After tasting World Cup success last weekend, two of the women’s medallists from Wollongong will be looking to make the podium again in Chengdu on Monday.
Tilda Månsson is coming off a win in Wollongong, the third of her young career. Similarly, Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto earned silver on the Australian coast and will aim to win consecutive World Cup medals for the first time in her career. Given their performance levels less than a week ago, both should be counted as podium contenders in China.
At the same time, Månsson has not yet proven herself at the world level over the Olympic distance. As a result, there is a degree of hesitancy before we predict success in Chengdu. Likewise, as much as Velasquez is coming off a career-best World Cup result in Wollongong, she has not yet produced a similar performance over the Olympic distance. Either of the two athletes could make the podium in Chengdu, but they are not yet safe bets.
Moreover, there will be plenty of strong athletes in the field for Månsson and Velasquez to overcome.
Julie Derron will wear number 1 and enters the fray as the favourite. A string of top-8 WTCS finishes after injury last season served repeated reminders of her class. In addition, Derron has enjoyed World Cup success in China and has been based in the country for several long stints of training. As such, she will carry semblance of home advantage given her recent familiarity with her surroundings.
Alongside Derron, the women’s field in Chendgu will contain World Cup race winners from 2023 in the guise of Nicole Van Der Kaay and Alice Betto. The former won the New Plymouth World Cup last year and, like Derron, nabbed a couple of WTCS top-8 finishes. The latter, meanwhile, won the Brasilia World Cup. Should either Van Der Kaay or Betto be towards the front out of T2, they have the speed to trouble anyone.
Betto’s teammate Ilaria Zane also won bronze medals at both the Weihai and Chengdu World Cups last year. So far in 2024, Zane has finished 6th at the World Cup in Napier and 5th in Hong Kong. Her form thus is bubbling away nicely and points to a tilt at a third consecutive podium in China.
Lisa Perterer is another name to watch. A World Cup medallist last year, the Austrian athlete loves racing in the heat. Monday’s race has a mostly hot forecast which should play into Perterer’s hands, although some spots of rain could dampen the extreme heat she prefers. Any heat could also play into the hands of Elizabeth Bravo who was exceptional in the stifling conditions in Hong Kong as she ran through to 4th place.
Elsewhere, Xinyu Lin will be the leading threat from the home team and last weekend claimed the silver medal at the Asian Championships over the Olympic distance. She has logged results in the top-5 at World Cup races before and could reap the medal the Chinese audience craves.
Selina Klamt, the World U23 champion, should be in the mix while World Cup medallists Erica Hawley and Tereza Zimovjanova could threaten the medals. Overall, then, given the depth of the start lists, last weekend’s medallists may be hard-pushed to repeat their achievements.
TriStats Predictions
- Julie Derron
- Lisa Perterer
- Ilaria Zane
- Xinyu Lin
- Nicole Van Der Kaay
