The rude awakening of the alarm had barely been shaken off by the time to the first men’s qualifier lined the pontoon at WTCS Hamburg. Racing at an unorthodox 8am, a bracing dip in the Binnenalster promised to wake everyone up. With the prospect of a royal rumble under the bridge, it was best to be alert.
All that mattered, though, was securing a place in the top-10. That would earn automatic qualification into Saturday’s final and avoid having to return later in the day for a repechage.
With a 300m swim, 7.5km bike and 1.75km run, the qualifiers were short and sweet and all the favoured faces made it safely to the final.
Qualifier 1
Perhaps it was the early start that bamboozled him, for an over-zealous Jonas Schomburg careened straight into a buoy at the start of the swim. The buoy in question was in place to guide athletes toward the finish; Schomburg evidently had a score to settle with it.
As Schomburg moved across, he tried to settle behind the feet of Brock Hoel. In only his second WTCS appearance, the Canadian had flown off the pontoon and taken an early lead. Over the 300m, he managed to extend his margin and exited with a 4 second gap (in a time of 3:35).
Gianluca Pozzatti was the next man out before a gap of another 6 seconds appeared. Leading the main group was Tyler Mislawchuk as he continued his re-brand as a swimmer since leading the swim at the Huatulco World Cup.
Most surprisingly, Márk Dévay did not lead the way. Instead, he floated outside the top-10, 14 seconds down on Hoel. There was an extent to which he was saving his energy. After all, qualification was the key rather than pushing the pace and with several fast runners to battle he had to hold something in reserve. Still, it was somewhat odd to see him behind.
Hoel charged out of T1 while a chase pack formed, 10 seconds behind.
The likes of Jawad Abdelmoula, Gustav Iden and Morgan Pearson had lost 23 seconds in water, leaving a pursuit on their hands. However, they made short work of closing the gap.
Hoel was soon caught and Schomburg, Pozzatti and Tayler Reid took up leadership of the race. All bar Iden and Emil Holm ultimately came together on the bike and the unfortunate duo were left dangling off the back on their own. As Tjebbe Kaindl took over pace-setting duties, Diego Moya and Antonio Serrat Seoane lived dangerously at the rear of the group. Around each dead turn, they conceded a few seconds and had to hurry to regain the wheel ahead.
Alex Yee, unbeaten in the 2023 Series, and Vasco Vilaca, the current Series leader, were safely tucked in at the front. Upon the arrival of the third and final bike lap, Simon Henseleit hit the lead as the front group of twenty-eight men left Holm and Iden over 20 seconds adrift.
As expected, a running race was called for to settle the automatic qualifiers.
Simon Westermann led into T2 and then was first onto the run. A front group soon formed containing Yee, Vilaca, Jelle Geens and Manoel Messias.
Lasse Nygaard Priester hung just outside the top-10 after the first lap with a small gap to the leaders. The German champion, though, quickly made up the distance. As Morgan Pearson made a late charge towards the top-10, a coming together between Priester and Lasse Lührs saw the latter fall and the former stumble. Both had firmly been inside the top-10 but lost their places as a result.
In the end, Vilaca crossed the line first. In close pursuit were Messias, Geens, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn, Yee, Jacob Birtwhistle, Henseleit, Reid, Mislawchuk and Serrat.
However, the likes of McElroy, Pearson, Abdelmoula, David Castro Fajardo, Hoel and Schomburg joined Priester and Lührs in missing out. McElroy, in particular, had a cruel turn of luck as he raced on a borrowed bike after his luggage did not arrive in Hamburg.
When they return for the repechage, expect each of those to miss out to summon a response.
Qualifier 2
Csongor Lehmann, the winner of the Tiszaujvaros World Cup, jumped out to a fast start in the second qualifier. Over the course of the swim, though, Matthew Hauser took over and led in a time of 3:36. Lehmann was the next to emerge in a position of relative comfort.
A duo of Tim Hellwig and Hauser broke away early in the bike. After a big effort, Dylan McCullough managed to bridge to the lead pair. Aware that he would comfortably qualify in an running race, Hauser was content to sit on Hellwig’s wheel and let the German lead the way.
Further behind, a chase group of ten men containing Marten Van Riel and Lehmann tried to overcome the 6 second deficit. A third group sat 12 seconds behind the leading trio and included Hayden Wilde, Kristian Blummenfelt and Connor Bentley.
In comparison to the first qualifier, the field was much more broken up. That perhaps should not have been a surprise given the swimming ability of those in the heat.
Eventually, the two chase packs merged into one big group and began to close the gap to the lead three. On the final lap, the leaders were caught but Hauser remained on the front with Hellwig.
Intent on keeping the tempo high, Hauser then powered into an early lead on the run. Wilde and Hellwig led a chase group onto the Australian’s heels. Shortly after, Wilde, the winner of WTCS Yokohama, took over the lead.
By the second of the two run laps, a front group of six had coalesced. Wilde, Hauser, Hellwig, Lehmann, Kristian Blummenfelt and Max Studer settled into a comfortable pace as they sensed qualification was in the bag. In a serene final few hundred metres, that group crossed the line clear of the field.
Miguel Hidalgo, Van Riel, Charles Paquet and Tom Richard then followed to complete the top-10. Thereafter daylight appeared until a limping Joao Pereira crossed. Unfortunately for the Portuguese athlete, he seemed to be hit by a problem late in the run and it remains to be seen if he will be able to contest the repechage.
On the tactical front, several men noticeably pulled up and slowed once they realised that a place in top-10 had slipped out of reach. When they return together for the repechage, perhaps their strategic thinking will pay off.
You can view the full results here.
