The sun had only just risen when the men’s event at the World Long Distance Triathlon Championships got underway and by the time much of Townsville had fully awoken and checked out what was happening outside they would have discovered a treat of a race.
A tightly bunched front pack of men stuck together in the first lap of the swim with six men covered by 10 seconds. At the end of the 3km, Johnathan Dolan (USA) was the first to emerge. Charlie Quin (AUS) was the next to make the run up the beach to T1. Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP), the European champion and silver medallist from the World Long Distance Triathlon Championships from 2023, was fifth out of the water and only 10 seconds down.
With Steven McKenna (AUS) and Dylan Magnien (FRA) for company, a front group of five consolidated itself at the start of the 114km bike. Quin and Benito were still there but Dolan slipped back. Benito had clearly learned from his experience at the 2023 edition in Ibiza. Although he out-ran the winner, Clement Mignon, by 1:13 that day, he had to settle for silver after losing well over 2 minutes on the bike. In Townsville, Benito was evidently determined to stay with the leaders on two wheels.
The pack reshuffled on the first lap of the bike while Aichlinn O’Reilly (IRL) moved into the lead. Meanwhile, in the train behind, Matt Burton (AUS) made up almost 2 minutes over the first bike lap after losing over 5 minutes in the water.
The leaders were watchful as they headed out onto the second lap and the segment on the supercar racing track brought a few more turns and technical tests. It was at this time that the Perth-based Irishman O’Reilly dropped back but he soon recovered to rejoin the leaders. Behind, Burton and Louis Naeyaert (BEL) were flying. At the fourth turn on the second bike lap they had whittled the lead down to around 2:17. The leaders punched back, though, and after the second of the three bike laps their gap to the chasers stood at 2:32.
At the start of the third lap, the pendulum swung the other way. Benjamin Hill (AUS) was also with the Burton-Naeyaert axis and the trio brought the gap down to 2:09. Their rate of progress made it look like they were on course to almost catch the lead quintet by T2, thereby creating an eight-man race for gold. Up ahead, the leaders went through a sea of green as they started to share the course with those taking on the age-group events, of which there were plenty of home athletes.
McKenna dropped the hammer during the second half of the final bike lap. On the day after his birthday, he was hunting for the perfect present to himself. Sensing the danger, Magnien closed the gap, bringing Benito and Hill with him, but O’Reilly slipped behind again, this time for good. With the work of the leaders, the gap to Burton, Hill and Naeyaert stubbornly remained over 90 seconds.
Benito led into T2 and held the cards. McKenna had a slow transition whereas Magnien took up the lead but Burton, Naeyaert and Hill a smidge under 90 seconds behind. Burton had to take a moment to stretch in transition, indicating it was not to be his day.
Benito and Magnien pulled away in the early stages. With 30km of running, everything was on paper still very much open but Benito promptly slammed the door shut on his rivals. At the end of the first run lap, he led McKenna by 28 seconds and held an advantage of over a minute on Quin and Magnien. From there Benito only extended his lead. He quelled any final resistance from McKenna and ensured he held a lead of at least a minute over everyone in the field.
The second lap also saw Naeyaert make his move and pass Hill and Magnien to take provisional 3rd on the road. The race was all about Benito, though. As he rounded onto his third and final lap, this time a shortened loop of 6km, he looked fantastic. The win was all but secured and now the Spanish athlete faced a victory lap.
After 5 hours of near faultless racing, Benito duly won to improve upon his Ibiza silver. McKenna took the silver medal for a belated birthday present to himself while a thrilled Naeyaert crossed next to seal the bronze.
What they said:
Benito: “Last year I was 2nd place in Ibiza and this year the objective was to win so I’m very happy.” Regarding the run that sealed his victory, he said, “I started very fast and on the last lap there was a lot of wind. But I was in 1st place and I tried to keep going and I won.”
McKenna: “I’m very proud. It was a well-paced day, I think I paced it perfectly and it was the best I had but Benito was just too good for me. I just think the bike dynamics where everyone did a bit of work played into my tactics.”
Naeyaert: “This year every race I’ve had was the best race ever and today again I did my best race ever. I’m so happy. In the first km on the swim I got into the front group but then after the first turn I had to let them go. I swam solo for the rest of the swim so the first kilometres on the bike were very hard riding solo and chasing the front pack. But the two Aussies, Hill and Burton, were coming closer and then we worked together to keep the pace high and got closer to the front pack. Then I knew I had a strong run to finish and it was just about keeping my pace from start to finish.”
