China’s Xinyu Lin arrives in South Korea riding the best month of her career. The Asian Games champion in September and a World Cup winner in Beijing just one week ago, on Saturday she will wear the number one for the sprint-distance Tongyeong World Cup.
Compatriot Anqi Huang, Italy’s Beatrice Mallozzi and Germany’s Nina Eim are among a 51-strong women’s field on Saturday 24 October for the second stop of the four-race Asian mini-tour, with another valuable haul of points on offer towards the LA28 Olympic Qualification Ranking.
The Tongyeong course packs in a single 750m swim lap of the harbour, three laps of a 6.6km bike circuit and two laps of a hilly 2.5km run. The women open the day’s racing at 8:00am local time / 01:00am CET, live on TriathlonLive and YouTube.
Xinyu Lin has been the woman to beat in Asia this autumn. She led a Chinese one-two at the Asian Games in Gamagori, then went one better in Beijing last Saturday. Her 33:51 for the 10km was again the quickest in the field and carried her to the tape five seconds clear of bike breakaway partner Márta Kropkó, a first World Cup gold that now has her eyeing a second in seven days.
Huang wears the number two and has been knocking on the door all season. Her fourth place at WTCS Weihai in August was the best result by a Chinese woman in the history of the Series, and after silver in Gamagori she finished fourth again in Beijing, just 25 seconds off the podium. One of the fastest on two feet, she also beat Lin to the Asian Super Sprint title in Xuzhou in June, so the shorter format could suit her.
Italy’s Mallozzi starts third on the list after back-to-back World Cup bronzes in Rio de Janeiro and Asunción in August, though she will want to bounce back after finishing outside the top 20 in Rome and Beijing. Teammates Verena Steinhauser, tenth in Rome, and Paola Sacchi, ninth in Rome and bronze medallist at the Mediterranean Games, add Italian depth.
Germany’s Eim, the Lanzarote winner back in March, was fourth in Rome and eighth in Beijing and has the sprint pedigree to contend once again after an injury lay off. France’s Mathilde Gautier and Lea Coninx, seventh and tenth in Beijing, return alongside Iana Chenskaia, ninth there, while Portugal’s Mariana Vargem, New Zealand’s Brea Roderick and Bermuda’s Erica Hawley could all threaten if they make the front group off the bike.
South Africa’s Shanae Williams arrives fresh from claiming the African title in Hurghada earlier this month, and Japan’s Mako Hiraizumi, fifth at the Asian Games, leads the Japanese challenge with Sarika Nakayama.
There is a youthful edge to the field too. France’s Léa Houart took U23 world silver in Pontevedra last month, where Britain’s Bethany Cook finished fifth, while Germany’s Josephine Seerig and Canada’s Isla Britton make the trip.
Finally, the home crowd will have a wealth of Korean women to cheer, led by Hye Rim Jeong, sixth at the Asian Games, and Gayeon Park, 19th at WTCS Weihai, with Ji Yeon Kim, Hye Rang Kim, Seoeun Park, Gyeongmin Park, Gihyeon Nam, Yejin Park, Eunjin Choi, Taeyoung Kim and JiYeon Kim completing the line-up.
