Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athlete Emma Moffatt has claimed silver in the fourth women’s race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship series in Hamburg, Germany on 18 July.

Moffatt finished in second place, in a sprint to the line less than a metre behind Sweden’s Lisa Norden who won the race in 1 hour 53 minutes 53 seconds.

‘It’s always on my mind to go out hard on the run to see if I can set the pace,’ Moffatt said. ‘I think every race I’ve had this year has been a sprint finish at the end and I haven’t been doing so well in them.’

Despite finishing second, Moffatt is leading the overall points tally of the series. After four rounds, Moffatt is in first place on 2110 points, followed closely by Japan’s Mariko Adachi (2106) and Chile’s Barbara Riveros Diaz (2082).

‘It’s a pretty good feeling, I guess, to be leading the series although it’s a little disappointing not to win the race after coming so close,’ Moffatt said. The ITU World Championship series grand final will be held in Budapest 8-12 September.

‘I’ll try to stay healthy, keep my fitness and maintain my consistency in racing and see where things are at when we get to Budapest.’ said Moffat. AIS team-mate Felicity Abram finished in 10th place. In the men’s race, AIS athletes Brad Kahlefeldt and Dan Wilson finished in 6th and 21st place respectively.

In the men’s series, Kahlefeldt is the highest ranked Australian, in sixth place on 1594 points, ahead of AIS team-mate Courtney Atkinson (1480).

AIS athletes will be looking to improve their rankings in the next rounds of the triathlon world championship series London (24–25 July), Kitzbuhel (14–15 August), culminating in the final in Budapest (8–12 September).