Fastest Swimmers
Men
As noted in the Statistical Breakdown for the Viña del Mar World Cup, Diego Moya had a fantastic swim. His time of 8:43 was 6 seconds clear of the next best athlete and put almost 15 seconds into the third best swimmer.
Two notable athletes that made the top-10 swim splits were David Castro Fajardo (joint 6th fastest split with 8:58) and Jawad Abdelmoula (joint 10th fastest split with 8.59). That the entire men’s podium had top-10 swim splits indicates at least in part that the swim was highly influential on the outcome of the race.
Women
Sara Vilic would have had the fastest swim after leading for most of the way. However, she encountered a little confusion at the swim exit and initially headed in the wrong direction, allowing Coninx and Baptista to catch her.
Tamara Gorman had a great swim to emerge fourth in 10:14. Unfortunately, she would go on to DNF however her swim was a promising sign.
Sandra Dodet was fifth out the water in 10:15, although part of her time was aided by the run over the beach towards transition which saw her leap-frog several athletes. Interestingly, the rest of the women’s podium (Gina Sereno and Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto) were around 20 seconds behind the leaders out of the water. They would go on to make up that gap as the majority of the field came together on the bike.
Fastest Cyclists
Men
After a huge bike split at WTCS Bermuda, it was no surprise to see that Kyotaro Yoshikawa put in another strong showing. He had the fastest split of the day in Viña del Mar and is rapidly becoming a name to watch on the bike.
One point to note is that the four fastest men’s splits of the day (Yoshikawa with 25:50, Chris Ziehmer with 25:52, Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen with 25:52 and Matthew Wright with 25:53) all emerged out of the water together. The fastest swim of that quartet was Ziehmer with a 9:08, while the others were all with 3 seconds of him.
That group of four were some of the last athletes that were able to make the front pack on the bike and closing the gap from the swim is what helped them towards their fast bike splits.
Women
Not a lot separated the fastest cyclists in the women’s field. Indeed, only 15 athletes were not within 30 seconds of Eva Daniels’ split. After gaining experience at the World Triathlon Championship Series, Eva Daniels is gradually becoming one of the stronger athletes on the bike.
Five athletes that went on to finish in the top-10 overall managed to log top-10 bike splits. These athletes were Marta Carolina Velasquez Soto (28:52) who finished 3rd, Marta Pintanel Raymundo (28:51) who finished 4th, Claire Michel (28:50) who finished 5th, Tereza Zimovjanova (28:52) who finished 6th, and Beatrice Mallozzi (28:50) who finished 8th. For reference, the tenth fastest women’s bike split was a 28:52.
Fastest Runners
Men
Unsurprisingly, race winner David Castro Fajardo logged the fastest run of the day with a 15:00. He ran quite a tactical race, sitting on Diego Moya’s shoulder for much of it before unleashing his finishing kick.
After expending a lot of energy in the swim, it was impressive to see Moya manage to log the third fastest run split of the day. Just ahead of Moya in the splits was Rostislav Pevtsov however, despite brilliant run, he missed the top-10 overall as he had given himself too much to do after the bike leg.
Jawad Abdelmoula had the fourth best run of the day with a 15:03. Perhaps most impressive amongst the men’s run splits, though, was Morgan Pearson. After a year-long absence from the sport and a difficult 2022, it was heartening so see him crush a 15:05 split. With such promising run speed on his first race back, the omens look good for his return to the top of the sport.
Women
Anahi Alvarez Corral was perhaps the standout runner of the day. She had an amazing run yet only managed 31st overall after losing too much time on the swim and bike. It is rare to see an athlete finish 31st with such a fast split. Indeed, the rest of the top-5 fastest run splits went to athletes with in the top-4 overall.
Gina Sereno had a great race and actually out-ran race winner Sandra Dodet by 4 seconds.
The three fastest female runners really separated themselves from the rest of the field with the fourth fastest runner and bronze medallist, Velasquez, 13 seconds back on Dodet with a split of 17:00. Marta Pintantel Raymundo, who took fourth overall, was the next fastest with a 17:09.
View the full results here.
