Kiwi Andrea Hewitt takes Bronze at WTS Stockholm in the lead up to the Grand Final in Chicago

Andrea Hewitt rounded off her preparation for the ITU World Series Grand Final in Chicago next month with a strong podium finish at the ITU WTS in Stockholm this morning New Zealand time.

Hewitt won bronze, her first WTS medal since the opening round in Auckland in March when she also finished third. The Cantabrian was delighted with her work on a testing course, finishing behind Americans Sarah True and Katie Zaferes.

“This is on par with Auckland, the other of my two podiums this year. It was tough, this is such a tough course, because they were away at the start, we had 12 seconds to catch and it took us half of the bike, we really had to push today. I had to push hard and every time up the hill it took a little more out of me and eventually Katie went past me but I am happy with the podium and performance today.”

Hewitt emerged from the choppy swim with a small gap to the leaders but that hard work on the bike saw her and others bridge to the American’s to form a lead group of 15.

Once on to the run, Hewitt went stride for stride with the front pack and looked likely to pick up silver behind True, only to be pipped close to the line by a fast finishing Zaferes.

Hewitt is in fourth place with just Edmonton and Chicago to come on the WTS calendar, the Kiwi will not race in Edmonton, instead focusing on her preparation for the Chicago Grand Final in just under a month’s time.

Fellow Kiwi Rebecca Spence did not finish the race, meanwhile Ryan Sissons is the sole Kiwi in the men’s race taking place overnight tonight NZT