Spain played host to a second World Para Cup of 2023 in Malaga at the weekend. As had been the case in A Coruna back in July, the home team filled their boots with gold medals.
In the women’s PTWC class, Eva María Moral Pedrero claimed the gold medal for the home team after edging out Melissa Nicholls by 22 seconds. Nicholls had taken the lead in the swim, but Moral came back on the bike. The Spanish athlete then held on to take the win, one of several for Spain.
Mona Francis of France claimed the women’s PTWC bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Louis Hoel won the men’s PTWC race after a dominant swim. Giovanni Achenza crossed next to take the silver medal while Jose Cristobal Ramos Jimenez added another medal for Spain in 3rd place.
Spain also took a double victory in the PTVI races.
Jose Luis García Serrano won the men’s event by a slim 12 seconds. He managed to hold off Donnacha Mc Carthy on the run, although it was touch and go for much of the final kilometres.
Paul Lloveras then rounded out the podium.
García and Mc Carthy had actually been off the pace in the water. By contrast, Lloveras swam well and established himself as one of the intial frontrunners. García and Mc Carthy were then good on the bike but did not make up any real time on the leaders. Instead, Lloveras consolidated his grip on the race and seemed the best-placed on the men to win.
However, the eventual gold and silver medallists were untouchable on the run.
In the women’s event, Susana Rodriguez continued her rebound from her shock defeat at the World Para-Triathlon Championships in Pontevedra. In the absence of Francesca Tarantello, the new world champion, Rodrigues had few difficulties in adding another gold medal to her immense collection.
Anna Barbaro then claimed the silver medal while Judith Maccombe came away with the bronze.
Among the women’s PTS races, some of the fields were on the smaller side. The PTS2 event saw three women race. Veronica Yoko Plebani took the win with a brilliant all-round display. Cécile Saboureau finished 2nd and Rakel Mateo Uriarte took 3rd place.
In the PTS3 race, Cassie Cava took the gold medal after racing alone. In the PTS4 event, there were three finishers after two athletes did not make it to the end of the race. Hannah MacDougall won with relative comfort, beating out Camille Seneclauze and Carmen Gonzalez Sanchez.
The best race of the women’s PTS events came in the PTS5 category. The reigning Paralympic champion Lauren Steadman put on a masterclass as she won ahead of Gwladys Lemoussu and Andrea Miguelez Ranz.
In 2023, Steadman has found it tricky at times to get past Grace Norman, who won the world title. Nevertheless, her showing in Malaga showed hints that she is recapturing her best form and that she will be more than a match for Norman in 2024.
On the men’s side, Lionel Morales swept to victory in the PTS2 race. He won the event back in A Coruna and so made it two wins from two at the World Para Cups in Spain.
Maurits Morsink followed in 2nd after being left with too much ground to make up on the run while Gianluca Valori crossed in 3rd place.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the form of the home team, another Spanish athlete stepped onto the top of the podium in the men’s PTS3 race. Daniel Molina had to be at his best to see off the challenge of Nico Van Der Burgt but he did so with style. The pair had been well-matched throughout the race. Once the run arrived, though, Molina blasted to victory by over 90 seconds.
Cedric Denuziere took the bronze medal.
Gregoire Berthon won the PTS4 race ahead of Liam Twomey and Finley Jakes. Filipe Marques also took the gold in the PTS5 race over Bence Mocsari and Ugurcan Ozer.
More than anything, though, the World Para Cup in Malaga was a day for the Spanish team.
