The second European titles of the summer were settled in Balikesir, Turkey. After the fields were cut down to thirty men and thirty women over the course of the semi-finals, an array of excellent athletes lined up to dive into the sparkling, almost turquoise water.
Women’s race
Mathilde Gautier and Selina Klamt imposed themselves early in the swim and exited with an early lead. Both clocked 3:18 for the 270m which earned them a scant lead of 2 seconds over Tilly Anema of Britain.
The lead trio exited T1 practically bumping shoulders and it was Gautier that set the early pace on the bike. The front group soon swelled, though, as the likes of Tanja Neubert, Audrey Merle and Jessica Fullagar made contact with the leaders. A massive effort from Anne Holm also saw her rise to the lead group, just as she had done in her semi-final.
With Sara Guerrero Manso, Sophia Green and Candice Denizot also at the front, ten women separated themselves from the remaining twenty in the final.
The Italian pair of Costanza Arpinelli and Angelica Prestia tried to rally the chasers. However, the power of Gautier, Fullagar and Neubert at the front was too much to overcome.
Over the 8km, Gautier was a near-constant presence at the head of the race. When the World Military champion was not driving the pace, she was more often than not right on the leader’s wheel.
Along with Fullagar, she peeled off the front of the group and claimed a valuable few seconds.
Gautier’s superiority on the bike proved pivotal in the end as no one could catch her on the run. Klamt was the best runner of the day, clocking 5:33 over 1.7km. Yet, although she passed Fullagar, the German could not overhaul Gautier.
Even though Gautier ran 4 seconds slower than Klamt, she held on to win by 1 second. Klamt took the silver as well as the U23 win. Fullagar then crossed in 3rd and earned the silver medal in the U23 classification.
Neubert (6th overall) took the U23 bronze medal.
Men’s race
Having watched his brother win the European Junior title, Ricardo Batista made it three titles for his family in one day as he thundered to victory.
Yes, you read that right. Batista is still an U23 athlete which means the Junior, U23 and Senior gold medals are all flying back to the Batista household.
Gergely Kiss had snuck into the final as one of the lucky losers. In the final, he was far more assertive and seized control of the race in the water. The World U23 silver medallist exited first in 3:01 with Nicola Azzano next out. Batista was only 5 seconds behind after the swim however a slow T1 following a penalty cost him precious time.
If the loss of time panicked Batista, he did not show it. He jumped onto his bike and proceeded to produce a mammoth effort to surge into the lead.
Sebastian Wernersen and Lasse Nygaard Priester were able to go with Batista as he blew ahead of Kiss and Azzano.
With his huge effort, Batista scattered the field. Richard Murray, Emil Holm, Alexis Lherieau and Jonas Osterholt managed to gather themselves to head up a small chase pack. Batista, though, was relentless.
The strength of Murray gradually told as he pulled the lead trio back. Having suffered with sickness after WTCS Sunderland, it was an impressive feat to rally within a week. He could not bring the gap down to 5 seconds, though, and had an uphill task on his hands as he entered T2.
Wernersen slipped behind early on the run as Batista and Priester battled out the gold.
Priester is a fantastic runner and arrived in Balikesir battle-hardened after two Bundesliga wins. Over the 1.7km, he simply had no answer to Batista as the Portuguese athlete broke clear. Adding the fastest run (4:54) to go with his field-leading bike split, Batista crossed the line 5 seconds ahead of his German rival.
Based on his astonishing display, Batista will be a lethal force over the rest of the season. Moreover, he will be an athlete to watch for years to come.
Priester sealed the silver medal while Murray finished 6 seconds back having matched Priester’s split of 4:58.
Baptiste Passemard (4th overall) took the U23 silver medal while Hamish Reilly (5th overall) had his best result of the season as he claimed the U23 bronze.
You can view the full results here.
