Marta Pintanel Raymundo (ESP) arrived in San Pedro de la Paz as the top seed and left with the first World Cup gold medal of her career. Twelve months after finishing fourth at the same venue, the Spaniard produced the only sub-40-minute run of the day to win in 2:02:49. Teammate Ana Carballo Gómez (ESP) crossed the line 22 seconds later to complete a Spanish one-two, and Eva Daniels (LUX) took bronze 32 seconds back. For both Carballo and Daniels, it was a first podium at World Cup level.
The second edition of the World Cup in San Pedro de la Paz was raced over the standard distance: a two-lap 1.5km swim, an eight-lap 40km draft-legal bike and a four-lap 10km run. With the water at 17.5°C and the air at 13°C, wetsuits were allowed for the 46 women lining-up in the Chilean city.
Kropkó sets the pace in the water
Marta Kropkó (HUN) did what was expected of her and led the swim from the gun, exiting in 19:05. Few could escape her, though. Erin McConnell (IRL), Aviv Levi (ISR), Katie Rodda (GBR), Carballo and Pintanel were all within five seconds, and 24 athletes left the water within 23 seconds of the Hungarian. Rodda made the most of a 34-second transition to be first out onto the bike.
The bike course offered no shelter for a breakaway. The front group stayed together for the full 40km, and when Daniels led the pack off the bike, 16 athletes were separated by around 11 seconds. Carlotta Missaglia (ITA), who posted the fastest bike split of the day, was first out of T2. A chase group of 11, including World Cup debutant Annie Fuller (USA), Torres Gomez and Naomi Ruff (USA), started the run around 55 seconds down, with a third group, including Elizabeth Bravo (ECU), Noelia Juan (ESP) and home favourite Barbara Riveros (CHI), more than two minutes behind.
Pintanel makes the run count
With so many contenders together at T2, the race came down to 10km of running. Missaglia and Carballo wasted no time once they had their running shoes on, opening a gap inside the first kilometre. Kropkó, Pintanel and Daniels chased around 10 seconds behind, and during the second of the four laps the two leaders became five.
Pintanel looked impatient to find one more gear. Before the end of the second lap she pulled away and never looked back. Her 39:29 split was 27 seconds quicker than anyone else in the field and carried her to a winning margin of 22 seconds.
Behind her, four athletes fought shoulder to shoulder for the two remaining medals until the final lap, when Carballo and Daniels finally left Kropkó and Missaglia behind. Kropkó later explained that she had suffered stomach problems the night before and never fully recovered during the race. With about a kilometre to go, Carballo pulled clear to take silver, the best result of her career and her first individual World Cup podium. The 22-year-old already has Mixed Relay success on her record, with gold at the Chengdu Mixed Relay Cup and silver at the WTCS Mixed Relay in Quiberon. Daniels crossed the line third for the first World Cup podium of her career, two weeks after placing sixth in Beijing. Missaglia held on for fourth, 44 seconds behind the winner, with Kropkó fifth.
Velasquez Soto finished sixth, ahead of Djenyfer Arnold (BRA), 20-year-old Diana Dunajska (SVK) and Rosa Elena Martinez Melchior (VEN). Fuller rounded out the top ten on her World Cup debut, making up ground from the chase group with a 40:46 run. Further back, Bravo ran 40:16, including a 15-second penalty served on the run, to climb to 15th from the third group. Dominga Elena Jacome Espinoza was the best of the Chilean athletes in 23rd.
