She’s Back! A Dramatic Sprint at the Napier World Cup for Former Junior Star

For those of us who have followed Canadian Desirae Ridenour (the above shot was from the World Juniors in Cozumel in 2016) since her days as a standout junior champion, it comes as no surprise that if things came down to a sprint for the win, the smart money would be on her. As a high school athlete Ridenour was a double gold medalist at the British Columbia provincial track championships, winning the 1,500 and 3,000 m titles twice. She was every bit as talented in those days as a triathlete – I remember announcing her across the line when she won the Canadian national junior triathlon championships in 2016. Her beautiful, fluid running style signalled a star in the making in those days, and a few years later we’d see her represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games, where she finished 17th in the individual race and helped Canada take fourth in the mixed relay. Ridenour would continue to compete at a high international level through 2019, but then dropped off the scene as she dealt with injuries (a stress reaction in her hip kept her out for a year) and health issues (long COVID).

There were a few appearances in 2022 and 2023, but we started to really see the Ridenour of old last year. Living in New Zealand, she competed at last year’s race in Napier, taking 18th. Her performances steadily improved through the year – she took third at the Europe Triathlon Cup Wels and third again back in Canada at the Americas Triathlon Cup Edmonton before taking the Canadian Sprint Triathlon National Championships.

That was the last time we saw the Canadian on the World Triathlon scene, until today, when she put together a masterful performance that saw her, Australian Emma Jeffcoat and New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe put on a dramatic three-woman show in a duel for the medals at the World Triathlon Cup Napier.

The Race

Jeffcoat led the way out of the water with countrywoman Zoe Clark a second behind. Another three seconds back were New Zealand’s Brea Roderick and Ridenour, with two more Kiwis, Eva Goodson and Thorpe another few seconds behind them. Those six would quickly form a lead group that started to work really well together through the early stages of the bike.

Meanwhile, many of the pre-race favourites including Richelle Hill (AUS), Erika Ackerlund (USA), Verena Steinhauser (ITA) and Erica Hawley (BER) found themselves in the first chase group of 11 that wasn’t working nearly as well together. The lead group managed to steadily gain time on the chasers, starting the last of the four laps on the bike with a 45-second lead on the Ackerlund group, and another minute on the second chase pack with Kiwi favourite Nicole Van Der Kaay.

On to the Run

It was Clark who led the group into the second transition, but Ridenour had the fastest transition and flew out to the 5 km run course first. It wasn’t long before Ridenour’s housemate Thorpe (the Canadian’s partner is Trent Thorpe) had moved up onto her shoulder, and not long after that Jeffcoat joined them to create a group of three that quickly dropped the rest of the lead group.

Meanwhile the chase group found themselves 1:08 behind into T2, with Ackerlund, Steinhauser, Australians Ellie Hotnik and Richelle Hill, along with Hawley and Kiwi Eva Goodisson quickly pulling away as they tried to make up some time on the three leaders.

Coming in to the end of the first of the two laps in the run course it was Thorpe who moved her way ahead of Jeffcoat, who had been driving the pace for the second half of the first loop. The Aussie would have none of it as she quickly powered her way back to the front. At the end of the first loop the three still had a minute on the chase group of six.

As they made the turnaround with less than 2 km of running to go, it was clear that the medals were going to be decided between Thorpe, Ridenour and Jeffcoat as they still had almost a minute on the chasers. The three ran side by side over the last 800 m, setting up a sprint to the line. Jeffcoat was first to move to the front with 400 m to go, but Ridenour quickly marked her move. Jeffcoat went again, and managed to drop Thorpe, but Ridenour was able to mark the move again, and would pull clear just before the blue carpet as she sprinted in to take her first World Cup win.

Ackerlund would take the sprint for fourth, with Goodisson nailing fifth ahead of Steinhauser and Hotnik.

You can see the full results here.

Tags: