After triathlon appeared at the first iteration of the European Games in Baku, it was not a part of the event in Minsk in 2019. Four years later, it was back on the menu in Krakow.
In a bid to assert dominance early in the race, the World Military champion, Mathilde Gautier, set the pace in the water. Along with Sophie Alden, she broke clear of the field over the non-wetsuit 1500m. By the time the duo made it to T1, they had a gap of 15 seconds.
Jolien Vermeylen was the next woman out at the head of a pack of chasing athletes. Matching Vermeylen’s time of 19:35 was the Hungarian youngster, Márta Kropkó. Sara Guerrero Manso, the recent winner of the European Cup in Rzeszów, was likewise towards the front of the chase as they set after Gautier and Alden.
In total, a group of fourteen women gathered behind the French and British women. For the first of the eight bike laps, both Alden and Gautier looked keen to press their initiative and see if anyone would bridge up to them. Upon spotting the pack round a corner behind them, though, it was clear that the effort to defend their 15 seconds was not practicable.
Not long after, the chase pack made contact with the leaders. However, they lost Anna Godoy Contreras and Sara Vilic from their ranks which kept the front group at fourteen athletes.
Burrowed into the lead pack was Selina Klamt. On a run of two wins and a silver in her past three international races, the German was in red-hot form. Moreover she finished 4th at the World U23 Championships in November and so possessed a recent record of having stepped up at a championship event.
Another serial winner from 2023 was also in the mix. Barbara De Koning had been dominant across a string of African Cups. Now, she had a chance to prove herself against a deep European field.
The experienced Verena Steinhauser spent plenty of time at the front and marshalled the group. With the Italian keeping the pace high, the chase group had to work hard to not lose ground.
Nora Gmür, Julia Hauser and Solveig Løvseth headed up the chase pack and pushed to close the gap. A bronze at the New Plymouth World Cup had showcased Løvseth’s prowess on the bike and she pulled repeated turns to reduce to gap first from a minute to 40 seconds and then down to 20 seconds.
Jule Behrens, the 2021 World Junior champion, was also in the chase pack after her silver medal at the European Cup in Wels on Saturday.
Before long, a sub-group of women bridged to the front pack around the midpoint of the bike. Løvseth and her compatriot Lotte Miller made it to the front, as did Hauser, Behrens, Gmür and Audrey Merle.
In the meantime, Alberte Kjær Pedersen went backwards on bike. Perhaps the event was too close to the Danish Championships at which she won gold over the weekend. Her compatriot Anne Holm made it to the front group but from the chase Pedersen leaked time.
Ivana Kuriackova also struggled and lost several minutes on the bike.
Back at the front of the race, Sian Rainsley and Alden looked good as they controlled the tempo. Løvseth and Miller took their turn to try to force the matter on the bike. The run was soon upon them, though, and the front pack quickly halved in size. Ten women in total moved clear.
Over the first of the four run laps, Gautier looked as assured as she had in the water. Alissa Konig and Alice Betto also ticked along smoothly.
Merle, a World Cup winner at the end of 2022, was among the most obvious running threats left in the pack. Steinhauser had also recorded some fast splits earlier in the year, such as at WTCS Abu Dhabi. Furthermore Klamt and Behrens coasted in the group without looking in too much discomfort.
For a spell, the race was ripe for the taking. And that was when Solvieg Løvseth made her move.
No one really had an answer to the Norwegian as she pulled away. Hauser and Vermeylen were flying and took up the pursuit of Løvseth however the rest of the lead pack remained clustered together, as if they were a little unsure whether to stick or twist.
If any of them had banked on Løvseth to crack, they were in for disappointment. A 73 minute half marathon in Barcelona back in February had given notice that her running was in form. Over the final lap of the run, she did not falter and took the win by 10 seconds.
Shortly after, Hauser out-sprinted Vermeylen for 2nd. Both could be delighted with medals and will welcome the boost to their Olympic Qualification rankings.
In the dash for the line from the pack, Klamt came out on top to take 4th. A mere second later, Merle held off a charging Behrens and Steinhauser to take 5th.
View the full results here.
