The first international Olympic distance race of the African season took place at the weekend with the African Cup in Nelson Mandela Bay. The South African event attracted several of the country’s biggest names, including Olympic medallist Henri Schoeman, and yielded some lively displays.
Women’s race
After three straight wins in 2024, Vicky Van Der Merwe arrived as the prohibitive favourite. Victories at the African Cups in Maselspoort and Swakopmund book-ended her African Games win in Accra. Alongside her double African Championships success in 2023, her recent form on the continent made another win seem like a formality.
She navigated the first discipline with no issues. Sinem Francisca Tous Servera led the 1500m swim in 21:56. Amber Schlebusch and Van Der Merwe were the next athletes out, a handful of seconds back.
A chain of nine athletes followed Tous through T1 and onto the bike and, while the likes of Sara Vilic and Shanae Williams hovered a few seconds behind Tous and Van Der Merwe, pre-race threats Julia Hauser and Tanja Stroschneider fell away from contention early on.
The 40km bike reduced the lead pack as both Vilic and Williams went on to record DNFs. Kseniia Levkovska of Ukraine also lost touch with the front group. Although dangers like Tous, Schlebusch and Finja Schierl remained, Van Der Merwe stayed out of trouble on the bike, even if she was put under pressure at times.
It was on the run that she then asserted her dominance over the field. A field-leading split of 35:22 saw her ease away from the field and in the end she claimed the gold by 58 seconds. Schlebusch held on to take the silver medal while Tous nabbed the bronze.
Men’s race
Ten men lined up to start in Nelson Mandela Bay and a group of three emerged in the lead. Nicholas Quenet of South Africa managed to beat his compatriot Schoeman in the swim. While Schoeman clocked 18:36 for the 1500m, Quenet was a second quicker. With Jamie Riddle also in tow, the lead trio set about maximising their 80 second advantage once onto the bike.
Quenet could not quite keep up with the pace of Schoeman and Riddle and was gradually dropped. Meanwhile, the small chase pack headed up by Philip Pertl made no real in-roads. Thus, after 40km of cycling, the gap between the lead duo and the chasers was broadly unchanged.
In the end, it was Riddle that broke clear on the run as Schoeman slipped back. Pertl passed the former WTCS race winner and, for a brief spell, it seemed that her could have closed the distance to Riddle as he logged a field-leading 33:05 10km. However, the gap was still considerable at the finish.
Riddle crossed in 1st place, some 51 seconds clear of Pertl. Schoeman then held off a fight-back from Quenet to seal the bronze medal.
View the full results here.
