The weekend could hardly have gone better for Team France as, with two home events taking place, the gold medals came flowing in. The action did not stop there, however, and there was plenty more to digest around the world. Find out all that happened in your latest Monday Morning Mix.
WTCS Quiberon
The headline event of the weekend undoubtedly came with the latest WTCS stop in Quiberon. After a fifteen-man breakaway put several favourites on the back foot, Dorian Coninx (FRA) unloaded a lethal sprint finish to take down Series leader Vasco Vilaca (POR). Crossing in 3rd place only 2 seconds later was Vilaca’s teammate Ricardo Batista (POR) as he nabbed a second straight WTCS medal.
There was no such lasting breakaway in the women’s race, but one feature the two shared was the tension of the final lap of the run. Almost fifty women had arrived in T2 before WTCS Alghero Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) took control as part of an elite lead quintet. WTCS Yokohama winner Tilda Månsson (SWE) had only just made contact with the leaders as the final lap bell rang yet she proved the only athlete capable of hanging onto Beaugrand. Even she soon faltered, however, as the Olympic champion powered to another win on home soil. Månsson then crossed for the silver medal while there was a first ever Series podium for Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) in 3rd place.
To wrap up a perfect weekend, Coninx then teamed up with Leonie Periault (FRA), Yanis Seguin (FRA) and Emma Lombardi (FRA) to add a comprehensive victory in the Mixed Team Relay. This was the first relay event of the Olympic qualification window and as such got France’s LA 2028 aspirations off to the perfect start. As Coninx saw his team home to victory by 24 seconds, the fight for silver and bronze was altogether more fraught. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Australia all charged onto the blue carpet together, but it was World U23 Championships medallist Euan De Nigro (ITA) that saw Italy into 2nd ahead of Spain’s World Cup medallist Izan Edo Aguilar. View the full results here.
World Para Cup Besançon
On the opposite side of the country, the French success continued as the home team hoovered up golds at the latest World Para Cup stop.
Men’s results
- PTWC: Joseph Fritsch (FRA)
- PTS2: Jules Ribstein (FRA)
- PTS3: Henry Urand (GBR)
- PTS4: Gregoire Berthon (FRA)
- PTS5: Martin Schulz (GER)
- PTVI: Dave Ellis (GBR)
Perhaps the biggest story on the men’s side was Fritsch’s gold medal, his first in only his third international start. France has enjoyed no shortage of accomplished Para Triathletes – their reigning world and Paralympic champion Ribstein was on top once more, for example – and in Fritsch they appear to be reloading their stocks at the perfect time in the new Paralympic cycle.
Women’s results
- PTWC: Nadege Monchalin Barbier (FRA)
- PTS2: Martina Abaterusso (ITA)
- PTS3: Elise Marc (FRA)
- PTS5: Gwladys Lemoussu (FRA)
- PTVI: Heloise Courvoisier (FRA)
But for Abaterusso’s PTS2 victory, France might have also swept the women’s events in Besancon. The home athlete, 2024 European Para Triathlon Championship medallist Mona Francis (FRA), did not finish. If she had, though, she would have found herself amid a thrilling battle.
After Abaterusso led out of the water, Switzerland’s Mary Therese Frey roared into the lead on the bike. Crucially, her lead by T2 surpassed 2 minutes. Yet Abaterusso was the faster runner, and the chase was on. The Italian would catch her target late on to win by 22 seconds, but as first international starts go, Frey’s was certainly eye-catching. View the full results here.
Americas Cup and Central American and Caribbean Championships Anzoátegui
For those looking to read about some of the non-French success stories from the weekend, we’ve got you covered. Over in Venezuela, Ignacio Flores Arana (CHI) prevailed over compatriot Mateo Mendoza Burgos (CHI) in a rapid sprint distance event. Both were well-placed exiting the water but needed an early surge to ensure they made it into the select group that split off the front. Flores’ joint-fastest bike split secured his place in the pack of twelve.
On the 5km run, Flores then added the best split of the day (13:25) to see off Mendoza by 13 seconds. Juan Jose Andrade Figueroa (ECU) was the speediest of the rest and came away with the bronze medal.
In the women’s race, World Cup medallist Rosa Elena Martinez Melchior (VEN) prevailed in an intra-national contest of her own, relegating teammate Genesis Carolina Ruiz Volcan (VEN) into 2nd place. Martinez was in the groove from the get-go, leading out the 750m swim (10:00) to establish a lead pack of seven.
2023 World Junior Championships medallist Jimena Renata De La Peña Schott (USA) used the top bike split of the day to jump into that pack, but she could only look on as Martinez zoomed away over 5km. She nonetheless duked it out with Ruiz in the battle for silver until the home athlete got over the line first by 2 seconds. View the full results here.
Europe Cup Kitzbühel
The multi-round super sprint distance format in Kitzbühel, host of next year’s European Championships, promised fireworks and the event duly delivered. Once the field had been whittled down over the course of Friday’s semi-finals, Saturday’s final saw thirty men step up to race a 500m swim, 11.2km bike and 3km run. The distances left no margin for error, and the men’s race could not have been tighter.
The majority of the field stayed together coming into T2, leaving it to the big hitters to wind up the tempo on the run. Germany’s Eric Diener was the first out of transition with rivals hot on his heels, including Jelle Kaindl (AUT) the recent winner of the Rzeszów Europe Cup. Samuele Angelini (ITA), Carter Stuhlmacher (USA) and Fynn Batkin (GBR) likewise put up a fight, but an incredibly late charge from Diener was enough to get him over the line first by 1 second. A photo finish was then required to separate Batkin and Stuhlmacher, with the Brit taking silver.
Just as France doubled up in Quiberon, so too did Germany in Kitzbühel as Julia Bröcker (GER) notched her first win of the season. It has been a good year so far for Bröcker with a personal best World Cup finish of 7th in Chengdu coming before a 15th place result at WTCS Yokohama. In Kitzbühel, she was dominant on the run as her time of 10:08 over 3km handed her a comfortable 23-second victory.
The rest of the podium was made up by members of the small breakaway that controlled the race. Poland’s Matylda Wojakiewicz took silver while the fastest swimmer of the final, Anabel Knoll (GER), brought things home to take 3rd place. View the full results here.
Asia Cup Astana
There was yet another close finish over in Kazakhstan as the men’s race came down to a three-way fight for the line between Ayan Beisenbayev (KAZ), Theo Marti (LUX) and Radim Grebik (CZE). All three had their work cut out reeling in Kyotaro Yoshikawa (JPN) who lit up the sprint distance swim, gaining over 20 seconds on all bar two athletes.
A group of sixteen would merge at the front once Yoshikawa was caught, with the three eventual medallists all safely tucked into the pack. Then came the 5km showdown that settled everything. Experience ultimately told as Beisenbayev snuck over the line first, with Marti right behind in 2nd and Grebik a second back in 3rd.
Meanwhile, Alina Khakimova (UZB) triumphed in the women’s race thanks to a field-best run split. Her fellow Team World Triathlon athlete Manami Iijima (GUM) topped the swim charts in 10:20; like Yoshikawa, that gave Iijima plenty to work with going onto the bike. This time, a pack of seven came together at the front, with Khakimova’s 32:42 20km split the quickest of the field. From there, it was smooth sailing for the athlete from Uzbekistan. Iijima followed her across the line 22 seconds later while Sofya Kryvetskaya (BLR) backed up her recent World Triathlon Development Regional Cup win with a bronze medal. View the full results here.
Asia Junior Cup Astana
The junior men’s race in Astana was fairly cut-and-dry as Marat Veratsennikau (BLR) used a field-leading run split (16:43 over 5km) to claim the gold medal by 12 seconds. The only other men to run under 17 minutes joined him on the podium, with Ilia Zolotov (RUS) taking the silver medal and Sadra Ebrahimi (IRI) securing the bronze.
The women’s race drew from both the senior men’s race in Astana and the Americas Cup in Anzoátegui insofar that gold went to a home athlete but it only came after a head-to-head between two teammates that was decided by 2 seconds. After swim pace-setter Daria Volkova (RUS) was caught, the race for gold narrowed into a two-woman contest. Aida Kim (KAZ) came in as the older of the pair and won an Asia Junior Cup last year, but Alua Nurmuhamet (KAZ) had already won an Asia Junior Cup of her own back in May.
Kim had also been forced to work harder on the bike to make up for time lost in the water, but she nevertheless had enough left in the tank to out-run Nurmuhamet by 1 second (19:23 to 19:24) and take the gold. Kayla Nadia Shafa (INA) then rounded out the podium. View the full results here.
Europe Triathlon Baltic Championships Aluksne
Estonia swept the men’s podium in Latvia as Johannes Sikk (EST) claimed the Baltic title for the first time in his career. Alongside Armin Angerjärv (EST), Sikk had been the second man out of the water behind Lithuania’s Algimantas Smolskas. He then jumped ahead on the bike as a pack of five Estonian men broke away from the rest of the field. Angerjärv was part of this group, as were Robin Randoja (EST), Kalmer Kiiver (EST) and Gert Martin Savitsch (EST).
Having clocked the best bike split of the day, Sikk added the leading run split too (14:25 over 5km) to guarantee victory. Angerjärv earned the silver medal, 25 seconds behind, while Randoja got the better of his teammates to lock out the podium.
The home team had plenty to celebrate, though, as Beate Jansone (LAT) used a solo breakaway as a springboard to gold. A dominant swim saw her gap the field by almost half a minute (she exited the water in 11:26) and there was more of the same on the bike; there she added another day-best split in 33:19.
If she was tired on the run, Jansone did not show it too much for she still logged the second quickest split of the day (17:31) to see out a perfect race. Fiona Faivre (FRA), a junior athlete, had the best run split on her way to the silver medal while Etriin Etverk (EST) took the bronze. View the full results here.