Swim
The women’s race at the Weihai World Cup was all about Bianca Seregni and her dominance began in the water. Over the 1500m swim, she clocked a time of 19:20.
The next fastest athlete was Bailee Brown of Hong Kong in 19:43. Seregni thus had a comprehensive lead as she made her way through transition and onto the bike.
Wen Wei followed in a time of 19:44 while Anna Godoy Contreras and Yifan Yang each recorded splits of 19:46. The bronze medallist Ilaria Zane stopped the clock at 19:48 and the Hungarian pair of Zsófia Kovács and Márta Kropkó rounded out the top-8 splits in 19:49.
In the men’s race, Michal Oliwa and Kyotaro Yoshikawa had shared the lead for much of the swim. Both took different lines on the final stretch to the beach and then different approaches in the shallows. Yoshikawa swam a little more whereas Oliwa utilised a few more dolphin dives to good effect.
In the end, the dolphin dives paid off as Oliwa claimed the fastest split in 18:39.
Yoshikawa followed in a time of 18:40.
Leon Pauger was the next man out in 18:41 while Trent Thorpe exited 1 second later in 18:42. Martin Demuth made it two Austrian men in the top-5 splits as he clocked 18:44.
The silver and bronze medallists were the next men to emerge. Makoto Odakura hit a time of 18:46 for the 1500m while Lasse Nygaard Priester produced a time of 18:48. Zhao Tan rounded out the top-8 splits in 18:51.
Bike
Hollie Elliott and Hiraku Fukuoka managed the best splits on the bike in the women’s race as both stopped the clock at 1:01:05. Elliott was making her World Cup debut and dropped a noteworthy turn at the front of the race on the final lap.
The experienced Yuka Sato had the next fastest split in 1:01:07 while her compatriot Miyu Sakai split 1:01:08.
Perhaps the two best cyclists of the field were Lisa Perterer and Tanja Stroschneider. Both were routinely at the front of the race and set a punishing pace up the climbs. For their efforts, the Austrian athletes logged identical splits of 1:01:10. Sinem Francisca Tous Servera also managed a split of 1:01:10.
Niina Kishimoto then completed the top-8 splits in a time of 1:01:12.
The top men’s bike splits were also shared between two athletes.
Itamar Eshed and Gaspar Riveros stopped the clock at 54:43. Gregor Payet was 3 seconds slower as he hit a time of 54:46.
The race winner, Crisanto Grajales, had the next fastest split in 54:47. Ren Sato, Aoba Yasumatsu and Felix Duchampt all followed in 54:50 while the Hong Kong duo of Oscar Coggins and Jason Tai Long Ng managed times of 54:52.
Run
After dominating the swim, Seregni went on to log the fastest run of the field. The Italian athlete split 36:22 over the hilly 10km to take the win in style.
Perterer added a leading run split to go with her impressive bike split as she sealed the silver medal. She clocked 36:39. In a late rally, Ilaria Zane moved onto the podium, overtaking Anna Godoy Contreras. Zane’s final split rested at 36:44 while Godoy managed a time of 36:49. A mere 5 seconds separated the two women’s run times and Zane took bronze by 4 seconds in total.
A large gap then appeared until the next fastest runner finished. Niina Kishimoto secured 5th place with the fifth fastest split (37:23). Tous crossed next after running a time of 37:40.
After losing time in the water, Ivana Kuriackova was out of contention for a top-10 finish. She nevertheless produced the seventh fastest run of the day (37:41) to gain several places and moved into 14th overall. Her compatriot, Romana Gajdošová, then completed the top-8 splits in 37:44.
As with the women’s race, the run determined the top finishing positions in the men’s race and the fastest split went to the winner.
Crisanto Grajales clocked 31:34 for the 10km which included a blinding third lap in which he closed 10 seconds on the then race leader, Prieser.
Odakura was the next quickest runner as he split 31:45 to seal the silver medal. Priester was the only other man under 32 minutes as he clocked 31:55. Over the final lap, the German faded somewhat and saw the gold medal slip through his fingers. His efforts earlier in the run ultimately kept him on the podium, though.
Ren Sato narrowly missed the podium after running 32:01. Felix Duchampt followed with a time of 32:02. Aoba Yasumatsu and Jason Tai Long Ng both stopped the clock at 32:08 to take their places in the top-7.
Like Kuriackova in the women’s race, Rodrigo Gonzalez was out of contention after the bike. He nonetheless ripped an impressive 32:09 to insert himself among the top-8 splits of the day. His mighty run split was enough to lift him to 20th overall.
