The Americas Championships over the Olympic distance were decided at the weekend. Although a fast, flat course was on offer, the heat made for challenging conditions. Most notably, the athletes took on the 1500m swim with water temperatures hitting 30°C.
Despite the heat, the athletes produced some outstanding racing in Mexico.
Women’s race
After winning a maiden WTCS medal in Yokohama, Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal arrived in Veracruz as the favourite to claim the Americas title. However, a start list containing plenty of threats awaited her.
It was clear from the off that Tapia would not have the race her own way as Djenyfer Arnold set a furious tempo in the swim. She clocked 20:01 to distance over half of the field. A select group of eleven women were able to remain within 20 seconds of Arnold, including the likes of Tapia, Emy Legault and Erica Hawley.
With one of the best transitions, Arnold held onto her lead and jumped onto the bike with Sophia Howell and Moira Miranda for company. Dominika Jamnicky and Gina Sereno had lost over 20 seconds to Arnold but were soon able to make up the deficit on the bike.
In total, that put thirteen women in the front pack.
Crucially, the most dangerous runner in the field, Anahi Alvarez Corral, had missed the lead pack. She lost 1 minute 51 seconds to Arnold in the water and found herself way back.
The World Cup medallists, Sereno and Hawley, pulled plenty of turns to extend the lead of the front pack. Even as Alvarez tried to pull together a chase, the situation soon became hopeless.
Tapia, Arnold and Legault soon utilised their strength garnered on the WTCS circuit to keep the pace high. By the time the lead thirteen made it to T2, they led the Alvarez group by almost 4 minutes.
The exertions on the bike quickly told as the leaders fragmented on the run. Mercedes Romero Orozco lost ground, then Miranda and Howell followed. Romina Biagioli and Jamnicky likewise fell by the wayside, leaving Tapia and Sereno at the front with Legault and Arnold on pursuit.
Over the 10km, there was little to separate Sereno and Tapia. The Mexican athlete looked to raise her tempo over the second half, just as she had to great effect in Yokohama. Sereno was equal to the challenge.
As Arnold and Legault fell further away, the race narrowed to the leading pair. Neither, though could quite break the other. When Sereno attacked with the finish line in sight, she gained a slight gap and seemed to have settled the matter. However, neither had quite made it to the blue carpet yet and Tapia clawed her way back.
It took a final drive from Tapia to escape the clutches of her American rival and she managed to claim victory by a mere 3 seconds. After pushing Tapia every step of the way, Sereno had to settle for the silver medal.
Legault was the next woman home in 3rd place, while Arnold followed in 4th.
The next finisher, however, was none other than Alvarez. Whereas Tapia and Sereno had clocked splits of 36:08 and 36:06 at the head of the race, Alvarez roared to a 33:13 split to fly through to 5th, only a minute behind the leaders. In doing so, she claimed the U23 title. Silver in the U23 classification went to Romero and Howell took bronze.
Men’s race
The men’s race initially followed a similar pattern to that of the women’s, although a twist on the run saw a very different outcome.
Brock Hoel continued to make his case to be considered as one of the leading swimmers in the sport as he dragged the field round the 1500m in a time of 17:17. Jesus Gildardo Espiritu and Aiden Longcroft-Harris remained with him and a small group clustered in his wake. Like the women’s race, though, Hoel’s pace had splintered the field in several places.
Indeed, the Canadian proved to be vital in breaking up the field. A ten man group came together on the bike; all ten had entered T1 within 10 seconds of Hoel.
The experienced Irving Perez and Matthew Wright made it to the front and soon dictated the pace. The winner of the Weihai World Cup, Crisanto Grajales, fell behind in the chase pack and did not finish. After such a long journey to get back from China to Mexico to race, it was no wonder Grajales was not in the mix.
A chase group containing Antonio Bravo Neto and Kevin McDowell tried to catch the reel eight but their efforts were for naught. The leaders were too strong and too coordinated to be reached.
John Reed sat comfortably with the leaders and bided his time. When he got to the run, he then detonated the lead group.
With the fastest split of the day, Reed out-gunned his rivals and charged to the win by 50 seconds. His split of 31:43 was the only one under 32 minutes and he proved untouchable on the run. To with his gold medal he also took the U23 title.
In a desperate final kick, Martin Sobey was able to take down Hoel to seal the silver medal. Hoel at least could take solace with the silver medal in the U23 race. His Senior bronze medal was nonetheless a good result and a sign that his skillset is already broadening beyond his swimming prowess.
Wright then held off Espiritu to take 4th place while Josiah Ney earned the U23 bronze.
You can view the full results here.
