The sun came out at the Tiszaujvaros World Cup as the athletes had to deal with temperatures nearing 30 degrees (Celsius) in the semi-finals. In light of the torrential downpours only a day earlier, the weather was quite the change.
With a Sprint event to tackle, the challenge awaiting the athletes was to expend as little energy as possible while making Sunday’s final. Easier said than done, when one factored in the start lists and the conditions.
Women
The top-14 finishers from the two women’s semi-finals would automatically qualify for the final. The two fastest losers would then be added to create a start list of thirty athletes.
Several of the pre-race favourites lined up on the pontoon in semi final 1, including the European Games champion Solveig Løvseth.
However, as Therese Feuersinger drove the pace in the water, a number of those expected to do well found themselves caught out. Close behind Feursinger, a Hungarian trio of Zsanett Bragmayer, Laura Holánszky and Márta Kropkó expertly navigated the swim. After a quick T1, Bragmayer was soon at the head of the field as nine women grouped together on the bike.
Dominika Jamnicky took up her position at the front of the second pack. Tilda Månsson and Costanza Arpinelli were also quick to get among the chase.
At the end of the first of the two bike laps, though, the leaders had built a gap of over 45 seconds.
Løvseth moved to take over the chasing duties. Having shut down a similar breakaway at the European Games, logic dictated that she could do it again. However, far from shrinking, the gap only grew. Several of the chase still had a good shot of making the top-14 required to make the final and so did not necessarily need to catch the leaders.
Still, with the deficit rising to over a minute, the outcome of the bike will be unlikely to fill anyone in the chase pack with a great deal of optimism.
Bragmayer struck early in the run to pull away. Ilaria Zane was able to stay closest but even she lost 12 seconds over the first lap.
None of the nine women in the breakaway could afford to relax. Alongside Løvseth, Jamnicky and Månsson, Charlotte McShane and Niina Kishimoto were going strong on the run. Arpinelli was moving well too, as was Noelia Juan.
Holánszky was passed on the second lap and slipped out of the top-14. The remaining eight of the breakaway were still safe but Wen Wei of China and Michaela Sterbova of Czechia had the chasers breathing down their necks.
Up ahead, Bragmayer took a smooth win by 11 seconds over Zane with Kropkó in 3rd.
Anna Godoy Contreras then held off a charging Månsson to take 4th. Two more chasers were next to finish as Juan pipped Løvseth to take 6th.
Anja Weber came home in 8th, Angelica Prestia in 9th and Feuersinger in 10th. Arpinelli, McShane, Sterbova and Vicky Van Der Merwe then rounded out the rest of the top-14.
In the second semi-final, Bianca Seregni went ballistic in the swim.
Prior to the race, she had been forced to overcome some injury troubles. Having not raced in a while, her form was a little up in the air. If there were any doubts about how she would perform, though, she emphatically answered them. To be clear, she likely would have made the front pack in the men’s semi-finals with her split of 8:58.
The Italian gained 30 seconds over the rest of the field over the 750m swim. Jolien Vermeylen, no slouch herself, was third out, 31 seconds down and on the feet of Sophie Alden.
Over the first bike lap, Vermeylen and Alden reeled in Seregni, as did Zuzana Michalickova.
A chase group consisting of another fourteen women were also within touching distance and connected with the leaders on the second bike lap. Having worked hard in the chase, Sara Guerrero Manso and Barbara De Koning slotted into the front of the pack.
Further back, the likes of Ekaterina Shabalina, Gina Sereno and Ellie Hoitink were stranded in what had been the third group on the road. By the time the bike was over, their group was over a minute down.
When the leaders arrived into T2, all would have been aware that eighteen would not fit into fourteen slots. A fast tempo was therefore set out of transition and Rani Skrabanja and Marta Pintanel Raymundo were particularly nippy.
With Bragmayer delivering a Hungarian win in the first semi-final, Zsófia Kovács moved to do the same and took over the lead. Vermeylen stuck with her as a group containing Pintanel, Seregni, Guerrero and Shanae Williams hovered behind the lead pair.
No one could ultimately stop Kovács over the 5km, though, and she made it Hungarian wins in both women’s semi-finals. Vermeylen crossed next with Guerrero, Pintanel, Seregni and Williams following in close order.
Luisa Iogna-Prat was next to confirm her place in the final while De Koning, Iona Miller and Michalickova also made it into the top-10. Karolina Helga Horváth, Alden and Sara Vilic followed while Sereno powered through to take 14th and deny Hanne De Vet by 1 second.
On the note of the lucky losers, Charlotte Derbyshire and Dominika Jamnicky made it as the first semi-final was the quicker race. As a result, Holánszky and De Vet were left out in the cold.
Men
The men faced three semi-finals which meant that it would take a top-9 finish to automatically make the final. Three fastest loser slots were available, although to rely on that route would be highly risky.
The lesson of the women’s semi-finals had been clear: control of the swim was a major tactical advantage given the claustrophobic nature of the Tiszaujvaros course. In semi-final 1, Csongor Lehmann heeded that lesson as he led the way.
The winner of European Cups in the town in 2021 and 2022, Lehmann possesses intimate knowledge of the course and constructed a small lead into T1.
Oscar Coggins and Alberto Gonzalez Garcia were close behind, as were Rostislav Pevtsov and the World U23 medallists, Gergely Kiss and Hamish Reilly. Between them, they formed a front pack of six although that quickly grew to nine over the first bike lap.
At the head of the race, Lehmann sat in complete control. Tiszaujvaros is also his training base and it was clear he had no intention of letting anyone spoil his homecoming.
Oscar Dart and Sergei Polikarpenko were among the dangerous runners in chase. The gap cleared a minute but they still had the ability to get into the top-9. Their task became all the more difficult as Lehmann ramped up the pressure on the second half of the bike. By the time the chase arrived in T2, the gap was over 2 minutes and the Hungarian had firmly shut the door on them.
The entire front pack thus made it through to the final.
Lehmann crossed the line in 1st place with Gonzalez and Reilly next home. Janus Staufenberg showed that he had carried his form from his win at the European Cup in Holten as he finished in 4th. Pevtsov, Casper Stornes, Kiss, Fabien Meeusen and Nicola Azzano then rounded out the automatic qualifiers.
In semi-final 2, Alessio Crociani set a punishing pace in the swim that only Alois Knabl and Max Stapley were able to really live with. The Italian was faster than Lehmann in the water (clocking 8:41 to the Hungarian’s 8:46) which should make for a tight contest tomorrow.
A trio consisting of Ben Fäh, Oleksiy Astafyev Martin Sobey and Bence Bicsák were able to join the leaders and a breakaway of seven men came together on the bike. However, their advantage would not budge beyond 15 seconds. Despite the best efforts of the leaders, a chase pack of six were therefore able to bridge.
Among them was Gábor Faldum; alongside Bicsák, he looked in cruise control.
The two Hungarians were quick to move to the front on the run, cognizant that the pack would not all be able to qualify for the final. Over the first lap, Maxime Hueber Moosbrugger and David Cantero del Campo moved up alongside Bicsák and Faldum.
Although Cantero would eventually slip behind, Hueber-Moosbrugger managed to hold on. He seemed to cross the line first in a photo finish yet Bicsák managed to nudge ahead. Both were awarded the same time but the Hungarian was given the win. Faldum then took 3rd place, 2 seconds back.
Sobey was 4th while Stapley, Crociani, Cantero and Knabl followed in quick succession. Panagiotis Bitados took the all-important 9th place.
Another fast swimmer set out his stall early in semi-final 3.
Márk Dévay led the way (but you already knew that) and Darr Smith was the next athlete out, 8 seconds down.
With Gergő Dobi, Sergio Baxter Cabrera and Martin Demuth soon joining the front, a front pack of five formed. Over the opening 10km, the quintet gained almost half a minute on the bike. By the time they made it into T2, the gap had exceeded a minute.
Most significantly, the pressure was on for two men at the front. Dobi and Dévay had a chance to add another semi-final win for the home crowd and offer a clean sweep.
However, Baxter was in a class of his own. Having beaten Dévay at Bundesliga Schliersee, the Spaniard did so again as he breezed home 13 seconds clear. Of the all the semi-final victories, Baxter’s was perhaps the most decisive (albeit not in terms of time as Lehmann matched his margin of victory) and he will be a dangerous prospect in the final.
At the same time, there is every chance that some kind of Hungarian karma will come back to haunt him for ruining everyone’s fun and denying the home team a clean sweep.
Dévay was the next man over the line to ensure that a Hungarian had either won or finished 2nd in every semi-final.
The remnants of the breakaway, Smith, Dobi and Demuth, finished next as their hard work on the bike came to fruition. Trent Thorpe led the chasers to take 6th and Jannik Schaufler, Samuele Angelini and Tyler Smith rounded out the top-9.
Gaspar Riveros, Jan Volar, Callum Mcclusky and Jorge Alarcon Familiar also made it to the final.
When it came to the fastest losers, Zsombor Dévay (10th, semi final 2), Tjebbe Kaindl (11th, semi-final 2) and Hugo Milner (10th, semi-final 3) were the fortunate ones and will race in tomorrow’s final.
