While the World Junior Championships, World Mixed Team Relay Championships and latest stop of the WTCS took place in Hamburg, racing was also underway across the Atlantic.
The Americas Cup in Long Beach attracted a range of North American talent, as well as several faces from beyond. Anyone expecting the famed Californian heat, though, would have been disappointed. The 7am start for the men made for slightly chillier conditions. With the water cold enough to allow the use of wetsuits too, some athletes were caught out early on in the Sprint distance event.
Men’s race
Nicolas Harvey of Canada was the first man out of the water in a time of 8:29. Josiah Ney and Mitsuho Mochizuki were on his feet but a slow T1 cost Harvey valuable seconds. Ney therefore nipped ahead and pushed the early pace on the bike,
One by one, men darted up to Ney’s wheel.
Only six men had managed to stay within 10 seconds of Harvey out of water but thirteen men lurked between 11 and 15 seconds back. One such man was Teppei Tokuyama and he gained a full 11 seconds on Harvey in T1. As several men closed the gap, the front group bulged to over ten and then beyond, shutting the door on any potential sustained breakaway.
For a spell, the pack grew a little too quickly and lacked some coordination. Some of the stronger riders, like John Reed, sat safely at the front while others flitted on the fringes of the breaking and reforming group.
By the midpoint, essentially the entire field had made it into the pack.
After losing 38 seconds in the swim, Zachary Leachman, the winner of Americas Cup in Montreal, had made it up to the leaders. David Nuñez of Mexico was 4 seconds behind Leachman out of the water but he likewise caught the front pack.
The group rolled round the course, keeping the pace high enough to trim off a few members, but without really shaking up the race. Instead, it all came down to the run.
It was apparent early on that Leachman and Nuñez were among the quickest runners. After earning a medal in Montreal, Liam Donnelly was also in the mix and, over the course of the 5km, that trio separated themselves from the rest.
Just as he had in Montreal, Leachman had too much speed for his rivals. With the fastest split of the day (14:44), he soared to his second win in a row.
Nuñez clocked 14:48 to claim silver while Donnelly also broke the 15 minute barrier with a split of 14:56 to take home the bronze medal.
Women’s race
Another Canadian athlete, Sophia Howell, was the fastest in the water in the women’s race. She earned a 5 second gap over the 750m and backed it up with a rapid T1 to get the jump on the field.
Leading the chase behind was Britney Brown. The American Junior had earned a dominant victory at the African Junior Cup in Nelson Mandela Bay earlier in the year. However, she did not quite have the transition required to latch onto Howell’s wheel. An opportunity for a two-woman break therefore slipped by as Desirae Krueger and Olivia Cummings caught Brown.
In contrast to the men’s race, the women’s bike did not really take any for at first. Several small packs and individual athletes strung across the road passing one another every minute or so.
Noemie Beaulieu took the opportunity to move up towards the front with a burst while Liberty Ricca and Anja Krueger stayed out of trouble.
Michelle Magnani and Madisen Lavin both tried to recover time lost in the water but could not quite find the final spurts of speed to move up to the leaders.
Instead Howell, Cummings, Brown, Ridenour and more battled to keep as many chasers behind. Gradually the front pack settled at eight-strong and held the nearest chasers around 15 seconds behind for much of the bike.
Krueger positioned herself carefully on the way into T2. Rather than burn a match to get to transition first, she held back for the run. Her patience soon paid off as she moved to the front of the field.
Ridenour and Hiraku Fukuoka kept in contact with Krueger as Howell and Kamille Larocque fought to stay in the race. No one, though, could match Krueger on the day as she swept to the win with the fastest run of the field (17:18).
Fukuoka broke clear of Ridenour late on to snatch the silver medal. Although she settled for the bronze this time, Ridenour will have the chance to get one over her rival at the Yeongo World Cup in August.
You can view the full results here.
