Swim
Yuko Takahashi went after it at the Tongyeong World Cup from the moment the race began. She set the pace throughout the women’s race and clocked the quickest swim in 9:03.
Next out of the water was Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer in 9:05 while Claire Michel followed in 9:06. Having been prominent at the start of the swim, Margot Garabedian managed a time of 9:08 which was matched by Sophia Howell.
A group consisting of Hollie Elliott, Cecilia Santamaria Surroca and Sara Vilic then completed the top-8 splits in 9:09.
In the men’s race, Jamie Riddle took an early lead in 8:16. Simon Westermann was the second man to pop out of the water in 8:17 and Dylan McCullough emerged in 8:19.
Aiden Longcroft-Harris and Jonas Schomburg produced a time of 8:21. The European Super Sprint champion Ricardo Batista then followed in 8:23 with Jack Willis a further second back in 8:24. Rounding out the top-8 in the water was Tim Hellwig in 8:25. Having been the third fastest swimmer at the World Cup in Chengdu a week prior, it was another strong start from the German athlete and his split helped him to take control of the race.
All eight of the top swim splits went on to form the majority of the nine man breakaway group that stayed away for the duration of the bike.
Bike
The women’s field mostly came back together as a chase group saddled themselves onto the initial front pack. Two athletes that rode up to the lead group, Erica Ackerlund and Tereza Zimovjanova, shared the fastest split of the day in 30:57. Ackerlund’s cycling had already been on form after she launched a mini breakaway in Chengdu.
Meanwhile the bike offered an early indicator that Zimovjanova was on course for a big day. Having earned her best ever World Cup finish in Chengdu, she powered to a maiden World Cup medal in Tongyeong.
Gwen Jorgensen also used a good bike split to ride herself into contention after losing some ground in the swim. She clocked a round 31:00 for the 20km.
Sophie Linn and Himeka Sato then followed in 31:01 while Shanae Williams managed a time of 31:03.
Hye Rim Jeong was the only athlete from the home team to log a top-8 split as she produced the seventh quickest bike in 31:05. Six athletes then shared the eighth fastest bike split in 31:06.
One point to note is that Alina Khakimova clocked 30:53, giving her the fastest split, however she was disqualified. As a result, her split has not been formally included in the top-8.
On the men’s side, Samuel Dickinson crushed the best bike split of the field in 26:07. The British athlete had been a few seconds back of the top-8 out of the water but pounded the opening section on the bike to propel him into the lead pack. That made him the ninth and final man to make it into the front group.
A trio of Longcroft-Harris, Willis and Hellwig then took the second fastest bike split in 26:14 while Batista was a second back in 26:15.
Westermann and Schomburg followed in 26:16 and Riddle managed a time of 26:18. Having been the third fastest swimmer, McCullough was the odd man out in the lead group when it came to the top-8 splits on the bike. He was one second behind Riddle and took the ninth best split.
Run
The second lap of the run was a masterclass from Jorgensen in how to execute a 5km. With a perfectly judged effort, the American ran to victory on the back of a 16:30 split.
Her winning margin would have been even more decisive had she not given 11 seconds away to Takahashi in T2.
For her own efforts, Takahashi came away with a split of 16:47 and the silver medal. Her time was 2 seconds quicker than that produced by Zimovjanova (16:49). The uphill sections seemed to be Zimovjanova’s undoing and had the course been flat it is entirely conceivable that she would have run Jorgensen much closer. Either way, her first medal will provide a major boost ahead of 2024.
Michel just missed out on joining the podium in running sub-17 minutes. The Belgian athlete clocked 17:01.
Jaz Hedgeland had the next best time in 17:09 while Zsófia Kovács split Jaz from her sister Kira by logging 17:14. Kira Hedgeland was a second slower in 17:15 to earn the seventh fastest split.
Finally, Ainsley Thorpe rounded out the top-8 splits in 17:16.
The men’s run was particularly fascinating and the race threw up one of the most unusual outcomes of the season. None of the lead group of nine logged a top-8 split. Indeed the race winner, Hellwig, only managed the twelfth fastest split of the day.
The breakaway therefore proved vital when it came to shaping the race.
Moreover, had he been a second slower on the bike, Hellwig would have won the race without logging a top-3 split in any of the three disciplines. That stands as quite a contrast to how Miguel Hidalgo won the Brasilia World Cup last weekend. Hidalgo was a second away from having the fastest split in all three disciplines.
When it came to the fastest split in Tongyeong, that honour went to Hugo Milner. The British athlete clocked 14:24 in a storming 5km and took the fastest run for the second straight World Cup, having done the same in Tangier. However, his run was too little too late after a mishap on the bike and he took 52nd place.
Tyler Mislawchuk was the quickest runner of the chase pack and he managed to run through to 6th place after recording a 14:31 5km. Yet his effort still put him over 20 seconds behind Hellwig and 16 seconds away from the podium.
Aoba Yasumatsu also dropped a swift split from the chase, clocking 14:34. Rostislav Pevtsov proved his bronze medal in Chengdu had been no fluke as he summoned another fast split in Tongyeong. He stopped the clock at 14:37.
Lasse Nygaard Priester matched Pevtsov’s time while Jacob Birtwhistle followed in 14:39. Brandon Copeland was a second slower than his Australian teammate in 14:40 while last year’s winner in Tongyeong, Matthew McElroy, was a further second back in 14:41.
Martin Sobey completed the top-8 splits in 14:43.
The men’s run in Tongyeong, then, was quite different to the norm. Such was the impressive work of the breakaway in the first two disciplines, the speed of the men behind on two feet became rather incidental.
