ITU Moments of 2017: Andrea Hewitt’s Surprise Abu Dhabi Victory

In this video, International Triathlon Union (ITU) shares the moment when New Zealander Andrea Hewitt, with just seconds left in the World Triathlon in Abu Dhabi, passed her competition and crossed the finish line first, by a small fraction of a second.

This was just after commentators mistakenly called the race for Britain’s Jodie Stimpson. Hewitt’s amazing superpowers came from her desire to win in honour of her late fiance, Laurent Vidal, who was the previous year’s men’s gold winner.

After the race, in tears, she made this statement: “It was an amazing race for me, it is amazing coming here to Abu Dhabi for me. Last year the number one spot was dedicated to Laurent, and this year I am dedicating to Laurent. I raced two weeks ago, my race of this year in Tiga and I won. So I knew I was coming here really fit. Laurent always told me that I had everything. I had the dedication, I had the integrity, I had talent, and he told me the one thing I was missing was emotion and I didn’t show it a lot of the time.”

Hewitt and Stimpson both hit the finish line at 02:03:46. Bronze finisher Sara Vilic, of Austria, timed a 02:03:53.