As darkness took hold in Huatulco, it took a frantic finish to the women’s World Cup to light up the Mexican resort.
At every step of the way, the race stubbornly refused to break up, as if the heat and humidity had glued everything together. Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer, Sophia Howell and Karolina Helga Horváth jostled for the lead in the wavy 750m swim and each completed the segment in 10:34.
A large group of women were close on their heels, including Lotte Miller, who secured Olympic qualification in the Mixed Team Relay qualifier a day earlier, and Tamara Gorman, who was making her long-awaited comeback after injury. Bragmayer led onto the bike but she would soon have had flashbacks to the day prior as Rachel Klamer flew through T1 and joined her. The Dutch athlete had overhauled the Hungarian on the final leg of the relay qualifier to send her country to Paris in place of Bragmayer’s.
As a large pack came together, Alberte Kjaer Pedersen made it to the front. Pedersen had claimed the gold in Huatulco in 2021 but had not stepped atop a World Cup podium since Miyazaki in late 2022. It therefore seemed a win was overdue.
Yet Pedersen faced an increasing number of rivals as the pack grew. Solveig Løvseth, Elizabeth Bravo, Erica Ackerlund, Gina Sereno; new contenders kept joining the pack, taking it to over twenty athletes. The only consolation was that the defending gold medallist, Anahi Alvarez Corral, had missed the bunch.
In the sticky conditions, the pack held together until T2. From there, a lead group of eight women took control of the 5km run. Maria Carolina Velsquez Soto, the silver medallist at the Wollongong World Cup in April, sparked into life but she was closely guarded by Klamer. Velasquez had pipped Klamer in the sprint finish in Wollongong and the Dutch woman was determined not to let a repeat scenario unfold.
Ackerlund and Maria Tomé were the first to lose ground from the front, leaving Pedersen, Løvseth, Horváth and Sereno alongside Velasquez and Klamer. Julia Hauser also moved into contention. As the sun set further and darkness spilled across the streets, the leaders pulled away from the field. The dusk offered the perfect cover to strike. No one, though, appeared ready to make their move.
Eventually, as the finish drew closer, it was Løvseth that tried to catch her rivals off guard first. With less than half a kilometre to go she pushed for the line but her move was marked by Pedersen and Klamer. Then, with the line around the final corner, Pedersen went again.
Klamer and Løvseth pushed but the Danish athlete was too fast. She ignited the after-burners to the line to claim a third World Cup win of her career. The speed of the three leaders had also broken the rest of the pack and Klamer seized the silver medal behind Pedersen. Løvseth then took the bronze after clocking the second fastest 5km time in 16:59 (the top time went to Alvarez down the field in 16:25) while Velasquez and and then Sereno rounded out the top-5.
View the full results here.
