At the weekend a number of Portugal’s best triathletes gathered for the national Sprint championships at the XXXVI Triatlo de Oeiras.
In the women’s race, the title came down to a dash to the line between Maria Tomé and Melanie Santos. After swimming and cycling together, there was nothing to separate the two women in the run.
Tomé was able to cross the line ahead by the slimmest of margins. As the defending national champion over the Olympic distance from 2022, Tomé now holds both Portuguese titles. After also attaining a best ever World Cup finish in New Plymouth recently (where she finished 6th), she is clearly an athlete on the rise.
Helena Paula Carvalho rounded out the podium, 1:38 behind the leaders. Of the Junior women, Maria Gonçalves was the best finisher. She placed 7th overall, a little over 6 minutes behind the lead duo.
Meanwhile, WTCS medallists Joao Silva and Vasco Vilaca were absent from the men’s race. Nonetheless another exciting finish was on the cards.
Miguel Tiago Silva stormed ahead in the swim and built a lead of 20 seconds. However he was caught on the bike by a pack of twelve men, creating a lead group of thirteen.
On the run, a trio of Joao Pereira, Erwin Vanderplancke and Tiago Fonesca pulled clear and in the final few hundred metres it became a sprint between Pereira and Fonesca.
Taking the win by a mere 2 seconds was Fonesca. In what was one of the biggest achievements of his career so far, Fonesca’s win represented his first Senior national title.
Right now, Portugal is flush with talent on the men’s side, with World Cup medallist Ricardo Batista another name to be watched. Fonesca, though, will certainly be a key part of the next generation of Portuguese men that will inherit the mantle from the likes of Pereira and Joao Silva.
The Belgian athlete Vanderplancke came home in 3rd, 15 seconds behind Pereira, while João Mansos was the next best Portuguese finisher.
Gabriel Santos was the best performer of the Junior man. Like Gonçalves in the women’s race, he finished 7th overall.
