The fallow weekend between the Hamburg and London WTCS stops proved anything but quiet with action in Hungary, Canada, Spain and beyond giving plenty to digest. Find out all that happened in the world of triathlon below in your Monday Morning Mix.
Tata World Para Cup
Women’s results
- PTVI: Fanny Bourdelas (FRA)
- PTS5: Maria Fuertes Artigot (ESP)
- PTS4: Zoé Reveillon (FRA)
- PTS3: Kassandra Case (USA)
- PTS2: Asumi Yasuda (JPN)
- PTWC: Elise Laurent (FRA)
Fresh off the spellbinding end to this year’s World Para Series in Hamburg, attention turned to the ongoing World Para Cup circuit. The pick of the women’s contests in Tata was between Fuertes and Virginia Ogburn (USA) in the PTS5 category, with the Spaniard narrowly coming out top. The pair spent most of the racing together, having reeled in early swim leader Marta Dzieciątkowska (POL) on the bike, and after pushing one another every step of the 5km run Fuentes got over the line first by 18 seconds.
Men’s results
- PTVI: Łukasz Wietecki (POL)
- PTS5: Bence Mocsari (HUN)
- PTS4: Antonio Franko (CRO)
- PTS3: Lucas Jundt (USA)
- PTS2: Lionel Morales (ESP)
- PTWC: Thomas Fruehwirth (AUT)
A similarly close race was in store in the men’s PTS5 class as home talent Mocsari overcame a scare from Portugal’s Filipe Marques (POR) to win by 16 seconds. Moreover, Stefan Daniel (CAN), who got the better of both at the Hamburg World Para Series a week prior, found himself relegated to 3rd in the latest instance of the ever-shifting PTS5 landscape.
Marques led the 750m swim with Mocsari and Daniel 15 seconds back. The Canadian then dropped the best bike split of the day to take a slim lead onto the run. Yet he could not hang on as his two rivals forged ahead with Mocsari ultimately running clear to the gold.
Meanwhile, Thomas Fruehwirth maintained his exceptional standards with another win in the PTWC class and was one of the highest profile winners alongside Asian champion Asumi Yasuda in the women’s PTS2 class. Look for both to be major players at this year’s world championships. View the full results here.
Tata Europe Cup
Last month Margareta Vrablova (SVK) logged the best World Cup finish of her career so far in Tiszaujvaros and at the weekend she was back in Hungary to record a maiden senior international win. At the sprint distance event, Selina Klamt (GER) led out the swim (9:35) with Vrablova only 3 seconds back.
A large lead group would then form, and managed to defend a 20 second lead over the chasing pack. A key threat in the chase pack was Matilda Offord (AUS) who was fresh off recent Continental Cup medals, but she would prove too distant to trouble Vrablova as the Slovakian powered to the win by 35 seconds with a field-leading 17:12 5km split. Offord’s speed was also on show as she ran through to take the silver medal, continuing her heady form since returning from a multi-year injury absence, while Klamt rounded out the podium.
Over in the men’s race, Paris Olympic relay gold medallist Lasse Lührs (GER) resurfaced to notch another international win. The German athlete struck gold on the Africa Cup circuit earlier in the year but has not yet stepped back up to the WTCS or World Cup levels. His form is clearly simmering along, though, as he beat out compatriot Benedikt Bettin (GER) by 8 seconds to take another win.
Lührs had the joint-best bike split of the day (26:23) as he helped to manufacture a nine-man breakaway. Also in this group was Hungary’s Gergő Dobi, who proved the best of the rest after Lührs and Bettin escaped up the road, finishing 3rd. View the full results here.
Edmonton World Cup
Over in Canada, Taylor Knibb (USA) had found a trick and was not ready to give it up. Everyone, from her rivals in the field to their grandmothers back home, knew what she would do. She had done it only a few weeks earlier on her way to the silver medal at the Tiszaujvaros World Cup. Knowing what is coming and stopping it, however, are two different things.
After Hungary’s Márta Kropkó led out of the water (9:53 for 750m) with the American a second back, the stage was set for another breakaway. Knibb would nab the top bike split of the day riding in tandem with Kropkó, hitting 29:47 when no one else behind the two leaders dipped under 31 minutes. From there, she was on cruise control as she powered to a maiden World Cup win, at the site of her victory at the 2021 WTCS Final no less, by 1:04. Kropkó secured a first medal on the circuit in 2nd while Paola Sacchi (ITA) had the best run of the day (17:20) to earn a first World Cup medal of her own in 3rd place.
In stark contrast to the women’s race, the men’s saw a massive pack enter T2 together with the medals only settled in a four-way photo finish. Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) came into the race with a recent World Cup win in Huatulco under his belt while Reese Vannerson (USA) had claimed the Americas title in the build-up to Edmonton. Both, however, would be denied by the searing late push of Solomon Okrafo-Smart (GBR) as the Brit clinched a first World Cup win (and podium) by the slimmest of margins.
Nathan Grayel (FRA) was the unlucky party to miss out in the four-way shoot-out as he finished with an identical time to the three medallists. He was nonetheless back on the podium the next day as he anchored Team France to the bronze medal in the Mixed Team Relay. With invaluable Olympic qualification points on the line, plenty of teams took to the start list and it was Italy, thanks to a massive final push from Euan De Nigro (ITA), that took the gold ahead of the home Canadian team in 2nd. View the full results here.
Banyoles European Aquathlon Championships
One of the highlights of the ongoing Europe Multisport Championships came with Saturday’s elite aquathlon events with the women’s race going down to the wire. Having spent the 5km run together, World Cup winner Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) found a final ounce of speed on the blue carpet to take down Team World Triathlon member Tjasa Vrtacic (SLO) by 2 seconds. The New Zealander clocked 17:02 to the Slovene’s 17:04.
Completing the podium was Spain’s Marina Muñoz Hernando while the European bronze went to the 4th place finisher (and junior champion) Jázmin Kropkó (HUN) since Van Der Kaay was ineligible for a medal outside of her home continent. Kropkó had actually led the swim (13:07 for 1km) to lead by 32 seconds into T2 but could not quite hang with the more experienced medallists as they came past on the run.
Spain then swept the men’s podium with Jonay Alvarez Almazan (ESP) overcoming Hugo Fernandez Tovar (ESP) and Kevin Tarek Viñuela Gonzalez (ESP) to secure the gold medal. Still a junior athlete, this was the first international victory of Alvarez’s nascent career. He was neither the fastest swimmer nor runner in Banyoles, but a balanced race saw him over the line first by 11 seconds. View the full results here.
Izvorani Europe Junior Cup
Finally, at the super sprint Europe Junior Cup in Romania, Diana Yerzhanova (KAZ) landed back on the podium as this year’s Asia Junior champion beat home athlete Tunde Georgiana Crisan (ROU) by 8 seconds. Taking bronze was Alice Ventre (ITA), a further second back.
Ventre had the best bike split of the field and shared the best time over the 2.5km run with Yerzhanova (8:58). However, losing over 20 seconds in the water to the race winner left her with too much to do.
In a close men’s race that came down to the run, Raz Nevjelik (ISR) took the gold medal ahead of Italy’s Davide Faldini and William Pridden (GBR). Faldini had been the first man into T2 and onto the run, but ultimately settled for silver, 7 seconds behind the winner. View the full results here.