On Saturday, after the racing at WTCS Yokohama and the Asia Cup in Taizhou had concluded, the action shifted across to Europe for the European Cup in Caorle. The race attracted large fields with over 55 women starting and 70 men taking part in the Sprint distance event.
Women’s race
Bethany Cook was the top swimmer in the women’s race and clocked 9:36 for the 750m. That earned her an 8 second lead over her nearest rival, Giorgia Messori.
Plenty of the leading names in the field followed Messori into T1. Among this group were Candice Denizot, Anabel Knoll, Sophia Green, Lea Coninx and Celia Merle. Cook would carry her advantage onto the bike but it did not take long for the lead group to form around her.
In total, a pack containing over twenty five women formed at the front of the race. Kristelle Congi and Franka Rust rode up to the pack while Alissa Konig and Robin Dreijling were arrived at the party a little later. Indeed, Konig, having swam 24 seconds slower than Cook, was one of the last women to join the group.
Some of the more experienced hands like Knoll, Coninx and Merle took control of the pack but there was plenty of movement at the front as new faces came through. No one, though, was really able to break clear.
The race therefore came down to the run and it was here that Konig struck. She clocked a field-leading 15:44 for the 5km to win by 35 seconds. No one else ran under 16 minutes and the Swiss athlete was completely alone as she crossed the line.
Rust pipped Dreijling to the silver medal by 2 seconds after both had pulled away from a group containing Coninx, Congi, Merle and Carlotta Missaglia on the run.
Men’s race
If the women’s race had been won in comprehensive fashion on the run, the men’s event was a closer affair. Marcus Dey and Zalán Hóbor shared the lead in the water in 8:42 and emerged with Alessio Crociani only 2 seconds back. The next closest athlete, Ben Fäh, was over 10 seconds behind the lead pair and it seemed a breakaway could have been on the cards. However, in a massive field, the chase pack was simply too large to escape.
The front pack would go on to exceed forty men during the bike and in a tight bunch position was at a premium. With only three athletes born before 1997 in the field, the race certainly had a youthful feel. Thomas Hansmaennel, the 2022 World Junior champion, and Gergely Kiss, the 2022 World U23 silver medallist, made it into the lead group, as did Leo Fernandez, the 2022 European Junior champion.
Euan De Nigro, who won the European Junior Cup at the same location in 2023, was also present and moved up to the head of the race. Throughout it all, Crociani was a ever-present at the front.
With little to separate the enormous pack, the race came down the run. Whereas Konig had blasted clear in the women’s event, the men’s race yielded a much more tactical affair.
Crociani, De Nigro and Nicola Azzano led an Italian contingent at the front while a rival French trio of Guillaume Hay, Nathan Grayel and Jules Rethoret were also in contention. Eric Diener, Daniel Damian and Lukas Pertl added an international touch but as the 5km wore on, it increasingly became a Franco-Italian match-up.
In the final stages, the leaders had been whittled down to Crociani, Grayel and Rethoret, with Damian trying to cling on. Grayel and Rethoret tried to break Crociani with a burst of speed but he was equal to their effort. Then, the Italian athlete responded with a move of his own and his rivals had no answer.
Crociani therefore took the win, his second of the season after claiming gold at the Oceania Cup in Wanaka, by 4 seconds. Rethoret had the stronger finish and was able to beat Grayel to the silver medal by 3 seconds.
View the full results here.
