Following the men’s qualifiers at WTCS Hamburg, it was the turn of the women.
The same Super Sprint course consisting of a 300m swim, 7.5km bike and 1.75km run awaited and, while the pre-race favourites were for the most part comfortable in sealing their passage to the final, there were a couple of big names that slipped into the repechage.
Qualifier 1
Vittoria Lopes was superlative in the water as she led the way in a time of 3:55. In her last WTCS outing, she led the swim in Montreal and, if anything, looked even better in Hamburg.
Zsanett Bragmayer was the only woman able to get anywhere close to the Brazilian and exited the water 4 seconds down. Shortly after, Carlotta Missaglia emerged having enjoyed a very good swim to lead Beth Potter and Taylor Spivey into T1.
Lopes, though, was away and at the races. Bragmayer set about chasing while Potter and Lisa Tertsch jumped to the front of the pack behind. Still the Brazilian held her lead.
By the end of the first bike lap, Bragmayer finally made her way onto Lopes’ wheel. With two laps remaining, they had a 10 second advantage and, aware of the running speed behind, the pair continued to press for home.
Even though the chase group swelled to eighteen women, Lopes and Bragmayer’s lead grew as high as 14 seconds. The end of the course beckoned and both had placed one foot into the final.
Bragmayer was flawless through T2 and gained a lead over Lopes. From there, she did not look back.
Lopes, however, began to struggle. Although she fought manfully, the chase group gained ground and eventually caught her. Up ahead, Bragmayer held firm. With a lap to go, her lead was 8 seconds
In the final stages, the lead group caught her however their number was too few to knock her from the final. As Potter crossed the line in 1st place, Bragmayer was only a second behind.
Spivey and Tertsch followed while Nicole Van Der Kaay, Cathia Schär, Anabel Knoll, Verena Steinhauser, Solveig Løvsethand Alberte Kjaer Pedersen rounded out the qualififers.
Alissa Konig was the unlucky finisher in 11th and missed out on the final by 5 seconds.
Qualifier 2
Having witnessed the example of Lopes in the first qualifier, Cassandre Beaugrand set about stamping her authority over the second qualifier. With her long, elegant stroke, she glided into the lead of the swim.
Kirsten Kasper also had a great swim and was able to stay with Beaugrand. Similarly, Brea Roderick was able to hang onto their feet.
Once out of the water and through transition, that trio nipped away from the field on the bike. A pack of seven, headed up by Natalie Van Coevorden, took up the chase. Among them were Annika Koch and Summer Rappaport, both of whom looked smooth through the technical elements of the course.
A ten woman pack led by Laura Lindemann was only a few seconds further behind.
After emerging from the water with Lindemann, Gwen Jorgensen fell into the next group on the road. She had Tilda Månsson for company after the young Swede lost 21 seconds to Beaugrand in the water. Yet the fourth pack could not quite get going.
As the front three packs came together, Shanae Williams slipped off the pace to leave nineteen women at the head of the race. For the remainder of the bike, the leaders stayed together and made sure to minimise risk around the dead turns.
Williams arrived into T2 alone and 39 seconds down on the leaders. Meanwhile, the Jorgensen group was 46 seconds down from the front pack. While the chasers tried to haul themselves up the standings and towards a faint top-10, Beaugrand cruised at front. A German trio of Koch, Lindemann and Marlene Gomez-Göggel hung safely behind the French woman, as did Kasper and Katie Zaferes.
At the end of the first run lap, Rachel Klamer and Rappaport occupied perilous positions outside the top-10. That prompted Klamer to kick on and pass Jeanne Lehair to move into 9th. Rappaport, however, could not pass the Luxembourg athlete and slipped to 11th at the end.
Beaugrand crossed first ahead of Sophie Linn, while Lindemann, Kasper, Koch, Gomez-Goggel and Zaferes followed. Ainsley Thorpe, Klamer and Lehair then rounded out the top-10.
Alongside Rappaport, Jorgensen and Månsson were among the unlucky ones to miss out and will contest the repechage.
You can view the full results here.
