World Triathlon

There was heartbreak and there was ecstasy on the run as the women’s field of the World Long Distance Championship battled for gold. Faced with a technical course, Julie Iemmolo (FRA) seemed to have taken a leaf from the famous song by The Commodores (“Easy”) for much of the race as she made her efforts look easy like a Sunday morning. Having led from the first strokes of the swim, she had dominated the event. But then, a wonderful run by Charlène Clavel (FRA) turned the race on its head as she came roaring back to win the gold. “I am very happy, I wanted to win,” said Clavel. “Today I had the best run and I’m very happy.”

For her part, Iemmolo said afterwards, “I’m pretty happy with this race. I think I raced the way I love to race, being in the front the maximum. I tried to hold the lead during the bike and then during the run but today it was only half of the run, so a little bit disappointed but very happy to come back home with a medal. I really like this bike course: more technical with lots of turns and turnarounds. We don’t see this very often in long distance races. Before I moved up to long distance I was a short distance athlete so it reminds me of the races I did before.”

Having earned an initial lead of 1:50 after the first lap of the swim, Iemmolo extended her advantage to over 3 minutes by the end of the 3km in the water. Marta Lagownik (POL), the European champion, was the next woman out but Iemmolo had already disappeared up the road. Marion Legrand (FRA), the dual world champion in the Duathlon and Duathlon Mixed Relay, lost time in the water but was expected to make it up on the bike. However, it was not to be as Legrand withdrew early during the bike.

Clavel hopped past Lagownik early on the bike however the gap to Iemmolo did not come down. At the end of the first bike lap, the first of three, Iemmolo held a lead of 4:08 over Clavel. For the entirety of the 114km, that margin remained more or less the same. Lagownik followed while Ai Ueda (JPN) and Emily Donker (AUS) were further back.

Katherine Gillespie-Jones (AUS) then made a move on the second lap, passing Donker and Ueda. The three leaders, though, were a cut above. Heading into the final bike lap, Iemmolo led by 4:29 while Lagownik was 8:32 down and had work to do.

By the time the bike came to an end and attention turned to the run, the temperature had risen considerably. Yet it was Clavel that brought the heat. She ate into Iemmolo’s lead on the run and the deficit stood at 2:32 after the completion of the first lap. Iemmolo had looked in control for so long but with 18km left to run Clavel’s speed posed a real threat.

At the first run checkpoint of the second lap, the gap had dwindled to 44 seconds. Then Clavel found another gear. She blew past Immeolo and grabbed a 30 second lead by the next checkpoint. Meanwhile, Lagownik had also started to reel in Iemmolo and with a lap to go the difference between them was only 9 seconds. The swing in momentum proved irreparable and Clavel won in comfortable fashion. Lagownik then passed Iemmolo to notch the silver medal while Iemmolo’s stoic effort yielded the bronze.

Lagownik’s effort also turned heads for it was her first true long distance race. “It was a tough race for me,” she explained. “It was a first long distance for me today so I am so excited that I am 2nd at the world championship! I am so, so exhausted! I was 2nd in the swim, about 3 minutes after 1st. And then on the bike I tried to push hard but the French girls are so, so strong. I tried to keep pushing and hold the same gap. Then on the run I tried to have the same pace every kilometre and the most important thing in long distance is to have the last 10km the same pace and I think I was more or less the same pace.”

After a World Multisport Championships packed with action, this final event, with its late twist, truly proved the icing on the cake.