After the drama of the Olympic Mixed Team Relay qualifier in Huatulco yesterday, the action zipped back across to the other side of the world as Samarkand, Uzbekistan, hosted a World Cup for the first time. It was to prove a day of multiple firsts as Lena Meißner of Germany claimed a maiden World Cup win to put an end to a year of injury-hit turbulence.
As was the case as the Chengdu World Cup, Therese Feuersinger was the fastest swimmer. She led into T1 in a time of 19:36. In a switch from the previous World Cup outing, the Austrian athlete was not alone at the front and Meißner emerged a few seconds behind. However, a slower T1 saw Meißner slip back into the small group of athletes behind. She would emerge onto the bike with Zuzana Michalickova and Jessica Fullagar; during the first lap of the bike they formed a lead quartet with Feuersinger.
The winner of the Hong Kong World Cup, Sian Rainsley, and Xinyu Lin, who wore number 1, were 16 seconds back at the first checkpoint while World U23 champion Selina Klamt led a chase group another 17 seconds back. The likes of Ilaria Zane, Roksana Slupek and Tilda Månsson were also in the chase group. Yet they could only watch as the leaders pulled away.
Michalickova was dropped early on, leaving three at the front. Eventually, the chasers behind consolidated into one pack of thirteen women, but the gap kept growing. After tireless work from Meißner, Fullagar and Feuersinger, the difference between the two groups stood at almost 2:30 into T2.
Fullagar led onto the run while Feuersinger was promptly dropped and left to defend a potential bronze medal. Meanwhile, Slupek led Klamt and Zane onto the run from the chasers. After winning a first World Cup medal in Chengdu, Slupek was brimming with confidence and pulled away from her fellow chasers, although she was then joined by Månsson as they set their sights on Feuersinger. On the second half of the run, the pair passed the Austrian athlete.
The lead duo were glued together for the entire 10km and shared the pace-setting duties. Meißner, a WTCS medallist, was perhaps the favourite although Fullagar had won the French Grand Prix season opener earlier in the month. For a moment it looked as if Månsson would even threaten them after the Swedish athlete made up over 2 minutes on the run, but she ran out of road.
Meißner’s experience told on the blue carpet as she had the better finish and she won the race in her best showing since finishing 5th at WTCS Abu Dhabi last season. Notably, Meißner’s result puts her back among the five highest ranked German women in the world and she will likely get to start at WTCS Hamburg in July unless Annika Koch responds at WTCS Cagliari next weekend.
In turn, Fullagar claimed a first World Cup medal in a real statement performance while Månsson took the bronze. The rest of the top-5 finishers also created important Olympic implications with their results. Slupek continued her impressive form as she finished 4th and moves into an Olympic qualifying slot as the European New Flag place should now be hers. Zane then rounded out the top-5 (taking her fourth World Cup top-5 of 2024) and has essentially locked in Italy’s third female slot in Paris.
You can view the full results here.
