Triathlon have announced the Performances of the Year and it was Joanna Brown who became the first Canadian to reach a World Triathlon Series podium in five years when she took third in Bermuda back in April.
Brown came into the 2019 WTS season with momentum. She won Bronze at the Commonwealth Games in April of 2018, behind Bermuda’s Flora Duffy who won the Gold and then equaled her career-best with a second consecutive fourth-place showing at WTS Montreal in August.
After a bike crash forced her to DNF the opening race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Brown delivered a big performance a month later.
Sitting in 27th after the Swim, she got herself back into contention on the Bike, pulling a chase group around the 40K course.
Ultimately leaders Katie Zaferes (USA) and Jessica Learmonth (UK) were too far up the road, but Brown used the day’s second-fastest run split of 34:37 to grab third place in a time of 2:02:05.
“I came out of the water and I saw I had some work to do,” Brown said post-race. “I was determined today, and I got it done.”
“On the run, it took me a little bit to get going, but I knew this was a tough course and you have to keep going after it. I was slowly picking my way closer to the leaders and was just so happy to finally cross the finish line knowing I was on the podium.”
