International Triathlon Union

  Filliol Wins First World Cup of Careers

Cancun, Mexico: For immediate release: The weather on Mexico’s Yucatan   Peninsula was perfect for triathlon with partly cloudy skies, air temperature   approaching 30oC and a blustery wind off the Caribbean.

  Isla Mujeres provided a perfect backdrop as a strong field of 40 women took   their mark for the swim start. A compact group of 4 including Canada’s   Sharon Donnelly and Carol Ross, Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes and Brazil’s   Carla Moreno slipped away on the swim and built up a 45 second lead by the time   they exited the 1500m course. They quickly swept through the first transition   and got away cleanly onto the 8 lap, 40km bike course.

  Through the 1st half of the bike, the leaders built up a 1:15 lead on a huge   pack of athletes behind. By the 6th lap, the chase pack got organized and with   Canadian teammates, Carol Montgomery and Gillian Moody along with Natalie Daumas   of France pulling at the front they gained 25 seconds on the leaders and were   just 50 seconds back.

  The gains on the leaders were short lived and by lap 7 the leaders had built   their lead back to 1:15 with Donnelly and Fernandes at the front. Venezuela’s   Rosemary Lopez, Nancy Alvarez of Argentina and Esther Aquayo of Mexico did most   of the work at the front of the chase pack through the final stages of the bike.

  Carla Morena was the first through the bike to run transition and onto the 4   lap, 10km run course. Vanessa Fernandes, who alone with Morena was the best   runner in the quartet at the front, exited the transition just seconds back,   followed by Donnelly and Ross. The chase pack was led through transition by   Tania Haiboeck of Austria, followed by Fiorella D;Cruz of Colombia and Samantha   McGlone of Canada.

  Morena, Fernandez and Donnelly ran through the 1st lap still tightly connected   at the front as Ross was dropped and then passed by Canadian teammates Natasha   Filliol, Carol Montgomery and Samantha McGlone.

  Morena and Fernandez pulled away from Donnelly just after the halfway point   as Filliol passed Donnelly to take over 3rd place.

  Fernandez and Morena continued to run shoulder to shoulder at the front, as   an interesting struggle took place among 6 of Canada’s top women, all   in the hunt for the podium and Olympic Qualifying standards set by their National   Olympic Committee: Natasha Filliol, Carol Montgomery, Sharon Donnelly, Samantha   McGlone, Gillian Moody and Lauren Groves.

  Natasha Filliol caught the lead duo on the last lap, and with 200 metres to   go put the pedal down and took off on Morena and Fernandes. She won her 1st   World Cup in Cancun with a margin of 12 seconds over Carla Morena. Vanessa Fernandes   was 3rd and further 11 seconds back.