So… that did not quite go entirely as expected.
As the final World Cup of the year took place in Vina del Mar, a fantastic women’s race was marred by a controversial denouement.
In brisk conditions, the athletes lined up for a beach start with their final venture over the Sprint distance laying in wait. The American trio of Katie Zaferes, Gwen Jorgensen and Gina Sereno hung together on the left-hand side of the beach as the race countdown began. Wearing the numbers 1, 2 and 3, respectively, they counted two former world champions and a previous medallist in Vina del Mar among their numbers.
Their early clustering seemed a potential portent of what may have laid in store for the podium after the race. Given their abilities, an all-American podium was not an implausible prospect.
As it was, Mathilde Gautier enjoyed the most success tackling the large waves. The French athlete had positioned herself in the middle of the beach and surfed into an early lead.
After forcing breakaways in previous World Cup appearances in Tangier and Rome in October, Gautier was intent upon making this one stick all the way to the finish. She was ever-present at the head of the field in the swim and led into the closing stretch. A particularly unforgiving wave seemed to carry her and her fellow leaders towards the beach only to yank them back at the last moment.
Forced to stumble through the swash, Gautier and Djenyfer Arnold were the first to emerge along with Vicky Holland.
Zaferes followed shortly after in the next pack and briskly ascended the uphill beach run to T1. A fast transition saw her make up time behind Gautier and Arnold. Holland, however, struggled with her wetsuit and leaked a handful of seconds.
Gautier and Arnold pedalled away on the first lap as they sought to widen the cracks they had precipitated in the swim. A major effort from a small group of chasers behind saw the front pack grow to six women before stabilising at five.
While Gautier continued to push, Zaferes, Anna Godoy Contreras and Tereza Zimovjanova joined Arnold.
Further back, Holland, Sereno and Jorgensen rode together in the next pack. However, they were powerless to prevent the leaders from extending their margin. With Zaferes and Gautier riding particularly aggressively, the lead ballooned to over half a minute.
Once into T2, though, the cohesion that had served the front pack so well dissipated. Zaferes had a bad transition and could only watch as her fellow chasers left her behind. At the front, Gautier and Zimovjanova sped away, while Godoy and Arnold dueled among themselves.
Meanwhile, Jorgensen arrived in transition 40 seconds down and with plenty of work to do.
Perhaps fuelled by her mistake, Zaferes rampaged through the first of the two run laps. She caught Godoy and Arnold before dropping the latter. Continuing her unrelenting pace, and carrying Godoy on her heels, Zaferes bridged the gap to the front pair.
Gautier and Zimovjanova had exchanged the lead during the first lap but when Zaferes and Godoy reached them the atmosphere changed. Eyeballing one another, the quartet headed out onto the final lap.
Yet another mistake was to come however. In a potentially fatal move, the front four took the wrong route at the end of the first lap. As a result, all were at risk of a penalty, or even possibly a disqualification.
All the while Jorgensen was closing. With a lap to go, she had slashed the gap to under 20 seconds and had the leaders in her sights.
Zaferes resumed the lead. The American’s surge saw Gautier crack and fall into the clutches of Jorgensen. Godoy was next as Zaferes’ tempo did not waver. Zimovjanova, though, continud to hang on.
Still Jorgensen came. As the final kilometre arrived she made her way past Godoy – and onto the podium – and upped her pace further as Zimovjanova struggled to live with Zaferes.
With world champion hunting world champion, the gold medal hung in the balance. Yet Zaferes held firm. She powered round the final corner and held on to win, claiming her first victory on the world level since her triumph at WTCS Lausanne made her the 2019 world champion.
Zimovjanova held on for 2nd place, getting a semblance of payback over Jorgensen after being beaten to the gold by her at the recent Tongyeong World Cup.
Jorgensen then crossed to take 3rd place before Godoy and Gautier rounded out the top-5. A terrific race, then, appeared to have been crowned with a worthy finish. More drama, though, was yet to come.
A volley of appeals and counter-appeals arrived from all corners as the officials deliberated over the mistake of Zaferes, Zimovjanova, Godoy and Gautier at the end of the first lap. Half an hour passed. Then an hour. No news came though.
The men’s race came and went with their podium confirmed but still the women’s victor remained a mystery.
Then, it was confirmed.
The four leaders were all disqualified for their mistake, consequently bumping Jorgensen to 1st place, Sereno from 6th to 2nd and Holland from 7th to 3rd. In doing so, they handed Jorgensen a fourth World Cup win of the season, Sereno a second medal in Vina del Mar and Holland a first medal since making her post-partum comeback.
For such a dramatic race, the talking points afterwards would inevitably be for all the wrong reasons and not to be lost in it all was how well the original and eventual top-5 raced. Nevertheless, for a race that had served up a real treat of a meal, it was hard for many not to come away with a bitter taste and feeling somewhat unsatisfied.
You can view the full results here.
