At the weekend, WTCS athlete Ren Sato took on the CalfMan duathlon in his native Japan. The race consisted of a 5km run, 28.8km bike and another 5km run.
Sato pieced together a solid performance to secure the win in relative comfort. Opening his race with a 5km time of 15:52, his subsequent splits were a 43:25 on the bike and then a 16:31 on the second run.
On paper, the splits were decent early season showings. Sato is the reigning Asian champion from 2022 and has generally enjoyed slightly better results over the Olympic distance. Moreover his run times at the CalfMan align with some of his splits in international triathlon races in 2022.
Finishing in second behind Sato was Rysouke Kaneda. Kaneda’s presence helps to contextualise Sato’s performance a little as he is a track athlete with personal bests of 3:52.86 in the 1500m and 14:59.23 in the 5000m. At the CalfMan, Kaneda ran 15:53 and 16:28 for his respective 5km run splits.
Meanwhile, Sato gained over a minute over Kaneda on the bike.
The key pieces of information though are on the run. That Sato was able to run with Kaneda indicates that he is in solid shape. On the WTCS front, Sato is due to kick of his season at WTCS Abu Dhabi in less than three weeks.
It seems his is therefore building nicely towards his top form.
This season will be crucial for Sato as the race for the Japanese Olympic spots will be fierce.
Kenji Nener is currently the front runner as he sits 18th in the Olympic qualification rankings. While the Japanese team does not have any other men inside the top-30, they have three men ranked between 40th and 45th.
Takumi Hojo is currently the second highest ranked man in 41st but Sato is close behind in 43rd. Jumpei Furuya, who established himself as a leading cyclist in the WTCS field in 2022, sits in 44th.
If two of those men can join Nener in the top-30 in the Olympic rankings, Japan will qualify three men to Paris. Otherwise, only one of those three stands to join Nener at the Games.
As it stands, Japan is also on the bubble of not qualifying a Mixed Team Relay for Paris in 2024.
The men named above will therefore need to produce some big performances in 2023 over both the individual and relay to secure their tickets to the Olympic Games.
