Swim
The women’s swim was all about Ilona Hadhoum. The newly-crowned World Junior champion led the way with a fantastic split of 9:51. In doing so, she established a commanding lead set herself up perfectly for the rest of the race.
The next closest athlete was Tabea Huys of Austra in a time of 10:11. Having led out the swim at the European Cup in Kitzbühel, Huys’ class in the water was no surprise. However, she did not quite have the answer to Hadhoum’s pace in Hamburg.
Margareta Vrablova was right on Huys’ feet with a split of 10:12. Her performance in the water was in line with the rest of her swimming showings in 2023. More often than not, Vrablova has positioned herself in the top-5 without quite taking up the leadership in the water. Once again, it paid off as she ended up in the front group of the race for a significant portion of the bike.
The bronze medallist in Hamburg, Manon Laporte, was the next woman into T1 in 10:13 while Nora Romina Nádas followed in 10:15.
Unfortunately, a timing chip error meant that Leonie Douche did not get an official split. However, she was firmly in the mix with Laporte and Nádas. She was the fifth and final athlete to make the chase group of five that pursued Hadhoum. The likelihood is, then, that she swam in the terrritory of 10:13-10:15.
Thereeafer, a gap of only 3 seconds appeared between Nádas and Johanna Uherek of Germany. Similarly, Hasse Fleerackers of Belgium also clocked a split of 10:18. Despite the smallness of the gap, neither Uherek nor Fleerackers were able to make the jump into the group of five that pursued Hadhoum.
Jimena Renata De La Peña Schott was next out of the water in 10:23. Matching her time was Gwen Nothum, while Naomi Ruff was a further second down. Along with Uherek and Fleerackers, that trio settled at the front of the second pack on the road.
The men’s swim was a little tighter at the front of the race.
Carter Stuhlmacher and Márton Kropkó shared the lead in a time of 8:56. Throughout the season, both had recorded some fantastic splits. Stuhlmacher had crushed the field in the water at the North American Junior Championships while Kropkó had impressed on his way to the World Junior Aquathlon title.
Over the final stretch, they went stroke for stroke and could not be separated.
Exiting 2 seconds behind was Zalán Hóbor. The Hungarian had impressed in the water just a few days earlier at the European Junior Cup in Tiszaujvaros and had held his form.
Jack Crome followed in a time of 8:59 and Gregor Rasva was the fifth man out in 9:00.
A 3 second gap then appeared before Thomas Feldmann exited. As with the women’s swim, that small gap ultimately turned out to be the dividing line between making the lead pack (notwithstanding that there was a solo rider ahead of the lead women’s pack) and not.
The pressure of the front five told as small gaps appeared throughout the rest of the top-10 splits. While Feldmann clocked 9:03, Amu Omuro and Gergő Gyula Soós hit 9:05 and then Pietro Giovannini emerged in 9:08.
Joao Nuno Batista was the last of the top-10 splits in a 9:10.
Bike
The top women’s bike splits came from a mix of athletes. On the one hand, there were several instances of athletes that had lost time in the water using the bike to move up the field. On the other, a couple of names added fast bike splits to their swift swims.
Emma Olson-Keating fell into the former group as she had to make up over 50 seconds to Hadhoum and over 30 seconds to the chase pack. She proved more than up to the task, though, as she dropped the best bike split of the day in a time of 27:46.
Kjara Reckmann of Germany was in a similar boat and also managed to ride herself into contention with a split of 27:47. Cara Macdonald then followed with a split of 27:48.
Aniek Mars and Lotte Minnebo both clocked times of 27:52 to consolidate their positions. Faith Dasso’s split was only a second slower while Siyi Zhang produced a split of 27:58 to vault herself into contention.
The final three bike splits in the top-10, though, were set by athletes that were a little closer to the front.
Dominga Elena Jacome Espinoza was only 5 seconds behind De La Peña out of the water. With a time of 28:03 on the bike, she pushed herself up to the front of the chase pack and, eventually, to the front of the race.
Hinaka Masuda then followed in 28:04 after she also had a decent swim. Matching Masuda’s bike time was Gwen Nothum. The Luxembourg athlete had been among the top-10 swimmers. Indeed, Nothum was the only athlete in either field to record top-10 splits in the first two disciplines.
The top-10 men’s bike splits were entirely made up of athletes that regained time lost in the swim.
Luke Anthony was the quickest of the field with a time of 25:40, denying Hector Tolsa Garcia the fastest split by 1 second. Another second behind Tolsa’s split was his Spanish teammate, Pelayo González Turrez, who completed the course in 27:42.
A cluster of men, comprising Solomon Okrafo-Smart, Euan De Nigro, Jens Smolders and Antoine L’hôte then hit times of 27:44 for the 20km.
Kube Gajda hit 27:45 and Oliver Mills clocked 25:46. Alfredo Miguel Rodríguez Figueroa, Oscar Lilja and Sullivan Middaugh were then all tied on 25:47.
Run
Having been the best swimmer of the day, Ilona Hadhoum followed it up with the fastest run split, hitting a time of 17:19. With the top split in two disciplines, she really did not put a foot wrong.
The silver medallist, Jimena Renata De La Peña Schott, had the next best run. She recorded a split of 17:21. Leaving T2, De La Peña had been a little towards the back of the lead group so had to work her way through the ranks. By contrast, Hadhoum stormed out of T2 into an early lead. The faster transition and more aggressive opening kilometre is ultimately what separted the two athletes as the 5km itself was very close.
Once De La Peña hit the front of the chase on the second lap, few could live with her speed.
The only woman able to go with De La Peña was Manon Laporte. To go with her fast swim, Laporte produced a time of 17:37 over the 5km. Johanna Uherek of Germany then continued a wonderful day with a split of 17:51.
An interesting athlete had the next fastest split. Kateřina Hadravova had the best run split of an athlete outside the top-4. After running 17:56, she ultimately finished 18th. Whereas the women ahead of her managed to produce top-10 swim splits, Hadravova lost 71 seconds to Hadhoum in the swim. That deficit ultimately proved the difference between fighting for a place in the top-5 and a place in the top-20.
Margareta Vrablova was another athlete to produce a top-10 run split to go with a top-10 run. She had a fast finish to conclude her race with an 18:02 5km.
Jacome added a top-10 run split to her top-10 bike split. She ran only a second slower than Vrablova in 18:03 but did not quite have the final burst to match the Slovakian.
Amanda Moro of Brazil recorded a time of 18:05 on her way to 33rd place, while Alejandra Seguí Soria’s time of 18:06 saw her finish 20th.
Zhang rounded out the top-10 run splits in a time of 18:10.
Douche and Rhianna Hepburn finished around Zhang but without functioning timing chips were left with no official splits. However, given their finishing position, it is fair to guess that they would have been close to the Chinese athlete’s time.
One additional point to note is that every athlete inside the top-8 had two top-10 splits. Douche is the only question mark on that front due to her timing chip error and maybe could have bumped Zhang out of the top running splits. Nevertheless, that statistic highlights the calibre of athlete it took to be among the eight highest finishers.
Meanwhile, the run proved to be the great separator when it came to the men’s medals. Although Hóbor fought valiantly to hold onto his lead, he was eventually passed as three men fought for the gold.
Having exited T2 towards the back of the chase group, Batista came flying through. He dropped the fastest split of the day with a phenomenal 14:37 to claim his world title.
The next best split went to Mathis Beaulieu, the bronze medallist, who clocked a time of 14:45. Nils Serre Gehri, the silver medallist, was close behind with his split of 14:48.
Osvaldo Darell Zuñiga Fierro had a great run of his way to 5th place. The Mexican produced a 14:49 5km to charge through the field on the final lap of the run.
Reese Vannerson narrowly missed dipping under the 15 minute mark as he stopped the clock at a round 15:00. His teammate, Carter Stuhlmacher, followed in a time of 15:01.
The defending champion, Thomas Hansmaennel, ran through to 4th place with a 15:09 split. In the end, though, he did not have the speed to go with the medallists when it counted.
Luke Anthony made it three Americans in the top-10 run splits with a time of 15:14 while Euan De Nigro and Andree Buc both hit 15:20 to complete the top-10.
