With less than a week to go until the WTCS Final and the attendant festival of triathlon in Wollongong, it would have been understandable if the world of triathlon had taken a beat to catch its breath. Yet the sport is always moving forward and there were multiple electrifying races over the weekend to whet the appetite for next week’s action in Australia. Find out all that happened in this week’s Monday Morning Mix.
Europe Cup Tenerife - Santa Cruz
There were two gripping sprint finishes in Tenerife and on an incredibly fast course this was not a day for breakaways. Four women flew onto the blue carpet with gold in sight. Carina Reicht (AUT), fresh off her maiden World Cup victory in Rome, had a slight lead alongside home favourite Sara Guerrero Manso (ESP). Having tried to force the pace early on as one of the fastest swimmers, Mathilde Gautier (FRA) was right behind, as was Cecilia Santamaria Surroca (ESP).
In the final 100m, the lead seemed to switch hands between Reicht and Guerrero half a dozen times, but it was the Austrian that got across the line first, making it two wins in two weekends. A further 2 seconds back, Gautier managed to hold off Santamaria to seal the bronze medal.
In the men’s race, the clash for gold came down to a sprint between Paul Georgenthum (FRA) against Pelayo González Turrez (ESP). Once again, home hearts were broken as the Spanish athlete was forced to settle for silver, this time by a mere 2 seconds. This was a second Europe Cup win in a row for Georgenthum, the 2021 WTCS Hamburg silver medallist, and offers further optimism ahead of his 2026 campaign. Rounding out the podium in 3rd place was Jarno Pousada Troitiño (ESP). View the full results here.
Asia Para Triathlon Championships Chiba City
Rather than take the weekend off, Asia’s best Para Triathletes had a hit-out one week removed from the World Para Triathlon Championships. The home Japanese team were out in force and looked in phenomenal shape as they swept the men’s gold medals.
- PTWC: Jumpei Kimura (JPN)
- PTS2: Kenshiro Nakayama (JPN)
- PTS3: Masaki Fujita (JPN)
- PTS4: Hideki Uda (JPN)
- PTS5: Takumi Ando (JPN)
- PTVI: Yosuke Yamada (JPN)
In the PTS2 race, Nakayama impressed with a comeback victory having been in last place out of the water. He turned it around with a field-leading bike split to hit the front going into T2, then added the best run to seal the deal. Meanwhile, the largest field came in the men’s PTS4 event, but those racing could do little to prevent Uda from sweeping to the Asian title. From the get-go, he was the best of the bunch, establishing a slender lead in the swim that became a yawning chasm over the bike and run. By the time he reached the finish line, he stood over 3 minutes clear of his closest rival.
On the other end of the scale, the tightest win in the men’s classes came in PTS5 as Ando beat Tsutomu Nagata (JPN) by 22 seconds. Nagata had been 1min40 down out of the water; he would then concede a further 36 seconds on the bike. To all intents and purposes, he thus seemed down and out. However, a monstrous 5km run (17:41) – in which he gained almost 2 minutes on Ando – almost turned the tide, but he ran out of road as Ando’s all-round quality secured the win.
Finally, with an eye on the World Para Triathlon Championships, Kimura looked in great shape. Always a contender in the PTWC class, the multiple World Para Series medallist appears ready to fight for a podium in Wollongong after striking gold in Chiba City.
- PTWC: Shiori Funamizu (JPN)
- PTS2: Asumi Yasuda (JPN)
- PTS4: Mami Tani (JPN)
- PTS5: Ziling Wang (CHN)
- PTVI: Gulnaz Zhuzbaeva (KGZ)
The home team threatened to run away with every gold medal at the championship until Wang and Zhuzbaeva stemmed the flow of wins. Zhuzbaeva was simply too good in the PTVI class, winning by over 6 minutes. Meanwhile, Wang had a much tighter battle in the PTS5 category.
Having led out of the water, Wang saw her considerable lead dwindle as Riyo Kogama (JPN) made headway on the bike. Wang had enjoyed the better T1 and T2 which also helped solidify her lead, but Kogama was then the faster runner. With only 5km to overturn the damage, though, Kogama’s task was too great and Wang ultimately won in comfort. View the full results here.
World Triathlon Development Regional Cup Izvorani
Tinkara Stres (SLO) came out on top in the women’s race in Izvorani ahead of Diana Alexandra Constantinescu (ROU) and Iva Pavlovic (SRB) after powering clear on the run. Constantinescu had led the 750m sprint distance swim, while Stres and Pavlovic were over 45 seconds down. The pair were part of the group that came back on the bike to set up a running race over 5km. From there, Stres was too good and overcame her Romanian rival to win by 23 seconds.
In a large men’s field, Johannes Sikk (EST) led an Estonian 1-2, with Armin Angerjärv (EST) placing 2nd. Slovenia’s Ul Denša had led out of the water and initially created a breakaway group of four with his early speed. A group of five containing Sikk and Angerjärv then bridged to the front and, gradually, the chasers were cut out of the medal conversation.
Sikk and Angerjärv were clearly the best runners and were the only men to run under 16 minutes, with Sikk’s split of 15:36 getting the job done for a 12 second victory. Behind, Denša’s hard work was rewarded with the bronze medal. View the full results here.
Africa Cup Kilifi
(The full results are not yet available at the time of writing and this section will be updated.)
Around the world
Paris Olympian Solveig Løvseth (NOR) won the women’s Ironman World Championships in Kona with an astonishing display of grit and determination. In brutal conditions, even by Kona’s standards, the race yielded one of the closest Ironman World Championship finishes ever with Løvseth’s fellow Olympian Taylor Knibb (USA) dropping out from the lead in the final stages. The Norwegian athlete would not be broken, however, and fought her way to gold in what has been an outstanding first season in long distance triathlon. Her victory also comes after Norway swept the men’s Ironman World Championship podium in Nice, further entrenching the country at the pinnacle of long distance triathlon.
