Paula Findlay and her spectacular start to the season in Sydney

At the start of 201, it was ridiculous to think that Paula Findlay would end the season without a place on the World Championship podium. After the triple gold, this was the obligatory question: can anyone stop Findlay? And something happened, it was an injury that interrupted her unstoppable march towards the title of World Champion.

In Sydney, the opening event of the 2011 season, all eyes were on the Australian Emmas, Emma Moffatt and Emma Snowsill. But it was finally Findlay who seized the opportunity and sprinted past Barbara Riveros Diaz and won the opening gold.

Eight weeks later, the series headed to Madrid, with many hoping that the anomalies in Sydney would be normalized and that Moffatt and Snowsill would regain their usual places on the podium. However, Findlay gave us what would be his best and most complete performance to date.

In Madrid, Paula left the water in fifth place, four seconds behind first, and then cycled among the leaders throughout the tough cycling course, where she even placed at the front of the pack on several occasions. In the pedestrian stage, the athlete took the lead. Helen Jenkins was the only one who was with her for longer but could not keep up with the pace set by the Canadian athlete, who accelerated in the final meters and crossed the finish line in first place.

“Madrid was my best race of the year,” Findlay said in Beijing, reflecting on her season. “I swam wonderfully, I felt fabulous in the bike and I raced with my soul, it was the best of my season so far. It leaves me with very good memories and now it is my favorite race, my favorite circuit.”

And Findlay headed to Kitzbuehel as the new triathlon star. Because of the youthful humility that characterizes her, and because she demonstrated that she has the ability to compete in the big leagues, all eyes were now on her.

Source: ITU