The were several reasons for Spain to be happy at the end of the World Para Cup in A Coruna.
With wins across a number of classifications, there were plenty of home athletes to celebrate at the top of the podium. In addition, A Coruna represented the first race of the Paralympic Qualification window. Success therefore meant a head start in the race to qualify for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
PTS
One of the biggest Spanish triumphs of the day came as Lionel Morales upset Geoffrey Wersy in the men’s PTS2 race. Coming into the race, Wersy had won the event at the World Para Series in Yokohama and the World Para Cup in Besancon. With some of his closest rivals absent, including world champion Jules Ribstein, another win seemed on the cards for Wersy.
However, Morales quickly jumped into a lead during the swim. Over the 750m, the Spaniard jumped into a lead of almost 3 minutes. The Frenchman sliced some time from the deficit with a faster T1, yet the gap was still substantial as they entered the bike course. Wersy pushed hard from the start to close the gap and he initially pulled some time back.
Morales, though, remained composed throughout. Over the second half of the 20km, he found a good rhythm to close Wersy’s advances. Although the Frenchman ate into Morales’ lead, it remained at over 2 minutes into T2.
Another 30 seconds slipped away as Wersy had the better transition. Morales only had 5km to cover, but his rival was gaining fast. The gap soon fell under the minute mark. Then it hit 45 seconds, then 30; suddenly it was 15. Yet Morales found something extra. Boosted by the home support, he pushed through the last kilometre to hold on and take the win by 12 seconds.
Wersy had to settle for silver. Louis Rolfe took the bronze medal, almost 10 minutes back.
There was further Spanish joy in the men’s PTS3 and PTS4 races as David Molina and Nils Riudavets Victory took the wins.
Molina drew from Morales’ playbook and built a commanding lead on the bike. A pack of men, including Giovanni Sciaccaluga of Italy, gathered behind but were well over 2 minutes back heading into T2. Unlike the PTS2 race, though, there would be no tight finish in the PTS3 class.
Molina the fastest run of the field (20:55) to win in style. Sciaccaluga finished in 2nd, almost 5 minutes back, while Diego Lardón Ferrer made it two Spanish men on the podium in 3rd.
In contrast to Morales and Molina, Riudavets Victory did not lead out the swim. Instead he was the third man out of the water. He also did not make any headway on the bike as Alejandro Sánchez Palomero and Antonio Franko arrived ahead of him into T2. Their advantage was slim, though, and Riudavets Victory quickly erased it.
He dropped a blinding 17:26 5km split to breeze to victory by over a minute. Franko took 2nd after running 19:09 while Sánchez Palomero finished 3rd.
In the men’s PTS5 race, Ronan Cordeiro of Brazil jumped to an early lead in the swim. Although the likes of Antoine Besse and Jairo Ruiz Lopez pushed hard to haul him in on the bike, Cordeiro responded with a fast split of his own. The result was he arrived in T2 with a lead of just over 30 seconds.
However, Ruiz Lopez of Spain was the next man out of T2. Given the success of his compatriots in A Coruna, he was well-positioned to join the party. Yet the grandstand finish did not materialise.
Although Ruiz Lopes dropped a 16:59 split, Cordeiro thundered to a 16:53 over the 5km to seal the win. Ruiz Lopes therefore had to settle for silver. Ugurcan Ozer of Turkey took 3rd.
Neele Ludwig of Germany won the two-woman race in the PTS2 classification. She beat Rakel Mateo Uriarte by over 6 minutes. Kirsty Weir’s winning margin was even bigger in the PTS3 race.
In another two-woman event. Weir beat Coline Grabinski by over 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a double British win, Claire Cashmore (PTS5) and Hannah Moore (PTS4) won golds. Moore used a superior swim to overcome Camille Seneclauze of France by almost 4 minutes. While Cashmore also logged the fastest swim in her event, her run was built upon a fantastic run split.
With a time of 19:49, she was the only woman in the field under 21 minutes. In the end, Cashmore beat Andrea Miguelez Ranz by over 6 minutes.
PTVI
In the men’s PTVI race, the defending world champion, Dave Ellis, was at his dominant best as he won by over 4 minutes. He was the quickest in all three disciplines, although Gerasimos Lignos pushed him close in the water, and his run amounted to a victory lap.
Jose Luis García Serrano made it another medal for Spain as he won silver while Łukasz Wietecki earned the bronze.
The women’s PTVI race was won in similarly crushing fashion.
Susana Rodriguez was the prohibitive favourite prior to the race and she lived up to that billing with an outstanding showing.
Anja Renner of Germany led the swim in a time of 12:30 while Anna Barbaro of Italy and Rodriguez of Spain were 10 seconds back. On the bike, Rodriguez powered into the lead and led by a healthy margin as she arrived in T2. To seal the win, she was the only woman to run under 20 minutes for the 5km (19:41).
Barbaro ended up winning silver while Renner finished 3rd.
PTWC
Giuseppe Romele was imperious in the men’s PTWC race. He built a big lead over the swim and bike, dropping the fastest splits of the field in each. Although the field came back to him a little on the run, he had a sufficient lead to win in style.
Jose Cristobal Ramos Jimenez and Joshua Landmann actually out-split Romele by 37 seconds on the run but that was not enough to overturn his lead. Ramos therefore settled for silver while Landmann took the bronze.
In yet another win for Spain, Eva María Moral Pedrero crossed the line first in the women’s PTWC race.
Skyler Fisher of America pushed the swim to build a big lead and Moral lost almost 3 minutes. However, the American youngster fell behind on the bike as the Spaniard and Melissa Nicholls surged ahead.
Nicholls had led Moral by 87 seconds in the swim. While Moral had the better bike split by 65 seconds, Nicholls managed to hold onto a slight advantage. On the run, though, Moral pulled away from her rival, out-splitting Nicholls 13:54 to 14:17, to win by 19 seconds.
Fisher came home in 3rd place.
View the full results here.
