As well as playing a significant role on the road to the Paris Olympics, continental bragging rights were on offer at the Asian Sprint Championships in Dexing, China.
In mild conditions, the home team looked to hold off significant threats, especially from the Japanese squad, while the New Flag race continued to burn between athletes from Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. With plenty of talent in the field, both races came down to tight finishes.
Men’s race
Tzu I Pan and Kyotaro Yoshikawa led the way in the swim. The two men were the only to dip under 9 minutes for the 750m (clocking 8:58 and 8:59, respectively). Although, while Pan and Yoshikawa managed to slice off a chunk of the field at the back of the pack, several key threats lurked behind.
Junjie Fan had the fastest swim of the Chinese men and emerged right on Yoshikawa’s heels. He was followed by World Cup winner Takumi Hojo.
Some smart work at the front of the field early on during the bike helped to stretch a few of the gaps that had already emerged in the water. The Japanese trio of Hojo, Jumpei Furuya and Ren Sato were particularly prominent. Fan likewise kept the pace up. Consequently, the defending champion, Ayan Beisenbayev, could not quite latch onto the lead group and fell back.
Beisenbayev’s loss was Jason Tai Long Ng’s gain; with Ng in the front pack of sixteen, he stood to gain over his New Flag rival.
Over the course of the 20km, there was little to separate the leaders and the race came down to the run. Hojo had the best T2 by some way and struck out early. Ng, who lost 7 seconds to Hojo in the second transition, was among the small pack of men that set after him.
Fan was joined by his teammates Yunxiang Ma and Chi Zhang as the group reined in Hojo. By the midpoint of the run, it was anyone’s race.
The decisive moment came later on as Fan broke clear. No one reacted quickly enough and he was able to build a lead of around 5 seconds. Despite the best efforts of Hojo, Fan would not be caught. He arrived onto the blue carpet alone and sealed the gold medal for China.
Hojo crossed 6 seconds later to take silver while Ma hold off Ng to add a second medal for the home team.
Women’s race
For a long time, it appeared that the women’s race in Dexing had been turned on its head. Minori Ikeno was unstoppable in the water as she blasted into the lead; the Japanese athlete clocked 9:28 and only two women kept within 20 seconds of her.
Siyi Zhang of China and Juri Ide of Japan were the two to hold onto Ikeno. As they rode up to the leader out of T1, they presented a contrast of sorts. Whereas Zhang is still a Junior, Ide was born 22 years earlier (in 1983) but was still going strong.
As the front three came together, they set about trying to defend their lead. For the first of the three laps, they certainly made a good job of it. Then, however, the power in the chase pack began to tell.
With the likes of Miyu Sakai, Sarika Nakayama, Bailee Brown, Meiyi Lu and more in the pack, some of the strongest riders in the field were haring after the leaders. What at one point had been a 30 second lead dwindled to 20 seconds. From there, the leaders’ resistance crumbled.
The main pack thus swallowed up the leaders. With their legs spent, the lead trio seemed like their days were up.
Sakai and Lu took charge in the closing stages of the bike. After fast transitions, they emerged in control of the run. Brown, Nakayama and Yoshido Eda soon bridged up to them. So, too, did Zhang. The work in the breakaway did not seem to sap the Junior’s legs too much and she cruised with the leaders.
As with the men’s race, as the final 2.5km lap of the run started, the gold medal dangled ahead for any of several athletes to claim. As with the men’s race, it was a member of the home team that made the key move.
Lu bided her time before pouncing and earned a 5 second lead. With no one able to close her down, she held it all the way to the finish to hand China a double gold.
Sakai settled for silver, Japan’s second of the day, while Nakayama held off Zhang to secure the bronze medal.
View the full results here.
