Aileen Reid climbed to 6th in the world rankings following a stunning 4th place finish in the London World Triathlon Series.
USA claimed a second consecutive clean sweep of the podium with the dominant Gwen Jorgenson notching up a 10th World Series win.
Derry native, Reid emerged from the 750 metre swim in 17th position leaving her in the chasing bike pack. Through 20 kilometres of twists and turns on greasy Hyde Park roads they could not reel in the leading seven athletes ahead.
Once into her stride on the final 5 kilometre run, Reid was clearly in good form and continued to move through the field, clocking the second fastest run to finish just outside the podium positions in 4th place in a time of 56:25.
“I’m really pleased, it’s finally coming together for me,” said Reid
“It’s half the distance (Sprint) but it’s twice as hard,”
“Unfortunately I missed that front pack after the swim but I had a really great run, I didn’t think I was going to run that fast,”
“I really feel like I want to be in the top ten in the world and these last three performances are what I’ve really been pushing for.”
Reid will now turn her attention to the Baku European Games on June 13th, with automation Rio Olympic Qualification on offer to the winner.
The men’s race saw Cork triathlete Bryan Keane finish in 36th position in a time of 52:05. Keane found himself in the chase pack out of the water with some 18 athletes 40 seconds up the road. Over the run course, the world number 35 clocked 15:11 for 5 kilometres.
“Thanks for all the fantastic support today in London, incredible crowds made for a great atmosphere.” Commented Keane after the race.