After his win at the African Cup in M’Diq two weeks ago, Tim Hellwig was the prohibitive favourite in the men’s race in Yasmine Hammamet. Similarly, Tanja Neubert was the one to watch in the women’s race after impressing at Bundesliga Kraichgau last weekend.
Although they faced fairly small fields, they nonetheless had to prove their mettle under the Tunisian sun.
Men’s race
Chris Ziehmer led the way in the swim although with most of the field bunching together the identity of the leader changed several times. Hellwig cruised 6 seconds behind his Hylo Team Saar teammate alongside Neilan Kempmann.
After a fast T1, Gergő Dobi emerged towards the head of the pack on the bike and began to drop the hammer. Close behind, Henry Räppo and Badr Siwane also hovered after swimming well. With Dobi and Hellwig taking turns on the front, a group of ten moved away from the rest of the field.
The likes of Bob Haller and Donald Hillebregt missed the separation and their chase pack went on to lose over a minute to the leaders.
Both Kempmann and Ziehmer looked strong as they took charge at the midpoint of the bike. Yet Hellwig hung over the group, as if his very presence snookered his rivals. Once the run began, it became easy to see why.
Hellwig initially bided his time but when he decided to go, no one could respond. He was able to cruise away from his rivals and enjoy the applause of the local support as the finish line drew closer. In the end he clocked 15:13 for the 5km and hardly had to extend himself to win.
In the race for silver, Ziehmer moved clear of Räppo and Kempmann in the final kilometre. Determined to prevent a German sweep of the podium, Räppo charged after Ziehmer and dropped Kempmann. Although Ziehmer remained out of reach, Räppo dropped Kempmann and claimed the bronze medal.
Women’s race
In contrast to the men’s race, wetsuits were allowed. Sofía Aguayo Mauri made the most of the permission to pop a rapid swim split. Only five women were able to keep touch with Aguayo; among their ranks were Tanja Neubert, Finja Schierl, Vicky Van Der Merwe, Katrien Maes and Alzbeta Hruskova.
Maes had a great T1 and moved into the lead on the bike. The lead sextet quickly gathered once more and set about extending their lead. With only fourteen women in the field, the chase had little hope of bringing the leaders back and the gap inflated with each of the five laps.
Not simply content to sit with the leaders, Neubert made her move.
At Bundesliga Kraichgau, she had been among the best cyclists and her strength was on full display in Tunisia. As she pummelled her pedals, she rode away and stole over 20 seconds from her fellow leaders. Schierl and Maes tried to organise the chase of Neubert but were powerless to stop her from riding clear.
Neubert was not done there. She then ripped a 17:26 5km to win by a comfortable 57 seconds. To make it a double German gold and silver in both races, Schierl ran away from Maes to earn 2nd place. The Belgian athlete capped a smooth performance with the bronze medal.
View the full results here.
