COZUMEL, Mexico -- Freshman Taylor Knibb used the best bike split of the day to break away from the field and win the International Triathlon Union Junior World Championship on Friday, and classmate Kyleigh Spearing joined Knibb on the U.S. team and finished in ninth place.
 
Knibb swam the initial 750-meter swimming leg of the competition in 10:11 and emerged out of the water in 30th place, 40 seconds behind the leader. Knibb then put forth the best bike split of the day and the second best run split of the day to earn the gold medal. She completed the 20-kilometer bike loop in 29:42, catching up to the front of the race on the first lap and then using the second lap of the course to break away from the pack. After Knibb and two competitors broke away from the peloton, Knibb then launched her won attack on the third lap, opening up a seven second lead over the two riders that had broken away with her on the second lap and a 35 second lead over the chase field. Knibb then ran the five-kilometer run course in 19:00 for a final time of 59:05, 36 seconds ahead of the silver medalist from Germany.
 
Spearing also had an impressive performance on the way to her top 10 finish. After swimming the first third of the race in 10:10, Spearing – who had the seventh best transition time between the swim and bike – used a 30:32 bike split to pass several competitors. Her 30:32 was the seventh fastest of the day. Then, during the run, Spearing pounded out an impressive run over the 5-kilometer third and final leg, passing 20 other competitors and running 18:27 to finish in a total time of 1:00.16.
 
It was the third straight year that Knibb competed in the World Championships and the second straight for Spearing. Last year, Knibb took home a silver medal last while Spearing finished 12th.

Both Spearing and Knibb will now return to competition for the Big Red cross country and track teams.