With racing in three continents to track at the weekend, it would be understandable if a couple of stories slipped through the cracks. With that in mind, read on to find five stories that you might have missed from the last weekend of March.
A New Dutch Relay Candidate?
As things stand, the Netherlands lie in 18th in the Mixed Team Relay Olympic rankings. As a result, they are not in line to send a relay to the next Olympic Games. Of course, that could change over the next year.
Based on recent form, the Dutch relay composition might just change on the women’s side.
Maya Kingma is the leading Dutch woman. Right now she is almost certain to qualify for the Paris Olympics and will realistically hold up one of the relay legs.
Next up is Rachel Klamer in 55th (pending the updated rankings after the New Plymouth World Cup).
We have previously noted that Klamer is looking to become part of the first marital couple to compete in the Mixed Team Relay at the Games. Klamer’s husband, Richard Murray, is currently on track to qualify on the men’s side.
However, a third face is entering the fray. After this weekend, Barbara De Koning has started her year with three straight African Cup wins. Crucially, at the last two of those wins, she beat Klamer.
She has ground to make up on Klamer in the Olympic rankings as she sits in 119th. De Koning is young, though, and she is improving. Another important consideration is Klamer’s ongoing hamstring trouble.
If De Koning makes it four wins in a row in Troutbeck next weekend and is able to carry that form through the rest of the season, she might just spoil Klamer’s Olympic plans.
Batista Rising
Ricardo Batista entered the weekend as the fourth ranked Portuguese man in the Olympic qualification rankings. His bronze medal at the New Plymouth World Cup, though, should push him closer to the top-50 of the rankings and towards his compatriots.
Vasco Vilaca and Joao Silva still have a substantial lead over Batista. If he can continue this early form throughout the season, he will be able to rise up further.
One thing to note, though, is that Joao Pereira is not going anywhere.
After a bronze medal in Quarteira, Pereira showed that he will be fighting all the way for one of the Portuguese Olympic slots next year.
Batista is on the up: will he manage to rise quickly enough to make it to Paris?
Brotherly Bronzes
Speaking of Batista, he was not the only family member to step upon an international podium at the weekend.
Younger brother João Nuno Batista earned a bronze medal at the European Junior Cup in Quarteira with a fantastic all-round performance. The was an eerie similarity in both Batista’s races despite being on opposite sides of the planet. Both led out the swim and were each narrowly denied the silver medal in a tight sprint finish.
Quarteira has also been a happy hunting ground for João Nuno Batista. In 2021, he was the runner-up at the World Junior Championships despite only being born in 2005. This year and next year, he will have chances to step up to the gold medal at Junior Worlds.
At this point in time, we would not bet against him.
The big question, though, is which of the Batista brothers will win more international medals in 2023.
Castro Fajardo’s Race Ruined by Puncture
After winning the last World Cup of 2023, David Castro Fajardo was an early favourite for the New Plymouth World Cup. He had spent the winter based in New Zealand and already won an Oceania Cup race.
After a fast swim put him within touch of the leaders and in position to make the front pack, everything seemed to be going to plan.
And then his day was deflated. So too was his bike tyre as a puncture wrecked his bike leg.
Castro nevertheless continued after a wheel change and finished down on where he would have hoped to have been. It was an unfortunate slice of bad luck and not how he would have wanted to close out his New Zealand voyage.
However, his race has a familiar ring to it.
The race winner in New Plymouth, Hayden Wilde, experienced almost the exact same thing at WTCS Abu Dhabi. After a puncture ruined his WTCS race, Wilde has now gone on to win his next race.
All we can say is that if the pattern continues, Castro will probably win his next race. That would be one way for the universe to make it up to him.
Milner’s Monster Run Split
Amidst all the drama at the European Cup in Quarteira, there was one split that went a little unnoticed.
Hugo Milner of Britain lost a minute and a half to the leaders in the swim and leaked further time on the bike. When he exited T2, attention had drifted to the front of the race where a number of men were vying for the win.
Milner, though, set about to produce his own fireworks. He recorded a split of 30:03, the fastest in the race by over half a minute. Milner was also one of only four men to run under 31 minutes. In doing so he catapulted himself up to 35th.
While the result may not have been quite what he wanted, his run split was spectacular.
Nor, for that matter, was this a freak occurrence. Milner is an accomplished runner on the track with personal bests of 8:00.39, 13:44.46 and 28:36.95 over the 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m, respectively.
With that kind of running speed, he is in raw terms possibly the fastest male runner in triathlon behind Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde.
As such, it would be wise to remember the name Hugo Milner going forward. With a little work on his swim and bike, he could be one of the future stars of the sport.
