Ashleigh Gentle storms through on run to win PTO US Open in Dallas

Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle pulled out a dramatic victory in the PTO US Open, overhauling a seven-minute gap to American rival Taylor Knibb in the final stages of the run.

Gentle, also the reigning Canadian Open champion, has emerged as a force in 2022, and stunned Knibb, the 2021 Olympic silver medallist, with her late surge.

The Australian reflected on a stunning win afterwards. “I had to dig to the depths of myself for that one. That was really, really tough. [I was] honestly feeling just horrible on the start of the bike ride.

“Being on my own a little bit, watching the group ride away. It was really discouraging, but I was just trying to keep my head in the game.

“I absolutely didn’t expect to have the run I did. I just really had to focus on myself. I just tried to manage my pacing well, and I guess it paid off.

“It’s been a really good year, it’s been a lot of fun, I’m really enjoying the sport again.”

Knibb, for her part, was disappointed to be overtaken.

She said: “[The finish line was] so close, but so far, I’m just grateful to get to the finish line, I don’t know how I made it, I was just dying, overheating, I couldn’t move any faster.”

It was scorching in Dallas, as the PTO Tour came to Texas for the first time, with temperatures in the high 30s and humidity well over 50%. Even the water was warm, at 26 degrees.

The world’s top three women, German duo Laura Philipp and Anne Haug, and Swiss Daniela Ryf, all missed the event. As did American pair Skye Moench and Chelsea Sodaro. All five are in the world top 10.

This left the field wide open.

British star Lucy Charles-Barclay shot into the lead in the swim, with Knibb close behind.

Olympic, Commonwealth and world champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda was left behind early.

Charles-Barclay and Knibb led as they exited the swim, but the American took a solo lead in the bike leg.

The Dallas course was designed with fans in mind, and enabled fans to see the athletes as many as 12 different times during the race. Part of this design involved a seven-lap bike leg.

After slipping behind, Charles-Barclay also lost her water bottle, a punishing result in the Dallas heat. She also had bike issues which slowed her down.

Knibb was stretching her lead, with Charles-Barclay losing yet more time as she struggled with the bike racks, but Gentle emerged as the likeliest contender and began reeling in the leaders on the run.

Gentle blitzed past both Charles-Barclay and Knibb with a few kilometres to go, stretching her lead as she approached the finish line.

There was a $1m prize pool on the line, split among the top 40 finishers.

That meant that Gentle’s late surge from third doubled her prize money, from $50,000 to $100,000.

Triathlon, an Olympic sport since Sydney 2000, is emerging as a major sport in the United States. Participation now exceeds 4,000,000.

The US Open completes the PTO series for 2022, but it will expand to include a European and Asian event next year.