Among the several outstanding performances at WTCS Bermuda last week, one of the best came from Roberto Sánchez Mantecón of Spain. In a breakout performance, he took the bronze medal.
“It is special to make a podium, and also to share it with another Spaniard,” said Sánchez Mantecón on his first ever World Triathlon Championship Series medal. “Our country badly needed such a result after the great time we had before Covid.”
After a solid swim, Sánchez Mantecón ended up in the main pack, around 40 seconds down on the leading group led by race winner Vincent Luis. With minimal ground made up on the leaders on the bike, it came down to the run for Sánchez Mantecón to make his move.
“I tried to catch Serrat and Jelle throughout the run, but I was left alone between them and the big group.”
Running alone for much of the run section presents a different set of challenges to pacing off others in a group. He said, “I tried to control my pace so I wouldn’t get caught by the guys behind me and it was a surprise to be able to overtake Jelle on the last lap.”
Sánchez Mantecón admitted he would have “preferred to go together with Serrat and Jelle to have fought Antonio for second place”, however once he caught Geens there was no hesitation as he surged ahead. Geens had already put in a big shift on the bike leg but the speed at which Sánchez Mantecón passed him was impressive.
When asked about the difficulty of the course, Sánchez Mantecón confirmed that Bermuda is among the toughest on the circuit. He added, “I remember the 2019 Lausanne U23 World Championship was a tremendously tough circuit too, although the level was different.”
One important detail to note is that he became world U23 champion that day in Lausanne. Difficult courses therefore might just bring out the best in him.
Preparation for Bermuda and Looking Ahead
Given the challenge of the Bermuda course, his preparation for the race had to be similarly intense.
Earlier in the year, Sánchez Mantecón put together a long transition session on a Sunday that consisted of 4 hours 30 minutes on the TT bike into a 1 hour 30 run straight off the bike.
That is a 6 hour session at the end of of a training week.
His strength at the end of the race is therefore no surprise.
For him, “volume is always harder than intensity” so the session was one that stood out. Being able to put in that kind of volume and still combine it with intensity work is a difficult balance to find. Yet it is clear he is doing something right.
In Bermuda, Sánchez Mantecón had the 2nd fastest run of the day, ahead of the likes of Alex Yee, Kristian Blummenfelt and Jelle Geens.
When asked about that, he expressed the importance of perseverance. He hasn’t changed up anything in his training. Rather it is the consistency of his efforts that has brought rewards.
And they are some rewards. His previous best WTCS finish was 14th at Montreal earlier this year.
A 4th place finish at the Karlovy Vary World Cup in September gave indication of his form, especially as it was also over the Olympic distance on a course renowned for having a hard bike section.
Following his recent results, he now sits 12th in the Paris Olympic Qualification rankings, crucially as the second highest Spanish man after Antonio Serrat Seoane. Making the Spanish Olympic team will inevitably be a challenge given the number of talented athletes representing that country.
Bermuda, though, has given Sánchez Mantecón confidence that he can be a contender in 2024.
At the same time, he is still well aware of the challenge of making the team as “there is still a lot of time left to qualify for the Olympics and we have to keep doing things well to get to Paris 2024.”
Looking ahead to the final couple of weeks of the season, he has been in Chile for the last World Cup of the year. He will then head home to train for a week before travelling onwards to Abu Dhabi.
While much of the attention in Abu Dhabi will go to the battle between Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde for the world title, once the race starts it will be well worth keeping an eye out for Roberto Sánchez Mantecón.
