Celine Kaiser Too Good for Field
There are times in triathlon when races boil down to simple factors. Sometimes, an athlete is simply too good a runner for the rest of the field and all the tactics and calculations essentially go out of the window.
The Asian Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, was one such instance. Celine Kaiser of Germany ripped a 17:03 run split to take a comprehensive win. Only one other athlete was able to log a run split within one minute of Kaiser’s time: silver medallist Olivia Thornbury of New Zealand. Thornbury actually out-swam Kaiser by over 30 seconds and retained most of that lead over the course of the bike.
Once the athletes made it on to the run, though, Kaiser was simply too strong for the field.
The German caps off a strong year in which she also won the World University Championships in triathlon in Brazil. Going forward, if she can develop her swim and bike, she will be another athlete to watch within Germany’s growing ranks.
Youngster Joshua Ferris Takes Maiden International Win
Joshua Ferris of Australia took the win in the men’s race in Ipoh and, much like Kaiser, he did so on the back of a field-leading run split.
His time of 15:17 was fifteen seconds better than runner-up Tsz To Wong of Hong Kong.
The field was mostly bunched together in the swim, with Ferris and Wong both in the main pack. The exception, however, was Nicholas Quenet of South Africa. Quenet pushed the pace and was out of the water twelve seconds ahead of the next man. Although Quenet was ultimately hauled back by the pack, he held on for fourth overall.
Notably, Ferris logged the third best bike split of the day and showed impressive composure throughout the race. Born in 2001, he was making only his second international start of 2022 and it will be interesting to see how he progresses next season.
View the full results here.
