With a number of athletes arriving in form, the winner of the Tiszaujvaros World Cup could come from anywhere.
The race will provide a meeting point for winners of Continental Cups from around the world as well as athletes with World Cup medals to their names over the past year. With plenty of depth, the field is evenly-matched and the gold will likely be decided on the smallest of details.
Fresh off her win at the Asia Cup in Sejong, Niina Kishimoto will be racing at a World Triathlon event in Europe for the first time in over two years. Having also claimed a win at the Asia Cup in Osaka, Kishimoto will arrive in Hungary with confidence. In both Osaka and Sejong, her run really fired. If she is with the leaders into T2, then, Kishimoto could be a contender for the win.
On the note of recent Continental Cup wins, Sara Guerrero Manso leads a strong Spanish team after her win in Rzeszów while Ekaterina Shabalina will be racing after her victory in Wels.
Moreover, Charlotte McShane and Dominika Jamnicky have wins to their name from Continental Cups this year. The former won in Subic Bay and Busselton, while the latter won in La Paz. Jamnicky also finished 3rd at the Americas Cup in Punta Cana and 4th in St. Peters.
More pertinently, McShane and Jamnicky finished in the top-5 at the most recent World Cup in Huatulco. The Australian finished 4th while the Canadian finished 5th. To go with that, Jamnicky also finished 17th at WTCS Montreal. Seeing as both have been running well this season, they will likely be towards the head of the race when the medals are decided.
Beyond the Continental Cup winners, there are also recent World Cups medallists that will look to add further hardware to their collection.
Gina Sereno claimed a silver medal at the World Cup in Viña del Mar last November and is yet another athlete with a turn of pace on the run to trouble anyone in the field. Likewise, Bianca Seregni is also a World Cup medallist from Huatulco and Karlovy Vary last year. At her best, Seregni is also among the best swimmers in the world of triathlon and could break up the race early on.
That being said, she might not be the highest Italian finisher. Seregni has had injury trouble this year while some of her teammates arrive in Hungary on the back of good results. Luisa Iogna-Prat just won the Italian Championships while Costanza Arpinelli is an athlete on the rise.
Although Seregni has a claim to being the best swimmer, her status is also rivalled by Jolien Vermeylen. A World Cup medallist from Bergen, the Belgian athlete has the capacity to set a furious pace during the swim. Vermeylen also is enjoying a purple patch of success. She won a bronze medal at the European Games and then followed it up with a win at the European Cup in Holten.
On the one hand, Vermeylen’s form elevates her to one of the favourites for the win. On the other hand, there is a risk her quick succession of races catches up with her.
Vermeylen will also have to contend with athletes that beat her at the Bergen World Cup and the European Games, respectively. Solveig Løvseth took the win at the latter and is, on balance, the best cyclist in the field. Even if she loses time to Vermeylen in the water, she can make it up (as she did at the Games in Krakow).
Løvseth’s running has also fired this year and she won a bronze medal at the New Plymouth World Cup in March. That males her the only World Cup medallist from 2023 on the start list, although to be fair there have only been two events at that level.
Then we come to Tilda Månsson. The young Swedish athlete is incredibly quick on the run and out-sprinted Vermeylen to gold in Bergen. However she is more susceptible than most to being beaten up in the swim. As one of two Junior women in the field, she may lack the experience to stay out of trouble in what is a notoriously claustrophobic swim in Tiszaujvaros.
However, Månsson is probably the best runner in the field. If she can make it through the rest of the race unscathed, she should be a favourite.
As seen with the men’s field, a deep Hungarian team will be racing.
After her classy performance at WTCS Montreal, where she finished 8th, Zsanett Bragmayer will look to impress in Tiszaujvaros. She won the European Cup in the town last year so has recent history with the event.
At almost ten years younger than Bragmayer, Márta Kropkó is at a different stage in her career. She is only in her first year out of the Junior ranks and so does not quite have the experience to fall back on when racing at the world level. Nevertheless, she is likely to perform well in front of a large domestic crowd.
Kropkó also showed that her run is coming along as she anchored the Hungarian Mixed Team Relay to bronze at the European Games. She was aided a little by the 10 second penalties issued to her Swiss and Spanish rivals, but her ability to defend her lead and execute a fast run was a sign of progress.
With a World Cup medal and European Games title to her name, Løvseth seems like the early favourite. With her cycling strength and running speed, she should be covered in most outcomes from the swim. Against a field containing numerous contenders, though, she could easily be denied the gold.
TriStats Predictions
- Solvieg Løvseth
- Zsanett Bragmayer
- Jolien Vermeylen
- Charlotte McShane
- Dominika Jamnicky
