Swim
Therese Feuersinger was in a league of her own in the swim in Chengdu. She claimed the top split in 19:19 and was long out of sight by the time the next athletes followed her into T1. That Feuersinger led out of the water should be of little surprise; she was the fastest woman in the first discipline at WTCS Sunderland last year. What did surprise, though, was just how far ahead she pulled away from her rivals.
Wen Wei was the next woman out of the water in 20:09 while three women followed in 20:11. World Cup winner Alice Betto and Roksana Slupek, the bronze medallist in Chengdu, were part of this trio. Perhaps the most surprising name here was Tilda Månsson. Already known for her running prowess, the Swedish athlete produced the best Olympic distance swim of her career on her way to the silver medal.
Of note, Julie Derron, the race winner, was the seventh woman out of the water in 20:13, 1 second behind Zuzana Michalickova.
On the men’s side, Márk Dévay was up to his usual habits and led the swim in a time of 17:36. Having done the same at the Hong Kong World Cup, he maintains his perfect record for the season. The eventual podium then followed him out in ascending order.
Tayler Reid was the next man in 17:38 while the silver medallist Jonas Schomburg emerged in 17:40. The race winner, Max Stapley,. was the fourth man out in 17:42 and Christopher Deegan completed the top-5 in 17:44.
Kyotaro Yoshikawa and Valentin Morlec, who made the breakaway, were the seventh and eighth fastest swimmers in 17:47 and 17:49, respectively.
Bike
After being among the top swimmers, Slupek and Betto were at it again on the bike as they shared the top split in 59:28. Anne Holm, who joined them in the lead pack, was the next quickest in 59:29 while Derron was a second back in 59:30.
Ilaria Zane (59:31) and Månsson (59:34) were also among the quickest on two wheels while Feuersinger was the next best in 1:00:20.
In the men’s race, the top bike split was also shared. Yoshikawa and Morlec took the honour in 52:30 as they rode with the breakaway group. The other four men to join them were the top-4 finishers.
Stapley was the next fastest in 52:34 with Schomburg 3 seconds slower. Dévay and Reid then matched one another’s time of 52:38.
Run
Once onto the run, Derron was the star of the show. She was fastest woman on the course by 45 seconds and converted a breakaway position into a dominant victory. Her time of 34:25 was also the only split from the women’s race to break under the 35 minute barrier.
Månsson came close to dipping under 35 minutes as she 35:10 to take the silver medal while Slupek followed in 35:18.
Elizabeth Bravo was the top runner from the chase pack as she clocked 35:26. Running with her was Nicole Van Der Kaay. The New Zealand athlete clocked 35:32. Jolanda Annen also ran through to take 8th behind Bravo and Van Der Kaay after spending the bike in the chase pack. She was also the final woman to run under 36 minutes as she stopped to clock in 35:54.
Whereas the women’s podium claimed the top run splits, the situation was different in the men’s race. Stapley (32:00) was not among the top-10 runners in a slightly unusual turn. The top split of the day actually went to Bence Bicsák (31:03) as he claimed 7th place. Emil Holm beat Bicsák to 6th place and almost matched his time over 10km. The Danish athlete would record a split of 31:06.
Although they were the best runners of the chasers, Holm and Bicsák could not break into top-5 given the deficit to breakaway group.
Crisanto Grajales was the next quickest runner in 31:08 while John Reed and Michele Sarzilla each popped times of 31:11. One final noteworthy split was Deegan’s 31:13. Given he had been among the leading swimmers, on another day he could have been right in the mix.
