Published September 22, 2015 04:06PM
Sept 22, 2015 – The host nation began the day with much to celebrate as US junior road and time trial national champion Dygert and her team-mate Emma White secured gold and silver in the World Championships’ Junior Women’s Time Trial.
UCI/Richmond 2015-Casey B. Gibson
Troubled by injuries in 2014, Dygert has certainly made up for any lost ground in 2015, blazing home on the city-centre circuit to beat White by a hefty one minute and six seconds margin. Anna-Leeza Hull of Australia, already a bronze medallist in the same event in 2014, completed the podium again, one minute and 26 seconds back.
“This course was exactly what I was looking for, it suited me well” Dygert, from Brownsburg, Indiana, said afterwards. “It’s my first World Championships and I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Fifth in 2014 in the same event, White said she had been “hoping to improve on that” but was not sure it could be possible. “I’ve been working hard this season, and it’s paid off.”
The ninth of 37 starters, Dygert had a long wait after she knocked nearly two minutes off the previous best time, set by Canada’s Gillian Ellsay. The key proved to be in the second half of the course, with White coming the closest to Dygert’s best intermediate time of 12 seconds, but then fading notably to lose nearly a minute more. Equally Hull took seventh on the first time check, but even though she then continued to get stronger, the Australian was unable to come closer than bronze.