Swim
The men’s race at the Miyazaki World Cup was perfectly balanced throughout. In each of the disciplines, the strongest exponents were able to make the most of the course and strike a blow against their rivals. But for a Ricardo Batista penalty at the finish line, the podium could have contained the fastest runner, cyclist and swimmer.
To start with the latter, Dylan McCullough shared the top swim split with Márk Dévay in 16:58. McCullough and Dévay’s speed laid the foundation for the initial breakaway group and dropped several of the quickest runners.
Kenji Nener followed in 17:01 as he reiterated what a consistent presence he has become at the front of races.
Jonas Schomburg and Aiden Longcroft-Harris then followed in 17:04 and Jamie Riddle clocked 17:05. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia and Takumi Hojo completed the top-8 splits in 17:07 and 17:08, respectively. Although, Hojo’s race was soon over after his initial good work as he crashed out on the bike.
In the women’s race, Bianca Seregni led for the vast majority of the swim. Yuko Takahashi, though, stuck with her throughout. As the lead pair made their way onto the beach, the Japanese athlete nipped ahead to log the best split of the field in 18:01. Having been the quickest swimmer at the Tongyeong World Cup a week earlier, Takahashi showed that her swimming is going as well as it has all season.
Seregni managed a time of 18:02 and pursued Takahashi into T1. Next out were Alice Betto and Márta Kropkó in 18:04.
Sophie Linn set up her race well in 18:10. Cecilia Santamaria Surroca likewise had a good split in 18:13 and would feature prominently throughout the race.
Jeanne Lehair and Sophia Howell rounded out the top-8 swim splits in 18:15.
Bike
When Ricardo Batista exited the water in Miyazaki, he faced a deficit of over 30 seconds to the lead pack. With powerful riders like Nener, Schomburg, McCullough and more at the front, he had his work cut out to even figure in the race.
Nevertheless, the Portuguese athlete burst into life in the first few bike laps. Before long, his hard work was rewarded as he led a chase pack up to the front group and settled in with the leaders.
Batista thus took the fastest split of the day in 58:00. His chase pack allies, Panagiotis Bitados and Casper Stornes, also had fast splits, recording 58:10 and 58:16, respectively.
Brandon Copeland and Tjebbe Kaindl also enjoyed good rides as they each clocked 58:17. A trio of British athletes then slotted into the remaining top-8 splits. Jack Willis managed a split of 58:25, Max Stapley hit 58:26 and Samuel Dickinson, the bronze medallist from Tongyeong, stopped the clock at 58:28.
A similar chase pack caught the leaders in the women’s race.
Xinyu Lin was at the forefront of the group and her efforts on the bike helped to set the platform for her eventual 5th place. Her time of 1:05:34 was 1 second better than that of Hollie Elliott, the second fastest cyclist.
Anabel Knoll had the next best split in 1:05:37 while Kira Hedgeland produced a time of 1:05:42.
Sara Vilic and Gwen Jorgensen also recovered on the bike after losing around 20 seconds to Takahashi in the swim. They both ended up with splits of 1:05:48 to make it to the front group.
Throughout the race, though, there was a fairly small gap between the leaders and chasers. Having been among the top-8 splits, Sophia Howell was also among the best bike splits. She logged a time of 1:05:49. Similarly, Santamaria was again inside the top-8 splits. She shared the eighth fastest split with Ivana Kuriackova in 1:05:52.
Run
At the start of the run in the men’s race, the likes of Hugo Milner and Lasse Nygaard Priester seemed out of contention having missed the front and chase packs. They languished a minute down on the leaders in T2 and at that point it would have been fair to assume the medallists would come from elsewhere.
Over the 10km, Milner and Priester flipped the script entirely.
Milner crushed a 29:33 split to climb all the way to 1st place. A little further back, Priester powered to the only other sub-30 minute split (29:43) of the field to earn the bronze medal.
There was another comeback to note among the leading run splits. Tyler Mislawchuk had enjoyed an improved swim from Tongyeong a week prior, yet illness meant that he went backwards on the bike. With time to make up on the run, he somehow cobbled together the third fastest split of the day (30:18) and almost made it onto the podium.
The silver medallist, Dylan McCullough, had the best split of the front pack in 30:44, although that was aided a little by Batista taking a 15 second penalty and losing time.
Aoba Yasumatsu had the next best split in 30:48 and Gábor Faldum followed in 30:56. Batista then finally managed a time of 30:58 however his penalty turned 2nd place into 5th.
Finally, Valentin Morlec and Copeland shared the eighth fastest split in 31:12.
If Milner’s field-leading run split made sense after he had done the same at his previous two World Cup races, the expectation in the women’s race was that Jorgensen would also continue her run of fast splits. She had been the quickest runner at her three previous World Cups (all of which she had won). However in Miyazaki the run did not quite follow expecations.
More renowned for her tremendous swimming ability, it was Seregni that took the fastest run split (34:00) on her way to victory. Her quick run should have been little surprise after she logged the best run splits on her way to World Cup wins in Weihai and Chengdu. Still, to out-split Jorgensen represented a different level.
Jorgensen ultimately settled for the second fastest split in 34:13 and earned the silver medal. The bronze medallist, Lehair, then followed in 34:32.
Alice Betto clocked 34:37 for the 10km to continue her fine form after her recent win at the Brasilia World Cup. Meanwhile, Claire Michel managed to recoup several positions with a fast run after falling into the chase pack for much of the race. Her time of 34:47 helped her rise to 8th place.
Xinyu Lin’s split of 34:57 helped her to consolidate 5th place after her field-leading bike split. Kira Hedgeland was the next quickest runner in 35:12.
Rounding out the top-8 times was Santamaria. The Spaniard thus became the only athlete in either race to drop a top-8 split in all three disciplines.
Her final time over the 10km was 35:24 and her consistency throughout the race saw her claim 7th place.
