Elite triathlon took place in Asia for the first time in 2024 at the weekend with the Asia Cup in Putrajaya. The Sprint distance event attracted a glut of talented athletes, giving some the opportunity to stretch their legs for the first time this season and others the chance to accrue points towards their world rankings.
Women’s race
Heading into the race, Julie Derron was the favourite. The Swiss athlete had logged a trio of top-8 finishes in the WTCS last summer after making her return from injury. In Putrajaya, she was nothing short of immense.
Derron led the 750m swim in a time of 9:23 alongside Bailee Brown. Derron’s teammate, Alanis Siffert, was a second back and only a select few remained. The rest of the field had been blown away by the speed at the front.
Once onto the bike, Derron, Brown and Siffert pulled away. Over the course of the 20km, they put over 3 minutes into the next chase group and decimated the field. For her efforts, Derron was 1 second away from logging the fastest split of the day. That honour went to Siffert who clocked 29:03.
Then, on the run, Derron was simply too good. She recorded the quickest run of the field in 17:26 and took the win by over 90 seconds. It was a truly awesome display and one that showed she will enter the WTCS season in fine form.
Brown held on to 2nd place over the 5km run and added some useful world rankings points to her account. Meanwhile, Siffert came home to take the bronze medal. The race, though, clearly belonged to Derron.
Men’s race
Christopher Deegan was the fastest swimmer in the men’s field and the Australian athlete produced a time of 8:15. He held a 3 second lead over Kyotaro Yoshikawa and, as was the case in the women’s race, much of field fell away into T1.
Deegan initially rode clear on the bike with the likes of Ryosuke Maeda and Robin Elg for company. Over the course of the 20km, though, the lead pack grew to over ten men.
Yoshikawa was his usual electric self on two wheels and kept the pace honest. As Philip Pertl and Junjie Fan likewise took up their turns at the front, the remnants of the field were cast away.
Whereas the lead pack arrived into T2 fairly close together, Deegan summarily cut the group loose on the run. He ripped a 15:34 split on the 5km run, one of two in the field under the 16 minute barrier, to win by 30 seconds. In doing so, he claimed the first international win of his career.
After battling in the early parts of the run, Fan pulled away from Pertl to seal the silver medal. In turn, the Austrian athlete held off Elg to take the bronze.
View the full results here.
