There were a number of exceptional splits at WTCS Abu Dhabi. Only two athletes, though, managed top-10 splits in all three disciplines.
That honour went to Beth Potter and Sophie Coldwell, the gold and silver medallists in the women’s race.
The Swims
We have written about the French men’s strategy for the WTCS this year and the swim splits show that in full force. Vincent Luis and Dorian Coninx battled to take control of the race from the front of the swim.
However, they could not quite force a gap. The 10th fastest split went to Kenji Nener and Alois Knabl (9:07), just 10 seconds down on Luis. In the end, there was not quite enough space to really stretch out the field.
Márk Dévay did what he usually does and was narrowly pipped to the fastest split. Alessio Crociani was also impressive, though. The youngster recorded his best WTCS finish and a lot of that was due to how strong he was in the water.
Henri Schoeman was 7th out of the water in 9:02. Miguel Hidalgo was 8th while Matthew Hauser was 9th.
Even accounting for a slightly cheeky early start, Sophie Coldwell was by far and away the best swimmer in the women’s race. Her speed produced the kind of gap Luis and Coninx wanted as 10th place Anabel Knoll swam 9:57 and lost 30 seconds to Coldwell.
Lopes, Rappaport and Meißner all had good swims. Perhaps two of the most surprising splits were the 5th and 6th fastest. Taylor Spivey and Beth Potter are adept swimmers, but it is a little unusual to see them out-performing athletes like Cassandre Beaugrand and Jolien Vermeylen.
Both Spivey and Potter can be a little under-rated in the water and have very well-rounded skill sets.
Zsanett Bragmayer came out of the water in 7th place but could not quite make the breakaway on the bike. She emerged in 9:44, 4 seconds behind Potter, which goes to show how close Potter was to missing the pack too.
Cassandre Beaugrand was in 8th while Kirsten Kasper came out of the water in 9th.
The Bikes
The men’s race turned into a big bike pack into T2 despite the best efforts of Leo Bergere, Miguel Hidalgo, Roberto Sanchez Mantecon and more.
As a result, any athletes that were able to recover from a bad swim and make the main group enjoyed the best bike splits. Manoel Messias was among them. After logging the second slowest swim of the day, he cycled into the main pack and earned the joint second fastest bike split.
Jelle Geens had the 8th fastest split in 27:19.
Ren Sato had the 9th fastest split in 27:20.
Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen and Noah Servais shared the 10th fastest bike split in 27:21.
Beth Potter led the way on the bike. A lot of that came from making up a few precious second on the first lap as she closed the gap from the swim. Similarly, although Coldwell had the fastest swim, she had to make up some time on the first bike lap after serving a 10 second penalty in T1.
Spivey, Lopes and Meißner all made the top-6 splits having rode in the front pack. Summer Rappaport finished with the 8th fastest bike split.
From the chase pack, Miriam Casillas, Amelie Kretz, Solveig Løvseth and Lisa Tertsch completed the top-10 splits. With the 10th fastest split, Tertsch rode 29:59 and was the last woman to break 30 minutes.
Each of Casillas, Kretz, Tertsch and Løvseth were behind the main pack out of the water, so they gained a little time by bridging to the biggest group.
The Runs
Perhaps the most notable run split came from Hayden Wilde. Despite riding the entire bike course alone after a wheel change, he recovered to log the 4th fastest run split of the day.
Whether he would have gotten close to Alex Yee’s 14:26 is another question. Yee was on great running form and his run launched him to victory. What is a little surprising is how close Vilaca and Messias were to Yee’s time.
While Yee got the better of them on the day, they nonetheless kept the margin to 6 seconds. If Vilaca and Messias keep improving, they could contend for wins soon.
Vincent Luis and Dorian Coninx had good run splits but may have paid for their efforts on the swim and early stages of the bike. Both ended up in the top-5 overall, though, and can be happy with their performances.
Max Studer, Leo Bergere, Matthew McElory and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon completed the top-10 run splits. Mcelory and Sanchez both ran 14:52.
Cassandre Beaugrand repeated what she did at WTCS Cagliari last year. Although she missed the front pack, she produced the fastest run of the day to slice through the field. As she improves through the season, she may be able to apply her run speed from better positions off the bike.
Beth Potter ran the best time from the lead group. Her 16:46 was only 8 seconds behind Beaugrand and her moment of celebration on the blue carpet has to be factored into that.
Then came Lombardi, Eim, Steinhauser and Periault from the chase pack.
Julia Hauser and Lisa Tertsch shared the 7th fastest split with a 16:59. After Terstch was just under 30 minutes on the bike, she matched the trick on the run by being just under 17 minutes.
Sophie Coldwell was the next quickest runner and the second fastest runner from the lead group. Miriam Casillas ran the same time as Coldwell to round out the top-10 in 17:04.
