Australian Emma Jackson took advantage of the absence of the top-ranked contenders to register her first triumph in the World Triathlon Series.<\/p>\n
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The 27-year-old, who hadn\u2019t been on a WTS podium since 2014, out-sprinted the USA\u2019s Summer Rappaport with fellow Aussie Ashleigh Gentle in third.<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s Beth Potter, the reigning European champion, who was making her first World Series start, ran through the field to finish 13th, with fellow Brit Sophie Coldwell in 15th.<\/p>\n
Edmonton in Canada played host to the penultimate WTS event of the eight-race season, with only the Grand Final in Lausanne still to come.<\/p>\n
With the series darting from Montreal to Hamburg and then back to North America in recent weeks, and with triathletes prioritising the Tokyo test event next month, there was a reduced field of 42 women starting, with the top three-ranked triathletes, Katie Zafares, Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown all absent.<\/p>\n
Also missing was last year\u2019s Edmonton winner and reigning world champion Vicky Holland, who after dealing with a troublesome Achilles injury was hit with a stomach bug.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s Sara Perez Sala was closely followed by Coldwell and Rappaport for the early stages of the non-wetsuit 750m lake swim, before the American took charge to lead out of the water and run up into T1.<\/p>\n
Rappaport and Coldwell were slickest through transition and were joined by Taylor Spivey \u2013 the highest ranked athlete in the field \u2013 to open a 16sec gap on the field by the end of the first of five bike laps.<\/p>\n
However, by the time they swept back through Hawrelak Park for the end of lap two they\u2019d been hauled back to form a lead group of 19 triathletes, with Potter in the chasing group, 33sec adrift.<\/p>\n