Two weeks after hosting a stop in the WTCS, Montreal opened its doors to more elite triathlon.
Alongside the third instalment of the World Para Series, Montreal welcomed an Americas Cup in which a number of home stars started. World Cup medallist Emy Legault was among the standout entrants on the women’s side. For the men, Aiden Longcroft-Harris and Liam Donnelly had already claimed Americas Cup wins in 2023 and were among the favourites.
A smattering of international stars also took on the Sprint distance event and were set upon snatching the win from under the home team’s nose.
Women’s race
In a closely-fought swim, Minori Ikeno of Japan led the way in a time of 10:10. Two Canadians, Anja Krueger and Desiree Ridenour, were with Ikeno for the entirety of the swim and were the first to emerge after her. Erica Hawley was the next to follow.
After fast transitions, Maïra Carreau, Emy Legault and Hiraku Fukuoka moved towards the front. Legault powered a few quick revolutions of her pedals and tested the legs of those around her. All seemed equal to the challenge, though.
Olivia Cummings of New Zealand, moved up on the bike to recover the valuable seconds lost in the first discipline. Similarly Britney Brown, the winner of the African Junior Cup in Nelson Mandela Bay, pushed a big early effort to make contact with the front.
While Ikeno and Krueger had stretched the field in the swim, it fully split on the bike.
The front pack settled at sixteen athletes and pulled clear of the chasers. By the end of the 20km, the lead of the front pack neared 2 minutes.
A slow T2 cost Krueger some time and Hawley and Legault quickly took up setting the pace. Carreau lurked by the leaders, as did Fukouka.
It was Hawley, though, that had the best legs on the day. Legault tried to respond but found herself battling her younger compatriots, Carreau and a charging Krueger.
Clocking the only sub-17 minute 5km of the day (16:53), Hawley took the win in style. The gold medal was the first of her international career and represented a major milestone.
In June, Hawley logged a personal best World Cup finish in Huatulco (where she claimed 11th place). She had also finished 5th at the Americas Cup in St. Peters. Hawley, then, has been on a noteworthy improvement curve this season. Hailing from Bermuda, she will have immense shoes to try to fill when Flora Duffy eventually steps away from the sport. A maiden win, though, should set her up for taking the next step in her career.
In the end, the entire podium was full of firsts.
Legault could not quite live with the speed of Carreau and Krueger and the youngsters broke clear. In a sprint finish, Carreau sealed the silver medal which put her on the first international podium of her career.
Only a second back was Krueger. In her first ever international race, she took bronze.
Krueger will be racing again next weekend at the Americas Cup in Long Beach while Hawley will take on the Yeongdo World Cup in August. Based on their showings in Montreal, both could be in for further top results.
Men’s race
Two Canadians, Aiden Longcroft-Harris and Josiah Ney, took a vice-grip over the field in the swim and did not relent for a moment.
However, their good work ultimately came to nought as the field blobbed back together during the bike. In total, a front pack of over thirty men rode around the streets of Montreal. After losing over 45 seconds to Longcroft-Harris in the swim, Henry Bristol and Zach Leachman were among those to regain contact with the lead group.
The pack, however, was too big to fully organise and no one was able to generate a substantial gap off the front. Albeit at high speeds, the pack therefore rode together without quite bringing forth anything beyond ticking off time.
Out of T2, Clayton Hutchins, Liam Donnelly and Daniel Damian peeled ahead of the pack and the race properly began. Both Donnelly and Hutchins had clocked whirlwind runs at Americas Cups earlier in the year, the former most impressively on his way to the win in Pucón. Neither looked particularly troubled by the early tempo.
After a slow transition, Leachman came back into contention. The American settled into a good rhythm alongside his three Canadian rivals yet none could quite break away from the others.
With the four leaders all running well under 15-minute pace for the 5km, there was no real scope for them to up the ante unless they had a sub-14 minute 5km up their sleeves (maybe on the track it would have been viable). All they could do was hold the rapid pace and hope one of the others wilted.
As the finish line drew into view, it was clear that none of the leaders would crack and the tempo jumped even higher as the sprint finish began. In the end, it was Leachman that came out on top. The young American claimed the first international win of his career on the back of a 14:24 run split.
Hutchins crossed 2 seconds down to take silver and Donnelly earned the bronze.
View the full results here.
