What happens when a winning strategy comes up against someone that cannot lose?
Gwen Jorgensen arrived in Miyazaki having won a third straight World Cup race in Tongyeong a week prior. Across the races in Valencia, Karlovy Vary and then Tongyeong, she had proven unstoppable once she got up to speed on the run. Although she faced a strong field in Japan, the late withdrawal of the WTCS Pontevedra silver medallist, Kate Waugh, removed one obstacle from her path to a fourth consecutive victory.
Yet Jorgensen was confronted by an athlete on a special run of her own.
Bianca Seregni had already won two two Olympic distance World Cups, in Weihai and Chengdu, before touching down in Japan. With the race in Miyazaki also being held over the longer format, she was hunting win number three.
In Weihai and Chengdu, Seregni had honed her strategy and executed both races perfectly.
She would set a crushing pace in the swim to take the lead. Few, if any, athletes would be able to keep touch with her and she would wait for the front pack on the bike as she took a lap to recover and set herself. Then she would ride with the leaders and run to victory with a lethal combination of greater speed and slightly fresher legs.
Seregni’s strategy had paid off thus far. Yet the Jorgensen train was poised to arrive all the same.
The Italian athlete got out to a fast start in the swim. She led throughout the first lap, overcoming the considerable chop in the sea. In the second lap, she continued to assert herself at the front and distanced much of the field.
A slight stumble out of the water, though, enabled Yuko Takahashi to dart up the beach first and lead into T1. Takahashi had led the swim in Tongyeong on her way to the silver medal and was an obvious spoiler to the Seregni-Jorgensen clash.
In addition, Alice Betto, a teammate of Seregni and winner of the Brasilia World Cup, was hot on the heels of the front pair into T1.
Takahashi powered along the first lap of the bike. She did not let Seregni entirely cruise as she had in Weihai and Chengdu and instead forced her to chase as a front pack of seven women came together.
Jeanne Lehair, Márta Kropkó, Cecilia Santamaria Surroca and Sophie Linn made up the rest of the group while Jorgensen lurked the best part of 20 seconds down.
Lehair put in a lot of work on the front. She tried to push others to take their turn yet the bulk of the work was taken up by her and Takahashi. Ultimately, the pair were not enough to keep the leaders away and on the third lap they were caught by the Jorgensen pack.
Sixteen women therefore rode together at the front, with the next chase pack over a minute down. Shanae Williams lost contact with leaders on the fourth lap to reduce the group to fifteen. In what was left at the front, an impressive array of talent had gathered together.
Seregni was a blatant threat and was in the process of executing her winning strategy. Likewise, Jorgensen was unfurling her approach to claiming another potential gold.
Yet Betto and Takahashi looked confident and were in top form. Moreover, Lehair was looking to cap a superlative season in which she finished 8th overall in the WTCS, the best by far of anyone in the pack.
Takahashi would lead Lehair out of T2 and, just as they had on the bike, the pair set the early tempo.
As had been the case in Tongyeong, Jorgensen was the slowest of the lead group through transition. She leaked 12 seconds to Takahashi. Meanwhile, Seregni had a solid T2. On the opening lap of the run, she then pounced.
The Italian athlete breezed past Takahashi and Lehair to take the lead. Betto initially hung on but her compatriot slowly powered clear.
By the end of the first lap, Lehair and Betto sat 5 seconds behind Seregni while Jorgensen was 17 seconds back. A big effort from Lehair saw her bridge the gap to the leader. In doing so, she also dragged Betto back to the front.
The three leaders ran together and extended their lead over Jorgensen to 20 seconds. Then, on lap 3, Seregni went again.
Three proved to be the magic number as this time there was no coming back for Lehair or Betto. Seregni opened up a 10 second advantage and did not put a foot wrong.
As Lehair and Betto slipped into the clutches of Jorgensen, Seregni zoomed away to victory. Even as Jorgensen moved into 2nd place, there was no real threat of Seregni being caught. She out-split Jorgensen over the 10km by 13 seconds to win in style.
Jorgensen then crossed, 18 seconds after the winner, to take the silver medal, her fifth World Cup medal of the season. With a late burst, Lehair beat Betto to the bronze and Xinyu Lin rounded out the top-5.
With a third World Cup win locked up for Seregni, though, her strategy had paid off once more.
You can view the full results here.
