Eighteen-year-old Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay placed in the junior women’s world top-10 for the third consecutive year by finishing eighth Saturday at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Gold Coast, Australia. Hannah Henry of Victoria was 12th and Kira Gupta-Baltazar of Kleinburg, Ont., 30th.
Cecillia Sayuri Ramirez Alavez of Mexico won the gold and Britons Erin Wallace and Kate Waugh the silver and bronze.
Pavlos Antoniades of Trois-Rivières, Que., was top junior Canadian male, also in eighth place, with Brock Hoel of Kelowna 19th and Ottawa’s Liam Donnelly 28th. Hungary’s Csongor Lehmann won the junior men’s crown with Paul Georgenthum, of France, silver medallist and Germany’s Philipp Wiewald bronze medallist.
Top senior women’s performer for Canada was Joanna Brown from Carp, Ont., in 18th position. Aussie Ashleigh Gentle thrilled the hometown crowd by claiming the world title. Vicky Holland, of Great Britain, wrapped up a stellar 2018 campaign and the overall World Triathlon Series championship title with a silver-medal showing, while American Katie Zaferes took the final spot on the women’s podium.
The men’s senior race is today with Matthew Sharpe of Victoria competing.
The Triathlon Canada national training centre is headquartered in Victoria.
