Spain's duo of Maria Varo Zubiri and Javier Martin Morales delivered a spectacular performance to claim gold in the Duathlon 2x2 Mixed Relay at the 2025 Chengdu World Games with a decisive final leg from Martin Morales sealing the victory. Team Netherlands (Aline Kootstra and Valentin Van Wersch) captured silver, while Belgium’s team (Jeanne Dupont and Arnaud Dely) secured the bronze.

The final day of competition at Xinlong Lake, in Chengdu, saw a total of 20 teams lining up for the 2x2 Mixed Relay competition, with athletes doing a 2km run, 6km bike and 1km final run two times each.

Tight battles set the scene

The mixed relay kicked off with the women’s first leg, with Team Netherlands with Aline Kootstra, Team Spain (Maria Varo), Team Belgium (Jeanne Dupont) and Team Mexico (Anahi Alvarez) trading leads from the outset. The four teams were determined to not let the others to get away from the beginning, and that showed at the final splits, setting the tempo for what was about to be an exciting race. As the bike leg started, Kootstra and Varo proved to be the strongest on the course, managing to open a few seconds break with the chasers, the second teams of Belgium and Mexico, as well as Team Colombia. In the last run, the four leaders stayed together until Kootstra did a final push to tag her teammate a couple of seconds ahead of Team Spain, Belgium and Mexico, which were, on paper, the fastest teams. 

As the male athletes embarked on their run-bike-run, all eyes were on the Netherlands. Team's innovative approach, opting to forego clip-on shoes for the bike segment, was clear. This allowed a super fast transition for Van Wersch. By not changing from bike shoes to run shoes, Van Wersch gained a small advantage, saving valuable time for his team and allowing him to stay always in touch with the other three leaders, Team Spain, Team Belgium and Team Mexico.

However, Team Spain was determined to gain the lead on the bike course, as a series of attacks launched by Javier Martin Morales made the dutch biker to respond a few times, and secured a small gap of a couple of seconds, heading into the first transition with the Spanish team marginally leading the Dutch duo. Also Nunez Gomez of Mexico was pushing really hard, allowing his team to stay in contention at the third position, while Arnaud Dely was closely behind, trying to save some legs for the second and final run.

In the return of the women, both Varo and Kootstra maintained their lead to the rest of the field in the 2km run, that made a 4-way race at the top for Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Mexico, with some distance to the rest. Both top teams decided to play it safe at the bike segments and head to the second transition and start the final leg of the race with all to be decided. Things didn't change much in the begining of the last segment, with Team Netherlands, Team Mexico, Team Spain and Team Belgium closely together keeping eyes on each other. 

But the last transition from bike to run proved to be decisive. Martin Morales was absolutely, even faster than Van Wersch even though the Dutch didn't have to change shoes. Dely struggled a bit and was fourth on the running shoes, a few seconds slower, which proved to be just too much for him to fight for the gold. 

Javier Martin Morales launched the final attack 500m ahead of the blue carpet and never looked back, securing the gold medal for Team Spain with an impressive finish. The Netherlands Team, despite a valiant effort, settled for the silver. Team Belgium battled strongly, holding off a late charge from Team Mexico to claim the bronze.

Team Belgium II (Lisa Lydia Isebaert & Vincent Bierinckx) crossed the finish line in 5th place, while Team Mexico II (Selene Martinez Avila, Nunez Gomez Eduardo) finished in sixth place. Team Colombia (Diana Castillo and Brian Moya) finished in 7th place and Team Germany (Nelly Rassmann and Fabian Holbach) followed in 8th. Team China (Ziqing Lu and Duan Zhengyu) was 9th and Team Slovakia 10 (Nikola Corbova and Ondrej Kubo) rounded the top 10. 

What the athletes said:

Javier Martin (ESP):  'I think Maria was the best girl today and we're a very strong team. Honestly, I came into this race with some doubts after my disappointing performance last Thursday, but we proved ourselves as one of the best teams today. We both delivered an excellent experience and ultimately took first place, we didn't let anyone down. For me, it's always a pleasure to share competition experiences with Maria, not just because she's such an incredible athlete, but because of who she is as a person. We share so many laughs during our travels, and spending time with her makes every competition more enjoyable.'

Maria Varo (ESP) : 'We're very happy with the result. Personally, I felt fantastic throughout the entire competition. It was an incredibly exciting race from start to finish. We maintained a position in the top four, and Javier really shook things up in the final 1,000 meters. It was an outstanding performance overall. I think all the top four teams were extremely strong and that's why we stayed so close together throughout the entire race. In the end, Javier's final push gave us that crucial advantage we needed to win. But our opponents were truly exceptional competitors.

Aline Kootstra (NED): 'The hardest part today was doing it twice. In the race, you push 100%, but you also have to save some energy for the second round.

Valentin Van Wersch (NED) 'I think we delivered an amazing race. My teammate was incredible. She stayed at the front the whole time, constantly pushing the pace. I just finished the job, but she made it happen. Finishing on the podium in second place is even better than we expected. We came in fifth at the World Championships, but we knew there was still more in the bag. Today, we delivered the best results and won the Netherlands' first-ever duathlon medals at The World Games. So it's an incredible day for us.

Jeanne Dupont (BEL): 'We have already competed in an individual race before this, so fatigue was a factor. But this event was a bigger challenge, and we're proud we gave it everything we had. We're still happy to have given it our all'.

Arnaud Delly (BEL): 'It was truly fantastic (the Chengdu World Games). The organization, the supporters, everything was top-notch. We had an really amazing time here in Chengdu. We'll definitely be back!'