Courtesy: USAT

The U.S. women, led by defending world champion Siri Lindley, swept the podium, and four of the top five spots, at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup race on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Lindley (Boulder, Colo.), returning to the site of her 2001 world championship victory, completed the 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run in 2 hours, 1 minute, 33 seconds. Barb Lindquist (Victor, Idaho), ranked No. 1 in the world, reached her fourth World Cup podium of the season by finishing second in 2:01:42. Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.) finished third in 2:01:55.

Meanwhile, in Carlsbad, Calif., Greg Watson (Newark, Del.) won his third U.S. elite duathlon championship and Andrea Ratkovic (Norman, Okla. - pictured) won her second on Sunday at the USA Triathlon National Duathlon Championships, part of the Dannon Duathlon race.

In Edmonton, the U.S. women dominated from the beginning as Lindquist, Taormina, Becky Gibbs (San Jose, Calif.) and Laura Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.) left the water together and formed the lead pack on the bike. Reback eventually dropped back to join the chase back, which fell behind by 2 minutes.

Lindley, who was coming back from an ankle injury, picked up the pace on the run and finally passed Lindquist with about 100 meters left in the race. Lindley's run time of 35:22 was by far the best of the day.

"(Passing Lindquist) was the most unbelievable feeling in the world," Lindley told the Edmonton Journal.

"Being injured sounds like a simple thing, but it is really hard to come back after an injury because your confidence is so low and you just don't know where you're at.

"So when I passed Barb and I knew I had the win it was just, along with a sigh of relief, 'Wow, this is amazing.' "

Mariana Ohata of Brazil finished fourth and Gibbs was fifth.

Victor Plata (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) was the top U.S. finisher in the men's race in 16th place (1:50:37). Canadian gold medalist Simon Whitfield took the men's victory in 1:49:07. Australia's Greg Bennett was second (1:49:18) and New Zealand's Hamish Carter was third (1:49:24).

For more information and complete results, go to www.triathlon.org.

In Carlsbad, the national duathlon championships qualified athletes for the ITU World Duathlon Championships in October in Alpharetta, Ga. The elite race was draft legal and the course consisted of a 10K run, 40K bike and 5K run.

Watson took an early lead on the bike to win the elite national championship in 1:48:56. Eric Schwartz (Boulder, Colo.) was second (1:50:35) and Canada's Chad Kozak was third (1:50:56).

Lucy Smith of Canada won the women's race in 2:00:36. Ratkovic, who had been battling Rocky Mountain spotted fever and hadn't even been sure she would compete until Saturday, was second overall in 2:02:42 to repeat as U.S. champion. Heather Fuhr of Canada was third in 2:03:59.

Josh Beck, 24, of Carlisle, Calif., and Chris Farias, 37, of Seattle, Wash., were the overall age group winners. Sue Davis, 40, of Costa Mesa, Calif., and Dana Lyons, 44, of The Woodlands, Texas, were the masters winners.

For complete results, go to www.dannonduathlon.com.

In other weekend races, Steven Duplinsky, 15, of Kensington, Md., and Amanda Hahn, 15, of Gainesville, Fla., were the overall winners of the 2002 USA Triathlon Junior National Championship on Sunday in Clermont, Fla. The race for juniors 13-15 consisted of a quarter-mile swim, 11-mile bike and 3-mile run.

Sam Schildgen of Colleyville, Texas, was the winner in the 13- year-old division and Kristin Donahue (Webster, Fla.) and John- Paul Newfield (St. Pete Beach, Fla.) were the winners in the 14- year-old division.

Bill Picciano (Jupiter, Fla.) and Sara McLarty (Deland, Fla.) were the overall winners of the second race in the Central Florida Triathlon Series, held in conjunction with the junior race.

For complete results, go to www.triflorida.com.

At the Muncie (Ind.) Endurathon, which served as the USA Triathlon National Long Course Championship, Terry Labinski (Waukesha, Wis.) won the race after a drafting penalty was called against John Brockenbrough (Murrysville, Pa.), who placed second.

The race consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1- mile run. Heather Gollnick (Harford, Wis.) won the women's race, finishing more than 13-minutes ahead of second-place Michelle Kitze (Kettering, Ohio), who was last year's winner.

For complete results, go to www.timberlinetiming.com.