The return of former Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen continued at the World Cup in New Plymouth this weekend.
After winning a bronze medal in her first race back at the Oceania Cup in Taupo last month, it was hard going into New Plymouth to gauge where Jorgensen would fit.
In our preview, we predicted a top-5 finish for her. Her run had looked strong in Taupo and with another month of training under her belt it did not seem too outlandish. At the same time, New Plymouth represented a step up in level from Taupo.
With a deeper field, any guess was a good one for how Jorgensen’s race would go.
In the end, she finished 14th.
From this result, there is a reality check to take however there are also a number of positives. Let’s get the less optimistic side out of the way first.
Jorgensen’s stated goal is to race for the USA at the Paris Olympics next year. Seeing the Mixed Team Relay in Tokyo stirred her desire to return and the relay is of central focus to her renewed Olympic ambitions.
14th in New Plymouth is a great return for a second race back, no matter the background. However, as a two time world champion Jorgensen’s expectations are somewhat different to the rest of the field. She spent years winning as opposed to finishing outside the top-10. As such, she now is in territory she has not trodden in over a decade.
Her position in New Plymouth has two consequences. The first is that while she will get some points towards her Olympic qualification rankings, she won’t get as many as hoped. With the First Period of Olympic qualification closing at the end of May, she is running out of time to accrue points to put herself high enough in the rankings to be able to start at the Games next year.
This ties to the second consequence. She has not earned enough points in New Plymouth to drastically improve her World Triathlon ranking. The better an athlete’s ranking, the easier it is to start in the WTCS (or World Cups). It is for that reason that athletes such as Ivana Kuriackova have chased points at Continental Cups in the early part of the season.
Jorgensen made the New Plymouth after USA Triathlon substituted her in for Taylor Knibb. However she cannot rely on substitutions to carry her to Paris; she will need to get on start lists by right.
If she had more time, this would not be a massive problem. After all, she started 2023 with zero points. Yet with Paris places to be determined in a mere 14 months, the clock is ticking.
As a result, there is a cold reality that makes Jorgensen’s Olympic pursuit a little vulnerable right now.
At the same time, though, there are real positives to take from New Plymouth. Her run of 16:25 was the joint third fastest split, highlighting how she still has the requisite speed to contend for medals.
Moreover, she swam only 2 seconds slower than eventual bronze medallist Solveig Løvseth. The difference between Jorgensen and Løvseth came entirely on the bike. With a little more time, that can be rectified.
In addition, Jorgensen was the best finisher of the chase group. She was the only athlete to finish inside the top-15 that had not made the front pack. On another day, she might have made that front group like Løvseth and then, given her run split, we would be talking about a Jorgensen top-5.
On such fine details can races turn.
Where Jorgensen will race next is up in the air. While New Plymouth showed that her Olympic goal will not be a walk in the park, there was more than enough to show that it is possible.
Her race is against time. If there is an athlete that could take time on, though, it is Jorgensen.
