The last Continental Cup race took place just one week before Christmas in Manama, Bahrain. Racing over the Sprint distance, the athletes enjoyed temperatures in the low-20s (Celsius); quite a change from the cold sweeping much of Western Europe.
Men’s Race
The men’s field saw recent Continental Cup winners Juan Jose Andrade Figueroa and Stefan Zachaeus take to the start line. Andrade Figueroa won the last Americas Cup of the season in Manta while Zachaeus triumphed in the recent African Cup race in Kilifi.
Over the course of the 750m swim, the field was stretched as the pace was set by Mitsuho Mochizuki of Japan. He led out a line of eight athletes into T1. Neither Andrade Figueroa nor Zachaeus had strong swims and quickly found themselves on the back foot as a small group formed at the front of the race on the bike.
A couple of riders, including German Til Kramp, managed to make the jump across to the front pack after losing time in the water but thereafter the group pulled clear. The lead pack worked well together and continued to gain time over the rest of the field. For some, however, the pace was not high enough.
Gabriel Sandör of Sweden and Maximilian Sperl of Germany launched a two-man breakaway from the group. Together, they built an advantage of over 40 seconds into T2. Although Sperl had the better T2, once the duo were onto the run it was soon apparent that Sandör had the better of him.
An experienced WTCS athlete, Sandör’s best finish on the WTCS circuit is a 12th in Hamburg last year. In addition, three years ago he placed 3rd at the U23 European Championships. His impressive bike and run were therefore no big surprise.
Sandör went on to record the second fastest run of the day in 15:46 and was one of three men to dip under 16 minutes. Sperl managed to hold on throughout the run and finished in a well-earned second place. Til Kramp, meanwhile, had the best run of the chase pack and took third.
Women’s Race
As with the men’s race, there were two recent Continental Cup winners on the start line in the women’s race. Margot Garabedian won only a week ago at the African Cup in Dakhla. Meanwhile, Celine Kaiser won the previous Asia Cup race in Ipoh.
The experienced Yuka Sato of Japan was the first woman out of the water and led a line of athletes into T1. Garabedian was safely tucked into the top-5 in the swim however Kaiser missed the front pack. The last of the thirteen women to make the front group was Alissa Konig of Switzerland after she exited 21 seconds behind Sato. As two athletes slipped behind and Yejin Park withdrew on the bike, the front pack slimmed to ten athletes.
In the pack behind, Kaiser lost over a minute and the race became exclusively between the front ten.
A fast T2 saw Sato emerge onto the run well-placed, with Konig on her hips. Alongside them was the Slovakian athlete Ivana Kuriackova. Kuriackova won an African Cup race earlier this year and a European Cup in 2021; she looked particularly strong through the early stages of the run as she built a lead with Sato and Konig.
No one was able to match the trio’s pace and, in the second half of the run, Sato began to falter. Kuriackova tried to increase the pace however it was Konig that broke clear.
After a year in which she placed 5th at the European Super Sprint Championships, a win was a perfect way to cap Konig’s season. Her split of 17:18 on the run was ten seconds faster than that of Kuriackova who held on for silver. Sato came home in bronze after a run split of 17:45.
Kaiser was the only other woman to break 18 minutes on the run as she produced a 17:40 split while Garabedian struggled a little on the run. She ran 18:07 to take fourth place.
View the full race results here.
