Swim
The men’s race gave the home Italian fans something to cheer early on as Nicolò Strada led the swim in a time of 8:56. Right on heels were Simon Westermann, Csongor Lehmann and Zalán Hóbor in 8:57.
Hóbor’s performance was rather impressive considering that he is still a Junior athlete. Although he would fall away from contention later on the race, he acquitted himself well in the early stages of his World Cup debut.
Vasco Vilaca, the race winner in Rome, was the next man out in 8:59. Matching his time was Gianluca Pozzatti to put a second Italian man in the top-8 swim splits.
Rounding out the top-8 splits were Jonas Schomburg and Gergő Dobi. Both men recorded times of 9:00.
While the men’s swim had been a fairly close affair at the front, the women’s race was rather different.
Another Italian athlete, this time Bianca Seregni, led the way in 9:37. She had Jolien Vermeylen for company as the Belgian athlete swam 9:38. Olivia Mathias then followed in 9:40.
Mathilde Gautier produced a time of 9:41 and then Alice Betto, a second Italian woman, followed in 9:43. From there, a large gap appeared.
Anna Godoy Contreras was the best of the rest and swam 10:01. However, she lost over 20 seconds to the leader. Natalie Van Coevorden was the next woman out in 10:05 as the pressure told. Noted strong swimmers Maya Kingma and Therese Feuersinger were the next out to complete the top-8.
Yet the managed times of 10:07, precisely 30 seconds slower than Seregni.
Bike
The top men’s bike splits were dominated by athletes that moved up the field early on after T1.
Yanis Seguin had the fastest split in a time of 28:21 while Charles Paquet was next in 28:23. Tom Richard, who would go on to finish 4th, rode 28:25 for the 20km.
Martin Demuth, Panagiotis Bitados and Harry Leleu all hit a time of 28:26 while Casper Stornes and Emil Holm completed the top-8 splits in 28:28.
It was a similar story in the women’s race. Although they did not catch the front three of Gautier, Vermeylen and Mathias, the leading splits all came from athletes that made their way into the chase pack.
Bronze medallist Cathia Schär had the quickest split in 31:11. Right behind her were the gold and silver medallists, as Nina Eim stopped the clock at 31:13 and Marlene Gomez-Göggel managed a 31:14.
With the three women’s medallists logging the top-3 bike splits, it is fair to say the bike was a fairly important component of the race at the Rome World Cup.
Lisa Perterer clocked the next best split in 31:16 and Lotte Miller followed in 31:17. Rachel Klamer rode a 31:19 and then Sophia Green and Tjasa Vrtacic locked out the top-8 in 31:20.
Run
Whereas the women’s medallists locked out the top-3 bike splits, the men’s podium secured the three fastest run splits.
Arnaud Mengal and Vasco Vilaca shared the top time in 14:26. In the end, Vilaca’s better positioning into T2 proved a key difference between the two athletes. Simon Henseleit, the bronze medallist, then recorded a time of 14:30.
Tom Richard and Antonio Serrat Seoane both hit 14:34 to ink their names into the top splits. Emil Holm also used a 14:39 to launch himself into 5th place.
Charles Paquet followed in 14:40 while Simon Westermann was the only other man after Vilaca to log a top-8 swim and run. The Swiss athlete managed a 5km time of 14:44.
In addition to taking the top-3 bike splits, the women’s podium snared the top-3 run splits too, matching the men’s field.
Nina Eim powered to the top split in 15:53. The race winner was the only woman to run under 16 minutes. That being said, Marlene Gomez-Göggel came close to also running under 16 minutes as she produced a split of 16:00.
Cathia Schär then rounded out the top-3 in 16:05.
Audrey Merle and Noelia Juan had the next best splits in 16:15 and 16:16, respectively. Verena Steinhauser and Jolien Vermeylen both recorded a 16:24. Alice Betto then joined Vermeylen as the other woman to hit top-8 swim and run splits. She managed a time of 16:26.
