their respective campaigns in contrasting fashion, with Gomez placing sixth and the latter claiming yet another superb victory.

So, there were plenty of questions that needed answering in Auckland. Could Gomez recover and get himself back on the podium with the likes of Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee and Mario Mola hunting glory? And could Jorgensen further extend her lead at the top of the tree?

Read on to find out, as we break down the results and series rankings from another nail-biting affair Down Under.

Gwen Jorgensen Proves Too Strong Again

Handout/Getty Images

Jorgensen finally got the Auckland monkey off her back on Sunday, as she claimed a long-awaited triumph in the stage at the third attempt. World Triathlon broke the news of her victory:

Fellow American Katie Zaferes followed in second place, before home favourite Andrea Hewitt took the bronze in a close, top-three battle.

Here’s a look at the top 10:

Position	Name	Country	Time
1	Gwen Jorgensen	USA	02:09:04
2	Katie Zaferes	USA	02:10:42
3	Andrea Hewitt	NZE	02:10:58
4	Vendula Frintova	CZE	02:11:23
5	Lisa Perterer	AUT	02:11:40
6	Emma Moffatt	AUS	02:11:43
7	Yuka Sato	JPN	02:12:02
8	Sarah True	USA	02:12:22
9	Sarah-Anne Brault	CAN	02:12:35
10	Simone Ackermann	NZL	02:12:57

Despite Jorgensen’s victory with almost 90 seconds to spare, it wasn’t looking good for her after the initial 1,500-metre open-water swim leg, as she was lagging all of 40 seconds behind the early leaders—Jessica Learmonth and Carolina Routier.

However, as soon as she got on the bike, there was only going to be one winner.

The American was eating up the opening laps in remarkable times and quickly found herself mixing it up at the front of the pack, with Hewitt, Lisa Norden and Vendula Frintova for company.

Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images

Jorgensen’s strongest suit has always been the closing 10-kilometre run, and although a heavily congested pack got on the road together, the defending champion soon opened up a healthy lead.

Jorgensen has won endless races thanks to her running ability, but Sunday’s triumph was all about playing catch-up on the bike, as she told ITU World Triathlon Series: “I really wanted to be with the leaders in T2 so I am really happy that I was able to do that. I was able to execute with my run today, but my main goal is to keep with front pack during the bike.”

Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images

She certainly achieved that goal and has continued her perfect start to the season with two wins out of two.

It gets even better than that, though, as Sunday marked her 10th overall triumph and seventh in her last eight stages, per TriathlonLIVE:

The win saw her open up a 120-point lead of Zaferes in the 2015 rankings, too, as we see below:

Position	Name	Country	Points
1	Gwen Jorgensen	USA	1600
2	Katie Zaferes	USA	1480
3	Andrea Hewitt	NZL	1271
4	Barbara Riveros	CHI	972
5	Yuka Sato	JPN	965
6	Sarah True	USA	893
7	Charlotte McShane	AUS	815
8	Vendula Frintova	CZE	756
9	Lindsey Jerdonek	USA	710
10	Emma Moffatt	AUS	686

Jorgensen will take to the Gold Coast leg on April 11 full of confidence that she can chalk up victory No. 11, and based on Auckland’s race, that’s almost looking like a sure thing.

Jonathan Brownlee Ends Javier Gomez’s Auckland Dominance

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

A sixth-place finish in the Abu Dhabi stage for defending champion Gomez meant that he needed a big lift in Auckland, and it’s safe to say he couldn’t have picked a better venue to get his season back on track.

As TriathlonLIVE revealed, the Spaniard has taken the gold medal every single year of the New Zealand race:

However, his shaky form in UAE will have given competitors the confidence to dethrone Gomez, and so it proved as Jonathan Brownlee stole the show.

The Olympic gold medallist put together a stunning race in which he more or less led throughout, with Gomez coming second and Pierre Le Corre taking bronze, per TriathlonLIVE:

Here’s Auckland’s top 10:

Position	Name	Country	Time
1	Jonathan Brownlee	GBR	1:55:26
2	Javier Gomez	ESP	1:55:41
3	Pierre Le Corre	FRA	1:55:52
4	Fernando Alarza	ESP	1:56:48
5	Ryan Bailie	AUS	1:56:53
6	Henri Schoeman	RSA	1:57:03
7	Richard Varga	SVK	1:57:07
8	Crisanto Grajales	MEX	1:57:17
9	Ben Kanute	USA	1:57:20
10	Tony Dodds	NZE	1:57:39

Richard Varga was the first man to emerge from the water after a strong swim, but Ben Kanute, Brownlee and Gomez weren’t far behind.

The latter pair started showing their dominance in the cycling, as they ferociously battled it out for a lead that exchanged hands regularly, via TriathlonLIVE:

However, toward the end of the leg, both Gomez and Brownlee slipped off the pace, with Varga and Simon Viain getting onto the pavement first.

From then on, it was anyone’s race. One of the pack had to seize the race and make it his—that man was Brownlee.

Having opened up a five-second lead on Gomez and the rest of the field, the Brit ran relentlessly, getting farther and farther out of sight.

As he crossed the finish line, Gomez sat 15 seconds back and Le Corre a further 11, as the Brit claimed his first Auckland victory, per World Triathlon:

The win puts Brownlee top of the men’s rankings, with a nice bit of daylight between him and Gomez in second place:

Position	Name	Country	Points
1	Jonathan Brownlee	GBR	1386
2	Javier Gomez	ESP	1282
3	Fernando Alarza	ESP	1134
4	Mario Mola	ESP	1069
5	Ryan Bailie	AUS	876
6	Henri Schoeman	RSA	811
7	Joao Silva	POR	756
8	Vincent Luis	FRA	740
T9	Pierre Le Corre	FRA	685
T9	Richard Murray	RSA	685

Brownlee, who came fifth in Abu Dhabi and didn’t enjoy the best of races, silenced his critics with an outstanding performance.

Speaking with BBC Sport after the race, he reflected on bouncing back to form: “I made mistakes in Abu Dhabi and have been beating myself up about it since. I wanted to show how fit I was. I've been practising running hard off a fast bike. I was a bit cleverer on the bike, and maybe I'm a bit fitter than I was at the start of the year."

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Should he keep up such hard work, Brownlee will once again be battling for glory at the season’s climax in Edmonton.

The power, stamina and intelligence on display in Auckland was simply sensational, and he’ll head to the Gold Coast in April knowing that victory is once again possible.