It was a weekend to quicken pulses as so many medals were settled by a handful of seconds, with several by only one. From Chile to Morocco to the Netherlands, find out the key details of these close calls in this week’s Monday Morning Mix.
Antofagasta Americas Championships
A week ago, Danielle Orie (USA) returned to an international top-5 for the first time in a year at the Tiszaujvaros World Cup. In Chile, she parlayed that momentum into the biggest win of her career so far. For large swathes of the women’s race at the Americas Championships, however, Orie’s win seemed a distant prospect, for the swim and the bike were all about two women.
Vittoria Lopes (BRA) and Rafaela Capó (CHI) had the bit between their teeth in the water and gained 20 seconds over the next athlete out (Puerto Rico’s Zoe Adam). Lopes is no stranger to long-range breakaways, especially on the Americas scene, and she was clearly in the mood to go big in Antofagasta. In a huge effort, the Brazilian and Capó, stretched their lead to almost 2 minutes.
Orie was in the first chase pack, with experienced rivals such as Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX) and Djenyfer Arnold (BRA) for company. Naomi Ruff (USA) and Sideny Clement (CAN) likewise rode in the chase group. Out of T2, it seemed their hunt would be for bronze. However, the chasers had the running pedigree to catch the leaders and had not destroyed their legs in the same way.
Lopes held out the longest but Orie would come past first on her way to victory. Arnold then overtook her teammate en route to 2nd place while Ruff and Clement also made late passes amid their tussle for the bronze. Ruff would make it over the line ahead of Clement to add an Americas Championship bronze to her growing collection of Americas Cup medals.
Further American medals came in the men’s race as World Cup winner Reese Vannerson (USA) out-foxed Keller Norland (USA) over the 10km run. Diego Moya (CHI), Chase McQueen (USA) and Blake Bullard (USA) had attempted to manufacture a similar breakaway to Lopes and Capó as they put 35 seconds between them and the field in the water. Their move did not stick, though, and a front pack of sixteen men subsequently formed.
Vannerson and Norland were in this lead group, as was World Cup medallist Mathis Beaulieu (CAN). Over the 10km run, they were half a minute better than their closest rivals, locking out the podium. When Vannerson went, though, neither Norland nor Beaulieu could respond. View the full results here.
Antofagasta Americas Junior Championships
Meanwhile, Brooke Rousselle (CAN) built upon her recent bronze medal at the Montreal Americas Cup with a breakthrough win at the Americas Junior Championships. Rousselle controlled the race from the start. She set the best time of the field in the water (12:37 for 750m) and then maintained her position in the lead pack over the 20km bike.
Several women were able to bridge to the front after losing ground in the water. Regina Michel Camacho (MEX) was one such athlete and would lead the way into T2 after churning her way to the best bike split of the day (32:52 for 20km, making up 50 seconds to Rousselle).
Camacho carried her lead onto the run and for the first time Rousselle was on the back foot. Her experience gained in Montreal appeared to come to fore, though, as she remained composed and reeled in her Mexican rival. Then, with the finish line in sight, the Canadian powered clear to win by 3 seconds (ending the day with a field-best 17:27 5km for her efforts). Camacho took 2nd place while Sarah-Maude Levesque (CAN) prevailed in a tense sprint for bronze by a single second.
The men’s race was just as tight as 1 second split Robi Racine (CAN) and Nicolas Alejandro Calvopiña Castellano (ECU) at the finish line. Both men had solid swims yet had to close down the early runaway leaders after Graham Hummel (USA) and Luis Miguel Chávez Sanchez (MEX) slipped away in the water. A pack of eighteen would eventually form at the front with Racine and Calvopiña safely nestled within.
Four men would fight it out for a spot on the podium as Racine, Calvopiña and Hummel were joined by Thomas Francisco Chica Perez (ECU). Hummel had come into the race as the North American Junior champion, Chica Perez as the South American Junior title holder. Yet neither could hang on at the crunch.
Racine raced clear to fend off Calvopiña by 1 second and take a first international podium. As the silver medal went to Calvopiña, Hummel and Chica Perez hurtled to the line seconds later, with both finishing at the same time. A photo finish handed the bronze to Chica Perez in a race where the margins could not have been tighter. View the full results here.
Antofagasta Americas Para Championships
Women’s results
- PTWC: Brenda Osnaya Alvarez (MEX)
- PTS2: Sydney Peterson (USA)
- PTS3: Kenia Yesenia Villalobos Vargas (MEX)
- PTS4: Ana Lucia Vicente Garcia (MEX)
- PTS5: Virginia Ogburn (USA)
- PTVI: McClain Hermes (USA)
In the Mexico-USA race to top the medal table in Antofagasta, things ended up all tied in the women’s Para triathlon events with both countries coming away with three wins. After wins in Samarkand and Yokohama, Hermes was probably the closest thing Team USA had to a banker. She duly delivered to build upon her recent bronze medal at the Montreal World Para Series.
The American squad will also have taken heart from the breakthrough showings of Ogburn and Peterson. This was only Ogburn’s ninth elite start while it represented Peterson’s maiden international appearance. For both to come away with the continental titles (and by an especially commanding 18 minutes in the case of Peterson) is a very promising sign at this stage on their journey towards LA 2028.
Mexico had a champion debutant of their own in Vicente. The winner of the PTS4 class notably managed to get the better of World Para Series gold medallist Emma Meyers (USA). Meyers had led Vicente by over a minute out of the water, but a comeback on the bike by the Mexican presaged her dropping the best run split of the race to win by 78 seconds.
The experienced Osnaya and Villalobos then produced the sixth and eighth elite wins of their careers, respectively, to ensure their head to this year’s World Championships in Pontevedra with the continental belt already tucked away.
Men’s results
- PTWC: Howie Sanborn (USA)
- PTS2: Kyle Stepp (USA)
- PTS3: Zachary Osborne (USA)
- PTS4: Carson Clough (USA)
- PTS5: Ruiter Antonio Goncalves Silva (BRA)
- PTVI: Owen Cravens (USA)
An inspired performance from Goncalves was all that stood between an American lock-out of the gold medals in the men’s events. The Brazilian athlete was the quickest in every aspect of the PTS4 race and came away a deserved winner. He has already made a World Para Series podium this season having ended 2025 with a World Para Cup win and with this latest boost will look forward to tackling the major European talents (like Paralympic champion Alexis Hanquinquant) that have ruled over the PTS4 class at this year’s World Championships. View the full results here.
Holten Europe Cup
The women’s race was shaping up to be a clash of 2023 World U23 champion Selina Klamt (GER) and reigning World Junior champion Léa Houart (FRA) with both part of an eight-woman breakaway that whizzed clear of the field. Both Klamt and Houart, however, found themselves bundled to the side as a sprint finish separated gold and silver by 1 second.
World Junior Championships medallist Manon Laporte (FRA) was the top woman in the swim, recording a time of 10:24 for the sprint distance 750m. She, along with Klamt, Houart and Robin Dreijling (NED), set the tempo in the breakaway. Dreijling came into T2 first and held onto the top spot coming out. She soon came under pressure from Laporte, though.
After winning a Europe Cup at the end of 2025 (in Alanya), Laporte was hungry for another gold medal. A powerful kick along the blue carpet was enough to make that happen as she held off Dreijiling by the narrowest of margins. Bronze then came down to the two aforementioned world champions, with Klamt coming through to earn a first individual international podium since August 2024.
Further French glory came in the men’s race, as did a showdown on the run that went down to the wire. Carter Stuhlmacher (USA) took control of proceedings in the water, leading out in 9:28. It was not enough to break up the field, though, and a group of over thirty men rode around the 20km together. Among this pack was World U23 Championships medallist Baptiste Passemard (FRA) along with compatriots Milan Lariviere and Antoine Duval.
Passemard’s predecessor on the World U23 Championship podium, Hamish Reilly (GBR), and World Cup winner Genis Grau (ESP) threatened to upend the French hopes in Holten. Neither, however, had an answer to Lariviere’s finishing sprint. A silver medallist in Monte Gordo back in April, Lariviere made no mistake as his field-leading 15:09 5km handed him the gold by 2 seconds. Reilly was the next man over the line while Andrés Prieto Villar (ESP) charged away from Grau and Fynn Batkin (GBR) to claim 3rd place. View the full results here.
Holten Europe Junior Cup
In the junior women’s race, Luca Vanderbruggen (BEL) turned on the style as she powered to a first ever international win. Vanderbruggen had seemed well-placed after the swim, emerging 4th and 11 seconds behind newly crowned Baltic champion Beate Jansone (LAT). It turns out she was in a better position than anyone realised, for Vanderbruggen blew away from the thin group with an audacious solo attack.
Jansone and New Zealander Hayley Cornwall rode as part of a chasing quartet that could not make in-roads into Vanderbruggen’s lead. By T2, the gap was a daunting 50 seconds. Roared on by the home support Vanderbruggen hung on to win by 31 seconds over Cornwall. Coming through from behind, the day’s fastest runner, Australian Addison Houslip (18:25 for 5km), worked her way past the other chasers to then secure the bronze medal.
While there was no solo break in the men’s race, a small pack riding off the front laid the foundations for Matěj Procházka (CZE) to collect the gold medal. Procházka had been the second man out of the water, right behind Germany’s Marco Löffler (9:44). They formed the heart of a five-man group that gained over half a minute on the chase.
Lorenz Rumpel (GER) was another to ride with the leaders and went on to provide Procházka’s primary challenge on the run. However the job was by no means done as Arthur Ballard (GBR) came thundering up from the chase group.
Procházka had enough left in the tank to close out the win by 13 seconds. Yet Ballard had Rumpel in his sights and made the pass late on to nab the silver medal by 1 second as they each made their first ever elite international podiums. View the full results here.
Larache Africa Cup
Finally the weekend concluded with the latest Africa Cup stop of the season as Liis Kapten (EST) and last year’s U23 duathlon world champion Mack Downey (GBR) came away with the gold medals.
Kapten led out of the water in the women’s event, with Spain’s Natalia Castro Santos her closest challenger heading into T1. A huge turn on the bike from Marina Muñoz Hernando (ESP) brought her up to the leading pair, while Kjara Reckmann (GER) likewise made it to the front to create a breakaway of four riders. Both Castro and Muñoz pushed Kapten on the run, yet the Estonian’s field-best 17:05 5km split ensured her victory. Castro then took the silver medal with Muñoz crossing in 3rd place.
The men’s race saw the majority of the field form a large main pack on the bike after Badr Siwane’s (MAR) early speed in the water failed to meaningfully break things up. That set up a high-speed chess match over the 5km run as half a dozen men put themselves in contention for the win. None, however, could match Downey’s turn of speed at the end as the duathlon champion claimed a maiden international triathlon win. Alejandro Pla Estebanez (ESP) then crossed to take the silver medal while Gregor Rasva (EST) brought home the bronze medal. View the full results here.