Americans dominate first World Triathlon Series women's race

Taylor Knibb won the season-opening World Championship Series triathlon on Saturday to book her place on the U.S. team for the Tokyo Olympics

Knibb finished the Olympic distance of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer cycle and 10-kilometer run in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 27 seconds. (File)

Taylor Knibb won the season-opening World Championship Series triathlon on Saturday to book her place on the U.S. team for the Tokyo Olympics in July.

The 23-year-old Knibb finished the Olympic distance of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer cycle and 10-kilometer run in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 27 seconds in a race dominated by Americans.

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Summer Rappaport, who has already qualified for the Tokyo Games, was second while Taylor Spivey finished fourth. Maya Kingma of the Netherlands was third, preventing an all-American podium.

Rappaport was 30 seconds behind Knibb. Kingma finished in 1:55.05 with Spivey 18 seconds behind Kingma.

American Katie Zaferes was 22nd among the 55 starters in a time of 1:57.12.

Zaferes, the 2019 world champion, had podium finishes in the last three races in Yokohama — silvers in 2017 and 2018 and a course-record of 1:52.12 while winning in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic prevented the race from being held in 2020.