Quarteira Junior Cup Goes Down to the Wire

After the excitement of the Quarteira European Cup yesterday, the European Junior Cup at the same venue took place today. A full strength French Junior contingent started off the back of their test weekend in Cannes. Although, Ilona Hadhoum was a late withdrawal. Her much anticipated showdown with Margareta Vrablova will have to wait for now. In both the men’s and women’s races, tight finishes were the order of the day. For much of the run, it was almost impossible to call the winner in either Sprint distance event. Women’s…

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Wilde Cruises to Homecoming Win in New Plymouth

As the men’s field ran into the Tasman Sea, all eyes were on home favourite Hayden Wilde. Last time out in New Plymouth, Wilde had come away with a 4th place. While Olympic and WTCS medals have followed in the subsequent four years, a World Cup win has eluded Wilde. In front of home crowds, he now had a chance to tick that box. A European double punch led the way in the water as youngsters Nicolò Strada and Ricardo Batista exited first in 9:01. Trent Thorpe was next out,…

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Van Der Kaay’s Golden Run Continues With Another Win

Overcast conditions awaited the athletes in New Plymouth as they walked out to the start line in the women’s race. The volcanic ash beach was perhaps appropriate given how Nicole Van Der Kaay’s form has erupted this season. After three consecutive wins, the question remained as to whether anyone could slow her inexorable run. In a wholly expected plot twist, it was Emma Jeffcoat that led out swim. Jeffcoat has been in sublime swimming form of late and looked in total control. The waves of the sea made it hard…

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Beaugrand a Class Apart as Thorn Shocks in Quarteira

As the European Cup season took its first steps into the Olympic distance for 2023, a field brimming with talent lined up in both the men’s and women’s events in Quarteira. Lisa Tertsch was a late withdrawal a few days prior but that did little to diminish what was already a hotly anticipated event. Women’s race Under sunny skies the women ran into the sea and the sea said no. For several athletes, the opening dolphin dives into the water did not quite bring the speed they may have hoped…

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De Koning Wins Again as Murray Bounces Back in Namibia

Swakopmund is rapidly becoming a vital hub in Namibia in the realms of triathlon and energy. A green hydrogen power station has been commissioned in the town and in November HDF (Hydrogen de France) Energy announced its financing of the plant. On a side note, HDF will also be financing Zimbabwe’s first hydrogen plant. Depending on one’s preference, critics of the move could reach either for complaints of neo-colonialism or of an over-extended neoliberalism, not least given the involvement of a western European nation-state. In the words of Taylor Swift,…

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A New Plymouth Showdown Between Van Der Kaay and Dodet

Sometimes an athlete enters a run of form in which everything they touch turns to gold. In recent weeks Nicole Van Der Kaay has given every indication of being in that kind of form. In three races, she has rattled off three wins in Wanaka, Taupo and Devonport. The litmus test of her form now comes with the step up to the World Cup level. To date, Van Der Kaay has won a solitary medal at the World Cup level. That just happened to come at the New Plymouth World…

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Wilde the Favourite at the New Plymouth World Cup

All eyes will be on Hayden Wilde this weekend as World Cup racing returns for 2023 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. One year ago, Wilde won the New Plymouth Oceania Cup. That was his first win of a 2022 that catapulted him to a new level in triathlon. Now he returns to face the same New Plymouth course and crowd, with dramatically elevated expectations. Wilde is the clear favourite going into the men’s race. Will he be able to deliver? On the one hand, Wilde is the only male WTCS…

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Nelson Mandela Bay Junior Wins Go to Wolfaardt and Brown

Alongside the African Cup racing, an African Junior Cup also took place in Nelson Mandela Bay. Men’s race In a field containing twenty-seven South African athletes and three from Zimbabwe, Christian Hattingh led the way in the swim. By the time he arrived into T1, he had a 10 second gap over the next best athlete, Jamie Smuts. Hattingh, though, quickly pulled away from Smuts on the bike and it briefly looked as if he would ride alone. A trio of Shaun Wolfaardt, Louis Terblanche and Kyle Erskine were able…

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De Koning and Riddle Win in Nelson Mandela Bay

After South Africa hosted the first African Cup of 2023 in Maselspoort a few weeks ago, this weekend it was the turn of Nelson Mandela Bay. The athletes took on the Olympic distance in near-perfect racing conditions. Perhaps the biggest hurdle on the course was entering the water on both swim laps as large waves broke upon the beach. Women’s race A small field of sixteen athletes took to the start line. Among those was the winner of the Maselspoort African Cup, Barbara De Koning. De Koning had one of…

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No Stopping Vrablova and González at Melilla Junior Cup

Junior racing returned to Europe for the first time in 2023 with the European Junior Cup in Melilla. Both the men’s and women’s races came before the European Cup that was to follow in the evening. Far from being an appetiser, the Junior athletes provided some compelling racing of their own. Women’s race Prior to the race, we had noted that Margareta Vrablova already had four European Junior Cup wins to her name. With one more, she would draw level with Ivana Kuriackova with the most Junior Cup wins since…

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Jackson Triumphs as French Men Lock Out Melilla Podium

Time stands undefeated. Days and events and races are rolled upon one another, blurring and meshing together The passage of time, though, leaves its clues. The enclave of Melilla is one such clue. Now an autonomous region, for centuries it was to all intents an purposes a vital colonial outpost for a litany of Spanish leaders, an essential Mediterranean toehold on the shores of North Africa. The castles still stand watching over the bay, gazing across the sea perhaps in memory of a forgotten past. They stand to remind how…

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Birtwhistle and Van Der Kaay Triumph in Devonport

With the first signs of the Australian autumn and the Antipodean triathlon season nearing its closing stages, the Devonport Oceania Cup doubled as the Oceania Sprint Championships. Those racing from Oceania were eligible for the championships. Meanwhile, non-Oceanian athletes were eligible for valuable World Triathlon points towards their world ranking. Men’s Race In what was a heavily Oceanian field, some of the overseas representation came from the Pertl brothers, Lukas and Philip, from Austria. Lukas Pertl recently won an Asia Cup race in Hong Kong so arrived in Devonport in…

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A Stacked Field Awaits at the Quarteira European Cup

One of the deepest Continental Cups of the year is taking shape at the European Cup in Quarteira, Portugal, next weekend. An array of world champions and WTCS medallists will be racing, as well as some of the most highly rated young prospects in the sport. For many of the athletes, it will be their first taste of the Olympic distance this year. Indeed for several, Quarteira offers a perfect hit-out ahead of the upcoming Olympic distance WTCS races. The Women’s Race A strong French contingent will be led by…

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Kuriackova and Donnelly Win Americas Cup in Pucón

There was an ethereal beauty to the black sands of Pucón as the athletes lined up to start. Low hanging clouds shrouded the peaks of the mountains but the weather from earlier in the week, perhaps best described as English, did not return. A cosmopolitan group of athletes lined up to race in Pucón, Chile. Several had raced in the same country only a week earlier at the Americas Cup in Villarrica. This time round, the athletes would be taking on the Sprint distance. Women’s Race The short run from…

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North American Junior Titles Won Decisively in Sarasota

Two weeks after the Oceania Junior champions were crowned in Taupo, the North American Junior titles were won in decisive fashion in Sarasota. Jimena Renata De La Peña Schott took the win in the Junior women’s race. Born in 2006, De La Peña has already made a small splash at the Senior level. In November, she finished 12th at the Viña del Mar World Cup. Her run stood out in Chile, in spite of her age, and it did so again in Sarasota. She was towards the front of the swim…

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