Summer Rappaport crossing the finish line at ITU World Triathlon Yokohama on May 17, 2019 in Yokohama, Japan.
Summer Rappaport gave herself an early birthday present Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta.
Four days shy of her 28th birthday, Rappaport (nee Cook) earned her third consecutive podium finish in the World Triathlon Series, finishing second in the elite women’s race behind Emma Jackson of Australia.
Rappaport was going after her first WTS victory in nearly three years and nearly got it Saturday at the same event she won in September 2016. Jackson passed the Thornton, Colorado, native in the 5-kilometer run and won the race by just two seconds.
Rappaport, who was ranked eighth in the world coming into Edmonton, finished third earlier this month at a WTS stop in Hamburg, Germany, and was second in a WTS race in May in Yokohama, Japan. She also has a pair of world cup podiums this year, including first place in a June race in Huatulco, Mexico.
Jackson won Saturday’s race with a time of 1:01:23. Rappaport finished in 1:01:25, and Ashleigh Gentle of Australia was third, another two seconds back at 1:01:27.
Taylor Spivey of the U.S., who is ranked fourth in the world, missed the podium by 20 seconds. She was the only other American in the top 10, finishing fifth with a time of 1:01:47. She had led for portions of the bike race.
One person not competing in Edmonton was Olympian Katie Zaferes. With four first-place finishes and one runner-up finish so far this season, Zaferes is the leader in the women’s points standings. A crash in the bike portion led to a 35th-place finish earlier this month in Hamburg.
On the men’s side, Morgan Pearson and Ben Kanute each posted career best WTS finishes, with Pearson coming in sixth at 55:19 and Kanute just behind him at 55:28 to take seventh. Kanute was in the lad group for most of the race.
The next WTS event is the Grand Final on Aug. 31 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
