The final world cup before the Beijing Olympics and Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig made quite a statement, winning today’s Kitzbühel BG Triathlon World Cup. France’s Carole Peon surprisingly took the silver medal while New Zealand’s Sam Warriner came across for the bronze.

The shape of the race changed early as world number one Felicity Abram pulled out after the first lap of the swim. The Aussie was attempting to compete in three world cups in as many weeks and just didn’t have the energy to complete today’s race. Swiss Magali Di marco led the women out of the water, followed closely by American Sarah Groff and German Olympic team member Christiane Pilz.

On the technical 40-kilometer bike course, two packs came together early to form a 19-woman lead group. After a surprisingly strong swim, Swiss cycling powerhouse Nicola Spirig attempted to breakaway from the group at the start of the third of eight laps. But it wouldn’t amount to a race breaker as Spirig rejoined the leader by the end of the lap. The lead pack of 19 women built a sizeable 2:30 lead through most of the bike portion. Notables in the chase group included Erin Densham of Australia and Ai Ueda of Japan. Austrian Tania Haiboeck, a known strong cyclist was doing a lot of the work in the chase group trying to eat into the lead.

As the women headed out on the 10-kilometer run course, Luxembourg’s Elizabeth May and Spirig immediately surged to the front and opened up a slight gap on the rest of the field. But Carole Peon and Sam Warriner bridged up to the leading pair by the end of the first lap. Of the four women, Spirig and Peon took command. As they took the bell lap, they owned a 20-second lead and battled each other for the win. As they reached the final 200 meters, Spirig surged ahead of Peon and sprinted away for her second world cup title. Peon happily took silver, equalling her best ever world cup performance from last year in Cancun. Sam Warriner held on for the bronze, the 12th world cup medal of her career. Andrea Whitcombe finished in ninth place.

For full results click here.