In addition to WTCS Yokohama, an action-packed weekend took place with racing across the world. One such race was the Asia Cup in Taizhou.
Men’s race
A week ago, Jayden Schofield edged Luke Schofield to victory at the Oceania Super Sprint Championships. Racing over the Olympic distance in Taizhou, Luke repaid the favour.
Mitsuho Mochizuki was the fastest swimmer and led the way 17:53, putting 15 seconds into his closest challenger. Behind the Japanese athlete, a cluster of men that included Yanjie Li, Jack Crome and James Edgar followed. Once onto the bike, they were able to catch Mochizuki as a front pack of ten men grouped together.
Luke Schofield managed to make the lead group however Jayden Schofield missed out. Meanwhile, Jonathan Oakley was the second Irish athlete in the front pack and was able to work with Edgar at times to keep the pace high. Luke Schofield would claim the fastest bike split in 52:32 and when the leaders arrived into T2 the damage to the chasers stood at almost 2 minutes in total.
Schofield then did not mess around on the run and built a commanding lead. His run split of 31:59 was the second fastest of the day and handed him the victory by 31 seconds.
Edgar and Oakley were the next men home as they took the silver and bronze medals.
Women’s race
Roksana Slupek arrived in Taizhou as the woman to beat. Wins at the African Cup and Americas Cup level across the end of 2023 and start of 2024 had shown her capabilities at the Continental Cup level. Moreover, she had claimed a maiden World Cup medal in Chendgu leading into the race and thus sought to carry her form forwards in China.
Yuan Yuan was the top swimmer in 19:56 while Wen Wei exited a second back. Slupek was then the next woman out in 20:00. As had been the case in the men’s event, a pack of ten athletes formed at the head of the race on the bike. Among those to make the pack were Mikayla Messer, Qing Wu and Himeka Sato.
Chloe Bateup was also in the lead group and was trying to back up a recent bronze medal at the Asia Cup in Subic Bay while Bailee Brown, still on the hunt for world ranking points towards a possible Olympic New Flag place, made it too.
By the end of the bike, the chasers were completely out of sight and there was no question that the medallists would come from the front pack. The question was, would anyone challenge Slupek?
The Polish athlete answered that question comprehensively. She ran to the fastest split of the day in 35:29 and took the win by 2 minutes 12 seconds. She certainly has a hot hand right now and will look to extend her run of form at the Samarkand World Cup this weekend.
Wu was the next best runner and took the silver medal ahead of Brown who in turn kept her Olympic New Flag dream alive with a slight boost to her world ranking points total.
View the full results here.
