The Asia Cup in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, doubled as the Central Asian Championships. With world ranking points and a chance to race internationally on offer, the Sprint distance event attracted plenty of athletes from further abroad.
Men’s race
Chris Ziehmer of Germany was one such man to take advantage of the racing opportunity. Across the Bundesliga season, Ziehmer proved to be the second most valuable man by points earned and his regular racing was pivotal for his team.
In Cholpon-Ata, there was a degree to which his team-oriented efforts were rewarded as he took the second international win of his career.
Mitsuho Mochizuki led the way in the water and threatened to explode away on the bike as he had done previously in the season. Mochizuki had Aleksander Kurishov for company but they were caught by Ziehmer and Philip Pertl of Austria. The Australian athlete, Kurt Wesley, also rode well and made in-roads into Mochizuki’s early lead.
With dangers like Ayan Beisenbayev in the chase group, the leaders had to work hard to maintain their advantage. Mochizuki was more than equal to the challenge and kept the lead around the minute mark.
In general, the leaders worked well together. Pertl, though, broke ahead in an attempt to seize the initiative. By the time they arrived in T2, the front group’s lead had been trimmed slightly but they had enough of a gap to secure the podium.
Pertl set out onto the run at a brisk pace with Ziehmer the closest in pursuit. Over the 5km, the German pulled alongside his Austrian counterpart. Then, once he had picked his moment, he made the decisive move to kick ahead into the lead.
Pertl could not respond and so Ziehmer was able to run clear to win by 7 seconds. Pertl took silver while Kurishov was able to secure 3rd place. Even a field-leading run split from Beisenbayev (his 16:13 was 46 seconds faster than Ziehmer) was not enough to get him onto the podium.
Women’s race
Mikayla Messer was a class apart in the swim in the women’s race. She built a substantial lead over the 750m and arrived in T1 on her own.
Next after Messer was Sarika Nakayama who managed to keep the deficit to a manageable level. Thereafter, though, the field was quite spread out.
Ekaterina Shabalina navigated the swim with few issues and soon made her way to the front of the race as Messer was caught. A lead group of six formed with Shabalina, Nakayama and Messer at its heart.
Yoshiko Eda, Alina Khakimova and Irina Juldibina were the other athletes to make the front pack, although they did not carry quite as much of the initial pace-setting duties. Within the first half of the 20km, the leaders had put over a minute into the chasers, effectively ending the medal hopes of the majority of the field.
By the time the front group made it into T2, the lead was closer to 2 minutes.
Shabalina then promptly cut her fellow leaders loose with minimal fuss. For a spell, Eda managed to keep within touching distance of Shabalina. Yet she too would ultimately fade.
With a winning margin of 23 seconds, Shabalina cruised to the gold medal in style. Her victory was her second of the year after her success at the European Cup in Wels. When she next races at the Rome World Cup, she may thus be one to watch.
Eda held on to take the silver medal while Juldibina sealed the bronze medal in relative comfort.
You can view the full results here.
