Swim
Alessio Crociani was the fastest man in the water at the Vina del Mar World Cup and used an impressive surge over the second half of the swim to emerge clear of the field. He clocked 8:41 for the 750m.
Home favourite Diego Moya was the next man out of the water in 8:45 while Daniel Dixon was the last man to remain within 10 seconds of Crociani as he completed the swim in 8:51. Panagiotis Bitados then followed in 8:53.
Chase McQueen, Gianluca Pozzatti and Seth Rider were then out in quick succession. The trio clocked 8:55, 8:56 and 8:57, respectively, with Rider standing as the last man under 9 minutes. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia rounded out the top-8 splits in 9:00.
In the women’s race, Djenyfer Arnold clocked the fastest time in 9:56. One of the main talking points of the swim, though, was Vicky Holland’s performance. The 2018 world champion exited the water alongside Arnold and received an official split of 9:57. Swimming at the head of the field was a major step forward in her post-partum comeback and offered a clear indication that the Brit is finding her way back towards full race condition.
Myral Greco clocked 9:58 for the third fastest split (more on that below) although she would ultimately record a DNF. Greco’s swim was still notable for being the final one under the 10 minute barrier.
Desirae Ridenour was the next athlete out in 10:04 while a trio of Angelica Prestia, Niina Kishimoto and Moira Miranda all stopped the clock at 10:06. The eventual race winner, Gwen Jorgensen, completed the top-8 splits in 10:11.
One of the defining points of the women’s race was the disqualification of the four leaders for a course infringement on the run. Three of the athletes, Mathilde Gautier (9:57), Anna Godoy Contreras (10:04) and Katie Zaferes (10:07) had logged splits that were faster than what it later took to make make the top-8 times.
However, in the interests of consistency with previous splits posts, we are not including the disqualified athletes in the top-8. At the Tongyeong World Cup, for example, Alina Khakimova had the fastest bike split yet was not included due to her disqualification.
To use an analogy from swimming, an athlete that completed a race can earn an official time. Moreover, in swimming an athlete can go for a 50m time in a 100m race and coast the final 50; under this approach the swimmer did not “properly” finish the race in a competitive sense. In a similar way, an athlete that does not finish in a triathlon can still record a split time prior to their DNF.
In swimming, though, a disqualification invalidates the time. Applying a similar logic to triathlon, a DQ nullifies the splits. Of course, it is not a perfect system but if a disqualified result is struck from the records then it follows that the splits will be removed too.
Bike
The top men’s were entirely made up by men that regained contact with the main pack after losing time in the swim. Only one man (Paul Georgenthum) made the top-8 splits after swimming within 15 seconds of the eighth fastest split.
Gregor Payet led the way in 25:45, beating Andreas Carlsson (25:48) to the fastest split by 3 seconds.
Martin Sobey had the best finish of the top cyclists. After logging a 25:50 split on the bike, he went on to take 5th place overall.
Itamar Eshed (25:53), Baptiste Massot (25:54) and Makoto Odakura (25:56) were the next quickest men. Georgenthum and Stefan Zachaeus then shared the seventh fastest split (25:58) to close out the top-8 times.
In the women’s race, the disqualifications reared their heads most prominently on the bike. Tereza Zimovjanova (29:20), Zaferes (29:25), Godoy (25:29) and Gautier (29:32) blasted the top-4 splits as they crushed the course. However, as already mentioned, due to their disqualifications their splits are not formally included.
Instead, Erica Hawley was the fastest cyclist of the day, clocking a time of 29:46. Her deficit to the front group shows how the breakaway pulled out a clear gap over the 20km. At the same time, Hawley’s split itself was significant as it put her in a position to go on to claim 6th place overall.
Vicky Holland was the next fastest cyclist in 29:49. Having been one of the fastest swimmers and one of the fastest cyclists, it would have followed that she could have made the front pack. The reason for her being in the chase pack was rather simple. In the end, Holland lost 12 seconds to Hawley in T1.
That loss of time proved the difference between her riding with the leaders instead of ending up in the chase group.
Gina Sereno clocked 29:51 to claim the third fastest split while Angelica Prestia and Gwen Jorgensen added splits of 29:54 and 29:55, respectively, in the chase pack.
Djenyfer Arnold is then listed as having finished with a 29:57 split. However, one thing to note is that Arnold was with Godoy out of T2. As such, her official bike split might not be correct. There were a number of issues with the timing in Vina del Mar – which in part caused the delays to the availability of splits – and so some, like Arnold’s, may have to be treated with caution.
Finally, Niina Kishimoto and Rosa Elena Martinez Melchor concluded the top-8 splits in 29:58 and 30:14, respectively.
Run
Manoel Messias was the top runner in the men’s race and pulled away in the final kilometre to take his first international win of the season. His time of 14:20 beat his compatriot Miguel Hidalgo (14:30) by 10 seconds, although Messias would only actually win the race by 4 seconds.
Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen, the bronze medallist behind Messias and Hidalgo, clocked 14:36 over the 5km.
Rostislav Pevtsov ran through to 7th place on the back of a 14:43 split. After winning a medal at the Chengdu World Cup, Pevtsov showed that his running was once again firing on all cylinders.
Pozzatti then became the first male athlete at the World Cup event to manage two top-8 splits in the race. His time of 14:48 was the fifth fastest run of the field (putting him 9th overall after losing out in the bunch sprint) and went alongside his top-8 swim split. Similarly, Rider clocked a top-8 run split in addition to his top-8 swim as he clocked 14:49.
Sobey and Gonzalez Garcia each clocked 14:51 to complete the top-8 splits. Like Pozzatti and Rider, they were in a select group of men to record two top-8 splits.
The fastest runner in the women’s race was Jorgensen by a clear margin. The quadruple World Cup winner in 2023 powered to a 15:58 5km, making her the only woman under the 16 minute mark.
Anahi Alvarez Corral followed in 16:27. However, it was not Alvarez’s day. Even though she produced the second fastest official split, she was the last finisher on the course.
Luisa Daniela Baca Vargas and Sereno both clocked 16:36 to share the third fastest split while Holland popped up with another fast split, logging 16:44 for the 5km.
Elizabeth Bravo (16:49), Natalia Casas (16:52) and Prestia (17:00) rounded out the top-8 splits. It should also be noted, though, that Zaferes (16:21), Zimovjanova (16:35) and Godoy (16:48) would have made the top-8 splits had they not been disqualified.
