The final Olympic distance Continental Championship of 2023 took place in Hurghada, Egypt, yesterday as the African title was contested.
Having won the Sprint distance titles in Blue Bay in September, Vicky Van Der Merwe and Jawad Abdelmoula arrived as the favourites. Yet in small fields, the races were ripe for an upset.
Women’s race
Only seven women lined up to contest the race and the swim soon reduced the contenders to three.
Van Der Merwe got away to a good start but it was her compatriot Shanae Williams that led the way. Williams clocked 21:33 for the 1500m. Next out of the water was Amber Schlebusch, the winner of the Americas Cup in Sarasota earlier in the year. She conceded 6 seconds to Williams but made that up in T1.
Van Der Merwe then followed a second after Schlebusch.
The lead trio rode together for the 40km bike, covering the course in 1:09:39. In doing so, they extended their lead to over 4 minutes, shutting the door on any possible comeback.
As strong as Schlebusch and Williams had looked, Van Der Mere soon put them to the sword on the run. The Sprint distance African champion dropped them early in the 10km and ran away to win by 2 minutes 34 seconds.
Her split of 38:33 was the only one under 40 minutes and at no point did she come under any pressure in the final disciplines.
The gold medal was a perfect way for Van Der Merwe to close out what has effectively been her comeback season. After a double success in African Championships, she will next tackle the Tongyeong World Cup where a big performance could be in store.
Schlebusch took 2nd place and earned the U23 title. Finishing over 4 minutes back of Schlebusch was Williams as she took the bronze medal.
Men’s race
If Jawad Abdelmoula had been the favourite heading into the race after his Sprint distance African title, the narrative was quickly altered. Playing to his strengths, Jamie Riddle got away quickly in the swim and put over 30 seconds into his Moroccan rival.
Although Abdelmoula had been the athlete expected to battle with Riddle, it was actually his compatriot Badr Siwane that stuck with the South African.
Siwane lost only 5 seconds to Riddle in the water and closed the gap in T1.
On the bike, the size of the field proved a key factor. Only eleven of the fourteen starters finished the race. As with the women’s event, there simply weren’t enough athletes present to build any kind of pack.
While Riddle and Siwane were able to work together at the front – with the former shouldering a lot of the work as befitting his WTCS experience – Abdelmoula faced the initial kilometres of the bike alone. He was soon joined by Dylan Nortje after the South African made up the 19 seconds he had lost to Abdelmoula in the swim. By then, though, it was too late.
Riddle and Siwane built their lead over the 40km until it touched 3 minutes. Even for a runner of the calibre of Abdelmoula, that represented game over.
He manfully tried to close the gap and clocked the best run of the day (35:04) by over a minute. However the damage was irrevocable.
At the front, Riddle dropped Siwane and was able to cruise to the win and the U23 title. While he won an African Cup race at the start of the year, his season has been marked by difficulty. His recent form at the World U23 Championships and Tangier World Cup, though, have shown an upswing in form. Like Van Der Merwe, he will be racing in Tongyeong next and will look to carry his African Championships success forwards.
Siwane took the silver medal to match his 2nd place at the African Sprint Championships while Abdelmoula settled for bronze.
You can view the full results here.
