Swim
The swim really shook up the women’s race at the Karlovy Vary World Cup as four athletes broke clear of the field.
Therese Feuersinger was the first out of the water, building upon her exceptional swim at WTCS Sunderland. The Austrian athlete clocked 17:20 for the 1500m.
Next out was Bianca Seregni. After dominating the swim at the Weihai World Cup, the Italian athlete was content to sit on the feet of Feuersinger. In the final hundred metres, though, Feuersinger’s relentless pace earned her a slight gap to even Seregni.
Sophie Alden and Selina Klamt completed the lead in quartet in 17:25 and 17:26, respectively. From there, the wait began.
Cecilia Santamaria Surroca and Anabel Knoll shared the next fastest split in 18:06. With over 45 seconds to make up on the leaders, they faced a major challenge to get back into contention. Luckily, they headed a stream of athlete well-equipped to the task.
Marta Pintanel Raymundo clocked 18:07 while the race winner Gwen Jorgensen hit 18:08. Barbara De Koning and Anja Weber then rounded out the top-10 in a time of 18:09.
While the men’s race was not marked by the same extent of distance between the leaders and the rest, there were nonetheless notable gaps.
Márk Dévay picked up where he left off at the Valencia World Cup to lead to the way. He stopped the clock at 16:14. As with the women’s event, an Italian athlete was next out. Nicolò Strada looked strong throughout the swim as he produced a time of 16:15.
Marcus Dey then followed in 16:16.
Angel Sanchez Carreras remained on Dey’s feet in 16:18 and then the first of the gaps began to emerge. Jonas Schomburg exited in 16:21 while the men’s race winner Morgan Pearson was a second back in 16:22.
Martin Demuth and Samuel Dickinson managed splits of 16:24 and 16:26, respectively. Alois Knabl and Maciej Bruzdziak then followed in 16:32 which initially was not enough to put them in the original breakaway.
Bike
Julie Derron ripped the quickest bike split of the women’s field in 1:09:42. She had a slight gap to close to the Knoll-Jorgensen chase pack which she accomplished on the ride into the town. From there, Derron was instrumental in the chase bridging to the lead quartet.
Marlene Gomez-Göggel was the next quickest cyclist in 1:09:54 while Rachel Klamer stopped the clock at 1:09:56. In both cases, Gomez-Göggel and Klamer matched Derron’s approach of first riding into the chase pack and then catching the leaders as part of the group.
Weber was the quickest cyclist of the original chase group. She recorded a time of 1:09:59. Like Derron, Weber appeared particularly strong on the ascents and at one point looked as if she would break clear of the field.
Pintanel managed a round 1:10:00 for her efforts on the bike. Jorgensen was a second back in 1:10:01 and home favourite Tereza Zimovjanova was a further second back in 1:10:02.
Santamaria clocked 1:10:05 over the course and Knoll followed in 1:10:11. Rounding out the top-10 splits was Cathia Schär. The third Swiss athlete among the leading bike splits hit a time of 1:10:20 and was the best cyclist not to make the lead pack. However, losing 2 minutes to the leaders in the swim proved too great a setback for her to overcome.
Morgan Pearson’s dramatic breakaway made for a real spread in the leading split times. The American athlete managed a time of 1:03:00 as he built a 29 second into T2. A few laps previously, though, it looked as if he would not have logged the top split.
Instead, Panagiotis Bitados was perfectly placed to claim the top split. Having missed the front pack in the swim, Bitados rode up to the leaders. He ultimately managed a time of 1:03:02. Had Pearson remained with the group, Bitados could have claimed the fastest bike split of the day.
Tjebbe Kaindl was likewise close. He also rode up to the leaders in the Bitados group and clocked 1:03:03. Simon Henseleit then followed in 1:03:05 as he bridged to the front pack too.
Despite having a top-10 swim split, Knabl did not make the breakaway at first. Instead, he was caught by the likes of Bitados and Kaindl. With a split of 1:03:22, he vaulted himself into contention and ended up claiming 4th place overall.
Dickinson recorded 1:03:30 over the bike and Demuth managed 1:03:31. The bronze medallist Schomburg then followed in 1:03:35.
Strada and Dévay rounded out the top-10 splits with times of 1:03:37 and 1:03:39.
Run
Jorgensen would ultimately prove the quickest runner of the day. However, her margin was nowhere near as comprehensive as that of her win in Valencia. She stopped the clock in 34:39 but Klamer was right with her in 34:45.
A sprint finish ultimately separated the two after Klamer gave Jorgensen one of the closest battles on the run of her career.
Gomez-Göggel was the next best runner in 35:02. She logged that time even with a 15 second penalty which seemed to have cost her a shot at the bronze medal. So storming was her final lap, she maybe could have caught Klamer and Jorgensen without the penalty. In the end, the German athlete’s huge final lap was only enough to see her past Derron.
One thing to highlight is that Gomez-Göggel was also one of two athletes to log two top-3 splits. The other was Klamer. In hindsight, then, it should have been no great surprise that they landed on the podium.
Stomach troubles on the final lap of the run ultimately prevented Derron from maintaining her battle with Gomez-Göggel. She nevertheless came away with a split of 35:25 and 4th place.
Klamt followed in 35:49 to claim an impressive 5th place.
The best runner from the chase group was Julia Hauser. The European Games medallist recorded a time of 36:05 for the 10km to nip into 10th place.
Next up in the fastest run split was Seregni with 36:12. She thus joined Jorgensen as the only women to log top-10 splits in all three disciplines.
The remaining top splits came from athletes in the chase. Elizabeth Bravo dropped a 36:13 split while Solveig Løvseth popped a 36:17. The Norwegian athlete had been pipped by Schär to best bike split of chasers. However, Løvseth’s race simply did not come together as it maybe could have after losing too much time in the swim.
Maria Tomé then completed the top-10 splits in 36:18.
Barclay Izzard came a little from nowhere to drop the best split of the men’s field. Going into the run, the British athlete was over 2 minutes down on the leaders and well out of contention. Yet he ripped a 31:13 for the 10km to rise to 6th place.
It was a similar story for Nan Oliveras. Oliveras spent practically his entire race with Izzard and followed in 8th place thanks to his split of 31:27. Maxime Fluri was another from the chase to deliver a huge split to rise up the rankings. He landed in 11th courtesy of his 31:34 split.
Pearson was the next fastest runner in 31:37. Such was his margin of victory and time spent offering high-fives, it is conceivable that he had plenty left in the tank to drop further time had the need arisen.
While Dévay has classically been more known as a swimmer, in Karlovy Vary he showed off his running chops. He had the fifth fastest split of the day in 32:19 which saw him earn a maiden World Cup medal. Schomburg had the next fastest split in 32:23.
Max Studer and Kevin Tarek Viñuela Gonzalez followed with splits of 32:24 and Valentin Wernz completed the 10km in 32:32. With a time of 32:53, Knabl was the final man inside the top-10.
Knabl therefore snuck into the top-10 run splits, just as he had with the swim splits. As a result, he become the fourth man, after Pearson, Schomburg and Dévay, to record top-10 splits in all three disciplines.
