It has been a good year for the American women’s team.
Three athletes have won WTCS medals (Taylor Spivey, Taylor Knibb and Summer Rappaport) while their former world champions, Gwen Jorgensen and Katie Zaferes, have also made trips to World Cup podiums during their post-maternity comebacks to the sport.
As a result, the US team has a collection of world-level medallists from which to fill the remaining two Olympic slots beside Knibb on the Olympic team next year.
At the Vina del Mar World Cup, the American women will individually have one eye on proving themselves to the Olympic selectors. They will also collectively look to sign off their strong year with a bang. On that front, they may just have the perfect team to do so.
Gwen Jorgensen is racing again after earning three World Cup wins this autumn. In addition to her wins in Valencia, Karlovy Vary and Tongyeong, Jorgensen claimed two World Cup silvers, in Huatulco and Miyazaki. She has thus enjoyed a terrific return to the sport and has been a formidable presence on the World Cup circuit.
The running of old has resurfaced while her swim and bike have progressed too. A fourth win of the year would be the perfect way to conclude a long season that began all the way back in February.
Joining Jorgensen will be her fellow former world champion, Zaferes. After winning a silver medal at the Brasilia World Cup last month, Zaferes also arrives in Vina del Mar on the back of recent success. The race this weekend will be over the Sprint distance which should equally give her reason to be optimistic.
In the summer, Zaferes finished 5th at WTCS Montreal and so will be confident of faring well over the shorter distance.
Notably, Zaferes also beat Jorgensen with long-range breakaways at Americas Cup races earlier in the year. In light of Jorgensen’s recent form, Zaferes may have to utilise the same approach to overcome her teammate’s fearsome running speed.
The third and final member of the US team cannot be ignored. Gina Sereno won her first World Cup medal in Vina del Mar last year and is the highest returning finisher from the 2022 race.
A super run split helped her onto the podium last season. As the Americas Sprint champion, a title she won in September, Sereno could unleash a similar performance this time around.
Should all three women fire at full capacity, it is eminently possible that the American team locks out the women’s podium.
However, there are plenty of other women on the start list that could step up and snatch a medal.
Erica Hawley is coming off of a 4th place finish at the Pan American Games which also took place in Chile. In the summer, Hawley made it onto her first World Cup podium. Moreover, she won an international race for the first time (at the Americas Cup in Montreal).
Hawley, then, has already had a very good year and will look to build upon her positive momentum in Vina del Mar.
Similarly, Romana Gajdošová will be racing after winning a World Cup medal in Yeongdo, where she beat Hawley to 2nd place.
Dominka Jamnicky and Emy Legault finished in 5th and 6th place, respectively, at the Pan American Games, beating Sereno but also losing out to Hawley. Both have the running speed to be in the mix and Jamnicky already has a World Cup top-5 finish to her name in 2023.
While Hawley, Legault, Jamnicky and Sereno have benefitted from a longer stay in Chile, several of their rivals will have less time to acclimatise.
Some, for example, spent a few weeks in October racing in Asia and now face competing on the other side of the world. Tereza Zimovjanova is one such athlete.
Zimovjanova recently won her first World Cup medal, a bronze in Tongyeong, and gave Jorgensen a real fight on the run. Prior to that, she finished 5th at the Chengdu World Cup. As such, the Czech athlete is in strong form and it will be exciting to see what she can do this weekend.
Meanwhile, Mathilde Gautier is the only French woman racing and will try to pick up where Sandra Dodet left off last year: at the top of the podium. The European Super Sprint champion led breakaways at the World Cups in Tangier and Rome, finishing 10th in the former.
With her power in the first two disciplines, Gautier could force another similar move. In that regard, Zaferes could prove a particularly useful ally and between them the two women could upend the entire race.
Vicky Holland’s 7th place in Tangier also made a lot of people sit up and take notice. Holland has shared her training journey during maternity – she has joined Jorgensen and Zaferes as a world champion on the comeback trail – and has been open with the challenges she has faced.
However, her Tangier performance means there will always be a chance of her getting on the podium and another month of training may helped her make a leap forward.
At this stage in the year, recent form may trump momentum from earlier in the season. In that regard, Beatrice Mallozzi could be one to watch. She is in decent form after taking the win at the European Cup in Ceuta.
Finally, there is the wildcard.
Anahi Alvarez Corral has tangled with Jorgensen and Zaferes already this year and beat both on her way to the gold medal in Huatulco. At this stage, Alvarez may actually be the fastest runner in the field. Her swim, though, remains a weakness. It compromised her race at the Pan American Games and has been a barrier to the podium in the last few months.
A Huatulco-level swim could be enough for a medal or win. Another Pan American Games swim, though, will block her from the podium.
TriStats Predictions
- Gwen Jorgensen
- Katie Zaferes
- Beatrice Mallozzi
- Tereza Zimovjanova
- Mathilde Gautier
