Cook Claims First Career ITU World Cup Podium Finish

ALANYA, Turkey — USA Triathlon Collegiate Recruitment Program member Summer Cook raced her way to a silver medal at the penultimate ITU World Cup of the 2015 season, earning her first career World Cup podium finish.

Summer Cook landed on the podium for the first time in an ITU World Cup on Saturday. (Janos M Schmidt/ITU) — Summer Cook landed on the podium for the first time in an ITU World Cup on Saturday (Janos M Schmidt/ITU)

Cook (Thornton, Colo.) posted a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 52 seconds on the Olympic-distance 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run course. She finished 20 seconds behind race winner Yuliya Yelistratova of Ukraine, and 13 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Miriam Casillas García of Spain. Cook is in her second season as an elite triathlete, and ran collegiately at Villanova. Her previous best World Cup finish was fourth earlier this year in Chengdu, China, and she also finished on the podium at three Continental Cup events this season.

Cook had the fastest swim split of the day and joined three other women out on to the bike for a short-lived lead during the first of six bike laps. While Cook and the lead pack were caught by a large chase group featuring most of the field in the early part of the bike, she posted the second-fastest run split of the day to clinch her podium spot.

“I felt confident in the training that I have done in the last couple months, so I knew if I follow the process and did what I need to do, I would have a good race,” Cook told ITU media after the race. “This is the end of my second year racing, I feel I certainly progressed a lot and I’m very excited about it and feeling confident about the future.”

In the men’s race, Portugal’s Joao Pereira was crowned champion, with Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt and Canada’s Kyle Jones joining him on the podium.

The ITU World Cup season ends next weekend in Tongyeong, South Korea.