The full statistical breakdown of the New Plymouth World Cup is available however it is also instructive to delve into the fastest splits of the race. Amidst the wider race dynamics, we can see where particular athletes excelled.
Only one man and one woman were able to achieve top-10 splits in all three disciplines. Can you guess who they were prior to reading on?
The Swims
Men
Ricardo Batista and Nicolo Strada led the way in the water with times of 9:01. We have noted Strada’s speed in the water before although to see Batista at the front with him was a slightly more unexpected turn.
Trent Thorpe was the next man out in 9:03 and after him there was a small gap. Nicola Azzano was 4th in 9:06 with Seth Rider a further 2 seconds behind.
Alessio Crociani and David Castro Fajardo shared 6th out of the water with splits of 9:11. The top-10 was then rounded out by Tayler Reid, Dylan McCullough and Erwin Vanderplancke, each of whom swam 9:12.
Women
As she has done throughout the swing of Oceania Cups, Emma Jeffcoat set the pace in the swim and led the way with a time of 9:54.
Hannah Knighton was only 1 second behind in 9:55 while Sophie Linn was next out in 9:57.
Race winner Nicole Van Der Kaay had a great swim to emerge in 4th place. Her time was 10:00 which was 2 seconds ahead of eventual silver medallist Ainsley Thorpe.
Minori Ikeno had the same time as Thorpe.
In 7th was Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal in 10:03. The experienced Yuka Sato matched that time.
The final athletes with top-10 swim splits were Oliva Thornbury, with 10:04, and Maria Tomé, with 10:07.
The Bikes
Men
After losing 20 seconds to the leaders in the water, Hayden Wilde had a storming first lap on the bike which really set the tone for his race. Over the bike course, he did not let up and ultimately recorded a race-leading split of 31:02.
Brandon Copeland recorded the next quickest split with a 31:06. Tyler Mislawchuk was next with a time of 31:12.
The next five athletes were all all part of the front group of eight on the bike. In descending order of splits, they were Reid, Rider, McCullough, Strada and Batista.
Ren Sato had the best bike split of the chasers. His time was 31:47. The fact he lost 45 seconds to Wilde and 20 seconds to Batista highlights just how much stronger the front pack were on the bike.
Gregor Payet had the 10th fastest split with a time of 31:48 on the bike.
Women
Brea Roderick led the women on the bike with a big split of 35:11. With bike splits only 1 second slower were Claire Michel, Costanza Arpinelli and Beatrice Mallozzi.
Solveig Løvseth rode herself into the front pack too with a split of 35:14.
Noelia Juan had the 6th fastest split with a time of 35:17.
Maria Tomé was in the top-10 splits again with her time of 35:28. That split was matched by Erika Ackerlund and Xinyu Len. Kira Hedgeland’s time of 35:30 earned her the 10th fastest split.
You can see how the top-10 women’s splits were more tightly spread than the men’s. In large part, this was a result of the damage Wilde did in the men’s race. By contrast, there was no comparable solo effort in the women’s field as several athletes worked well together and shared the load.
The Runs
Men
As seen in the statistical breakdown of the race, Wilde was the class of the field in the run despite slowing up at the finish.
Over the past year, Wilde and devastating 5km splits have become a combination as dazzling as Gareth Southgate and waistcoats. After a while, it just makes sense.
But for his swim, Hayden Wilde would have come close to a clean sweep of fastest splits in all three disciplines in New Plymouth.
The next fastest runner, Callum Mcclusky, pushed him awfully close in terms of fastest split. Mcclusky’s time of 14:31 was a great performance and highlights his enormous potential.
Another young prospect, Janus Staufenberg, had the next fastest split with 14:44.
Arnaud Mengal logged the 4th best split with 14:47 while Rodrigo Gonzalez was only a second back with his 14:48.
Gonzalez’s compatriot Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen had the 6th fastest split with 14:54.
Ben Dijkstra and Makoto Odakura were the final athletes to run under 15 minutes with times of 14:55 and 14:56, respectively.
Nicola Azzano recovered from being dropped from the front group on the bike to run 15:00. Meanwhile, Batista snuck into the top-10 with a 15:03. In doing so, he became the only man with three top-10 splits in New Plymouth.
Women
It will come as no surprise to anyone that Van Der Kaay had the fastest run split of the women’s field. She produced a time of 16:12 on her way to victory.
Siler medallist Ainsley Thorpe was next with a split of 16:21.
However, the bronze medallist is a little further down the list. Instead, Gwen Jorgensen and Gina Sereno ran 16:25 from the chase to share the 3rd fastest run split.
The bronze medallist, Løvseth, had the 5th fastest run in 16:26.
We then see two athletes that again logged fast run splits from further behind. Sandra Dodet ran 16:30 and Anahi Alvarez Corral 16:34. Despite their efforts on the run, though, they had lost too much time earlier in the race to factor higher in the rankings.
As such, there was a good spread in importance of the disciplines. The swim and bike helped to whittle down both the men’s and women’s fields, leaving a select front group to determine the medals on the run.
Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal had the 8th fastest run split with 16:36.
Maria Tomé’s time of 16:42 was the 9th fastest split and made her the only woman with three top-10 splits in new Plymouth, highlighting what a rounded performance she managed on her way to 6th place overall.
Sophie Linn concluded the top-10 run splits with her time of 16:46.
