One of the big challenges of the European Cup in Wels proved to be staying upright on the bike as several athletes fell foul of the course, including the German duo Neilan Kempmann and Fabian Kraft.
Only a week separated the event from the last Austrian event in Kitzbühel and many of the athletes took on the back-to-back races. With bad luck stalking several athletes, though, the winners of the latest Sprint race needed a slice of fortune to go with their finishing speed.
Men’s race
Whereas Kempmann and Kraft were among those to see their chances of a medal fade on the bike, their compatriot Simon Henseleit had no such problems. The winner in Kitzbühel the week earlier, Henseleit had the magic touch once more in Wels.
Miguel Tiago Silva led the swim and was the only man to dip under 9 minutes on his way to a split of 8:59. A large pack of over twenty men pursued him through the long run to T1; maybe it was here that Henseleit realised it would be his day. Having lost 24 seconds to Silva, the German emerged down the field. However, he was among the quickest in the run to T1 and through transition itself to make up valuable seconds.
As the front group consolidated itself early on in the bike, Henseleit made his way into the safety of the pack.
The British pair of Harry Leleu and Jimmy Lund likewise made their way to the front, albeit after better swims than Henseleit. A third Brit, however, narrowly came unstuck.
Hugo Milner out-swam Henseleit by 2 seconds yet went on to lose 13 seconds through transition to the German. As a result, what should have been a comfortable position for him on the bike turned into an effort to regain momentum.
From further behind, the likes of Jan Bader, Nicholas Holmes and Mateo Vidal pressed hard on the bike to recover time lost in the swim. At one point the deficit of the Bader group to the leaders hit 30 seconds. Gradually, though, the lead dwindled.
With several crashes, it would have been easy for the field to have been spooked. However, at the head of the race, Henseleit, Leleu and their partners pushed on. Eventually Holmes and Bader’s group would make contact with T2 not far down the line. Yet Milner also endured a slice of bad luck on the bike.
Once onto the run, Henseleit made his move early and attacked the leaders. It soon became apparent that only a select crew would be able to keep within shot of the German as Bader, Leleu and Holmes took up the challenge.
Milner, too, was underway and picking off athletes ahead one-by-one.
Henseleit’s early move looked to have paid off, though, as the finish line appeared some five hundred metres away. Yet the others were not done. Milner caught the three chasers and Bader made a monstrous final surge. As Henseleit entered the finishing straight he fought but the Austrian was closing fast, as was Milner only seconds behind.
With a slim 2 second advantage, Henseleit held on to take a second straight win. With another hundred metres, Bader probably would have gotten his man. Similarly, Milner could have caught the leader with a little more room; his 5km split of 14:19 was over 20 seconds faster than Henseleit.
In the end, they settled for silver and bronze, respectively, as Henseleit’s boldness paid off.
Women’s race
It has become Lea Marchal’s calling card to dominate the swim and it was no different in Wels. The French woman blasted a split of 9:25 over the 750m, putting a gap of 15 seconds between her and the next quickest woman.
Eva Goodisson of New Zealand was the next athlete out at the head of a thin trickle of women. Some 30 seconds down on Marchal was Ekaterina Shabalina. The Kazakh athlete had a silver medal from Sharm El Sheikh to her name, yet a win in 2023 has so far eluded her. On the bike, it was clear she intended to correct that as she pounced into the lead early on.
After a few athletes slid up and down the standings in the opening half of the bike, a front pack fourteen-strong settled. Iona Miller, Celia Merle, Kristelle Congi and Jule Behrens had all made their way to the front. The Portuguese duo of Inês Rico and Madalena Amaral Almeida also made their presence known.
It was early in the run that the lead pack shed a few of its members and by the final lap, the lead group contained fewer than ten women.
As the pace rose, Chloe Bateup dropped off. After a strong race, Bateup was unfortunately disqualified. Rico and Miller were then dropped and soon there were five at the front.
Shabalina took over setting the pace as Behrens, Congi, Almeida and Finja Schierl gathered behind. None of them had an answer, though, when Shabalina kicked for the line. In a blistering sprint, Shabalina hurtled to the win by 5 seconds.
Behrens was the next over the line to claim the first Senior medal of her career. After finishing 4th in Kitzbühel, the 2021 World Junior champion is clearly enjoying a great run of form.
Congi then managed to hold off Almeida to seal the bronze medal.
View the full race results here.
