Swim
The Paris Test Event proved a double-edged sword for Vincent Luis.
On his first race back since suffering a stress reaction in his hip in May, Luis clocked the fastest swim of the men’s field. His time of 18:12 helped to stretch the pack and looked like it might create a breakaway. Later in the race however, he suffered calf pain during the run and did not finish.
That pain would prove to be a soleus tear and a further injury absence is now on the cards.
Márk Dévay was the next fastest swimmer (18:14) as the Luis-Dévay reasserted itself. Jonas Schomburg was then the only other man to get within 5 seconds of Luis with his split of 18:16.
Brock Hoel (18:18) and Tayler Reid (18:20) were able to get within 10 seconds of Luis, while Dorian Coninx followed in 18:23.
In a similar manner to Luis, Bianca Seregni was dominant in the water in the women’s race. With a split of 19:42, she broke the field into multiple fragments and set a furious tempo.
Summer Rappaport managed to hang on to the Italian athlete and clocked 19:44. The silver medallist, Cassandre Beaugrand, then followed 10 seconds behind Seregni in 19:52.
Beaugrand headed up a small pack of women, including Vittoria Lopes (19:54), Emma Lombardi (19:56) and Laura Lindemann (19:57).
Only seven women managed to record a split under 20 minutes for the swim. Lena Meißner was the final woman to do so in 19:58.
Bike
As the men’s field came back together to form a main pack of fifty-five men, the fastest splits came from those that made up the most time after the swim.
To that end, all six of the top men’s splits swam over a minute slower than Luis.
Max Studer led the way with a 51:25 split which was 2 seconds faster than Roberto Sanchez Mantecon and Matthew McElroy. Barclay Izzard followed in 51:28 while Kristian Blummenfelt hit a time of 51:29.
Shachar Sagiv rounded out the top splits with a 51:30. The Israeli athlete had a brief interlude at the front of the race as he built a temporary 10 second lead over the field. Aside from Sagiv’s small attack, the size of the pack made for a cautious bike section.
In a similar manner to the top men’s bike splits, the fastest women’s splits came from athletes that were able to ride into the lead group. The difference, however, is that the top female splits came from athletes that lost between 35 and 45 seconds to Seregni, rather than upwards of a minute.
Kate Waugh led the splits with her time of 56:51. Kirsten Kasper and Julie Derron followed with times of 56:54 and 56:56, respectively. Yuko Takahashi was the only other woman under 57 minutes as she hit 56:58. Natalie Van Coevorden and Taylor Knibb then rounded out the top splits with times of 57:00 and 57:01.
As with the men’s race, the size of the front group did not really lend itself to breakaways or overly aggressive strategies on the bike. The best splits therefore went to those that had the best first half of the bike.
Run
Alex Yee was simply majestic on the run. Heading into the fourth and final lap, he led by 27 seconds and was in total control. It says plenty about how he slowed to enjoy his success as his lead dwindled to 13 seconds by the finish. Had he continued at full tilt, a sub-29 10km would have been almost guaranteed.
Dorian Coninx was the only man to log more than one top-6 split in Paris. He initially seemed out of contention on the run. However he built his effort and eventually caught the chase group behind Yee. From there, he stayed composed before unleashing a super sprint finish to see off his compatriots, Pierre Le Corre and Leo Bergere.
Vasco Vilaca, the silver medallist, beat Coninx in the final sprint but actual ran 1 second slower in 29:15. Le Corre was also close as he clocked 29:16.
Morgan Pearson ended up with a split of 29:18 after setting much of the tempo in the early stages. His approach was in complete contrast to Coninx yet their split times were almost identical. Pearson’s strategy clearly paid off though as be became the first American man to qualify for the triathlon at next year’s Olympic Games.
Bergere then rounded out the top-6 splits in 29:22.
Beth Potter was the only woman to run under 33 minutes for the 10km in Paris. With a perfectly timed late burst, she snatched the win from Beaugrand and stopped the clock at 32:57.
Beaugrand was one of four women to log multiple top-6 splits. Her time of 33:07 on the run was the second fastest of the day. Lindemann and Lombardi both clocked 33:18 to add top-6 run splits to their top-6 swim splits. Sandwiched between Beaugrand and Lindemann/Lombardi was Knibb.
Knibb took a similar approach to Coninx on the run and built through the 10km. That helped her to a time of 33:12 and 5th place. Interestingly, Knibb was the only athlete to log a top-6 bike split and a top-6 run split.
Nina Eim then completed the top run splits with a time of 33:35. At one stage, she had been overtaken by her teammate, Lisa Tertsch, and looked as if she was fading. Eim, however, rallied on the second half of the run to roar back past Tertsch and book her place on the German Olympic team.
