Summer Cook finished 3rd at the Karlovy Vary ITU Triathlon World Cup in the Czech Republic today after a frantic very last minute bike repair (read below). She had the fastest swim split!
Summer’s Facebook Post:
Really pleased with 3rd today at Karlovy Vary World Cup.
It was some morning… got on my bike to ride to the course to have my derailleur fall off 10 seconds later. Turns out my hanger broke and then the derailleur sustained damage. Since KV is a split transition (T1 5km away from T2/town) the mechanic was at T1, so I had to take the shuttle to the lake after I sprinted back to my hotel room to get my spare derailleur hanger. There was a solid 60 minute period that I didn’t think I was going to be able to start today. Luckily, the mechanic lent me a derailleur and I was able to get to the start line.
The race was easily the hardest course I’ve ever competed on… hard swim, hard, hard, hard bike, and hard and hilly run. Had a gap with one other athlete on the swim but lost it in T1 and struggled to hang with the chasers on the technical bike course. My bike wasn’t shifting well with the different derailleur but I wasn’t doing myself any favors on some of the turns. I was relieved to come off the bike with the chase pack and quickly moved up to 3rd. I couldn’t be more pleased with my result. I came here knowing the bike was extremely technical to push myself out of my comfort zone and this course did that 100% percent!
I owe a huge thank you to Paulo today, who saved me and kept me calm. Next up is the Grand Final in Rotterdam in two weeks!