Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto (COL) wrote her name into the history books on Sunday, winning the inaugural World Triathlon Cup Iquique after a sprint so tight that she and Taylor Knibb (USA) were both credited with the same time. Marta Pintanel Raymundo (ESP), victorious in San Pedro de la Paz just seven days earlier, took bronze six seconds back to complete the podium on a breathless morning on the Pacific coast.
The race lost one of its pre-race favourites before the gun. Márta Kropkó (HUN), second at the Beijing and Tongyeong World Cups this season and the woman who led the swim from the start in San Pedro, did not start after failing to recover from an illness that kept her unwell all week.
The Pacific made its presence felt from the first stroke. A heavy swell turned the beach start into a battle of its own, with the women fighting through breaking waves just to reach open water on the single-lap 750m course. Those same waves then shaped the swim exit. Ana Carballo Gómez (ESP) and Carlotta Missaglia (ITA) read the sea perfectly, catching a wave on the way out and surfing it towards the beach to gain valuable metres and move to the front. They posted the two fastest swims of the day, with Katie Rodda (GBR), Liis Kapten (EST) and Knibb just a few seconds behind.
Behind them, the margins were tiny. Velasquez, Annie Fuller (USA) and Manami Hayashi (JPN) all swam only a few seconds back, yet only Velasquez and Fuller made the front group. Ana Maria Valentina Torres Gomez (MEX) exited next, but a 56-second T1 left her further back still.
Carballo, Knibb, Missaglia and Kapten tried to break away from the rest of the field, but their efforts only lasted less than a bike lap, and before the end of the first lap it was a group of thirteen women leading the pack for the rest of the 20km bike: Carballo, Missaglia, Rodda, Kapten, Knibb, Rosa Elena Martinez Melchior (VEN), Clara Carlquist (DEN), Pintanel, Velasquez, Fuller, Naomi Ruff (USA), Tjasa Vrtacic (SLO) and Aviv Levi (ISR). They shared the work evenly, with every rider within 16 seconds of the fastest split of 28:43, set by Vrtacic and Levi.
Behind them, the chase group of Hayashi, Eva Daniels (LUX), Annabel Morton (GBR), Diana Dunajska (SVK), Daryna Moskalenko (UKR), Sinem Francisca Tous Servera (TUR), Emma O’Brien (IRL) and home favourite Barbara Riveros (CHI) lost around a minute on the bike, settling the podium battle among the front 13.
By the time the leaders had to dismount the bike, Pintanel and Carballo were the quickest through T2, while Knibb’s 33-second transition left her roughly eight seconds down on Velasquez as the two-lap 5km run began. But the American wasted no time.
Quickly it was five women -Pintanel, Velasquez, Knibb, Carballo and Missaglia- with only three medals to award. The younger Spaniard, silver last week in San Pedro de la Paz, was the first one to be dropped with 1 km to go, with her went Missaglia. With 500m to go it would be Pintanel who couldn't follow the last push from Velasquez and Knibb. They both sprinted to the finish line, where the Colombian found the decisive move in the closing metres to take the gold, a week after finishing sixth in San Pedro and two months on from her South American Games sprint title.
Knibb ran 16:03, the fastest of the day, and took silver less than a month after claiming the victory at the Ironman World Championships, proving that she can master all distances.
Pintanel held off Missaglia by two seconds for bronze, with Fuller fifth a further second back, so just nine seconds covered the top five. For Fuller, fifth in only her second World Cup start was a big step on her tenth place on debut last weekend, and Knibb’s silver came only weeks after she was crowned Ironman World Champion in Kona.
Carballo, who led out of the water, finished sixth. Martinez Melchior took seventh, Ruff eighth, Rodda ninth and Vrtacic tenth. Daniels led home the chase in 14th with a 16:52 run, while Carina Reicht (AUT) and Elizabeth Bravo (ECU) produced the best runs from the third group, to climb to 21st and 22nd. Riveros was the top Chilean in 17th, with Daniela Moya Chamorro (CHI) 29th.
