There was an ethereal beauty to the black sands of Pucón as the athletes lined up to start. Low hanging clouds shrouded the peaks of the mountains but the weather from earlier in the week, perhaps best described as English, did not return.
A cosmopolitan group of athletes lined up to race in Pucón, Chile. Several had raced in the same country only a week earlier at the Americas Cup in Villarrica.
This time round, the athletes would be taking on the Sprint distance.
Women’s Race
The short run from the beach was enough to see some small gaps form as a couple of athletes struggled with their dives into the shallows. In the early stages of the swim, though, there was not a great deal to separate the women.
Small waves were present throughout, although none too challenging. Gradually, Daniela Moya Chamorro began to exert control over the swim and separated herself from the rest. Moira Miranda followed, by Moya Chamorro had a clear gap. By the time she arrived in T1, Miranda had lost 10 seconds to Moya Chamorro.
Macarena Salazar was the third woman into T1, a further 10 seconds behind Miranda, with Ivana Kuriackova not far behind.
The long run into transition helped the chasers to eat into Moya Chamorro’s lead and in the early stages of the bike a small lead group had formed.
One by one, athletes made the jump into the front pack as it swelled over the bike course. Romina Biagoili was an early athlete to get across, as did Fernanda Orellana.
With each athlete arriving, though, the pace seemed to slacken. That was until Biagioli took the bull by the horns and surged ahead. With Orellana for company, she put in a big turn on the bike and gained over half a minute on the main pack containing Moya Chamorro and Kuriackova.
A couple of athletes such as Fumika Matsumoto tried to bridge the gap and succeeded in gaining some ground. Biagioli and Orellana, though, defended much of their lead.
Biagioli was lightning quick through T2, a full 7 seconds better than the next fastest athlete, and set about the 5km to victory.
Further back, Kuriackova had a fast T2 and emerged with Giovanna Lacerda of Brazil. As they picked off each athlete ahead one at a time, Kuriackova and Lacerda began to make in-roads into Biagioli’s lead.
Kuriackova’s compatriot Margareta Bicanova hovered with her a few paces behind.
At the mid-point, Biagioli’s lead had been severely dented and all the momentum lay with the athletes behind. For a moment, though, she seemed to gain a second wind and battled on as the finish line drew closer.
Still Kuriackova and Lacerda charged and in the closing stages they finally overhauled the leader. Bicanova, too, managed to claw back the gap to Biagioli but attention had turned ahead as Kuriackova launched her sprint.
Lacerda tried to respond and gained a little ground. However the Slovakian athlete had done enough to secure a stylish win. Barely 10 seconds later, the next sprint for the line arrived as Biagioli just about managed to fend off Bicanova to take a hard-earned bronze medal.
Bicanova settled for 4th while Matsumoto took 5th.
Men’s Race
It was another Chilean athlete that took control of the swim in the men’s race until Richard Varga led out the athletes, including last week’s Americas Cup winner Kaue Willy, into T1.
In the early stages, the pattern of the men’s race seemed to conform to that of the women’s.
Willy formed a group with Antonio Bravo Neto, Liam Donnelly and Aoba Yatsumatsu, among others. A front group of fifteen ultimately formed and there was little by way of action.
Bravo, Donnelly and Yatsumatsu took the early initiative on the run. As the lead trio began to glance amongst themselves, they seemed oblivious to the looming threat of Clayton Hutchins from just behind.
In the final stretch, though, it was Donnelly of Canada that attacked and pulled clear to take the victory. Yatsumatsu followed a mere 4 seconds down, with Bravo another 2 seconds behind. Hutchins ended up in 4th, only 1 second away from bronze having been pipped in the final sprint.
After Canadian wins in the men’s races in La Paz and Sarasota, Donnelly’s success made it a third winner from the country. He will be racing at the New Plymouth World Cup later this month so look for him to also fly the flag for Canada there.
You can view the full results from Pucón here.
