Tri Race Results: Big Wins for Wilde and Watkinson, The Jorgensen-Zaferes Olympic Race Heats Up, and More
Travis Mundell recaps a weekend of triathlon news from 70.3 Melbourne, Triathlon World Cup Vina Del Mar, and the 2023 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships. The recent pro triathlon races saw significant victories for short-course athletes Hayden Wilde and Amelia Watkinson, who both performed well in the middle distance races. Wilde led out the shortened swim and biked six minutes faster than defending 70.3 Melbourne champion Steve McKenna, and ran a mind-bending 1:08 half marathon. Watkinson also achieved a win with a bike-run combo, finishing in 3:53:30. The women's Olympic race saw excitement as Americans Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen were competing for coveted spots on the women’s U.S team for 2024. The four women who were disqualified during the race were also included in disqualifications for cutting a section of the course.
Опубликовано : год назад от Travis Mundell в Sports Lifestyle
With a national title on the line in Arizona, a critical opportunity for Olympic points in Chile, and a Southern Hemisphere showdown in Melbourne, last weekend’s lineup of pro triathlon races was destined to be full of moments to talk about around the multisport water cooler this Monday.
It is not that often that we see gun-to-tape victories in our sport, and it’s not that often we see short-course star Hayden Wilde (NZL) step up to the middle distance. But last weekend, both of those things occurred, and Wilde’s performance at 70.3 Melbourne should send shivers down the spines of any long-course athlete preparing for next year’s 70.3 World Championship.
Wilde led out the shortened swim (another rare occurrence, which makes him even more frightening), then biked six minutes faster than defending 70.3 Melbourne champion Steve McKenna, clocking a 1:56 split for the 90 kilometers before proceeding to run a mind-bending 1:08 half marathon. After breaking the tape in 3:19,29, Wilde had eight minutes to cool down before he was joined by second-place Nick Thompson and third-place McKenna.
In an Instagram post following the race, Wilde said, “Exciting to know personally there is more to give out on course which has given me a big confidence booster heading into world champs next year.” Of course, Wilde will be focused on the Paris Olympics for the majority of 2024, but have no doubt, afterwards, he will be unleashed for a home-country win at next year’s 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand.
Fellow Kiwi Amelia Watkinson wasn’t about to let Wilde take all of the headlines. With a similar, stunningly fast bike-run combo, Watkinson secured the win with a 3:53:30 victory. Unlike Wilde, however, Watkinson’s win was a slow burn, with coming out of the water with two and a half minutes to make up on some very strong women, including Lotte Wilms, Hannah De Vet and Natalie Van Coevorden. Amazingly, Watkinson’s 2:14:15 bike split put her within 40 seconds of that front group. Starting the run, it was anyone’s race to win, but Watkinson produced a masterclass in pacing, picking off off one woman after another before finally overcoming Van Coevorden with one kilometer left to go.
World Triathlon had more on their hands than they could’ve imagined from their last Olympic qualification points race of the year.
The lion’s share of the drama stemmed from the women’s race, where tension was high before the starter’s pistol even fired. All eyes were on Americans Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen as they continued their chase for two highly-coveted spots on the women’s U.S team for 2024 in Paris; Zaferes is earning points in her comeback from maternity leave, while Jorgensen, is trying to make her way back to an Olympic triathlon team after a break to pursue professional running.
Cold water and waves made for an ominous start to the race, where Jorgensen and Zaferes exited the swim together with a large lead group. With a rapid first transition out of her wetsuit and onto the bike, Zaferes joined a group of five that left Jorgensen behind in a chase pack. Zaferes’ front pack of five worked remarkably well, keeping up the separation from Jorgensen’s pack throughout the bike all the way until the run.
Zaferes frustratingly let much of the time she had gained in T1 slip back to Jorgensen with a poor second transition; still, she managed to power her way back to the front of the race. Zaferes then led the group for most of the run, and eventually broke away at the perfect time to give herself a brilliant victory. Jorgensen ran incredibly well and was gaining throughout, but it was only good enough for third…or so we thought.
After an appeal, which took almost two hours to resolve, the four women who led the race on the run – including Zaferes – were disqualified for accidentally cutting a small section of the course. Instead of following the lead bike and moto which directed athletes to run alongside the transition zone, the front pack ran through the transition area underneath the finish gantry.
With the DQ shakeup, Jorgensen was now the winner. Fellow American Gina Sereno and Great Britian’s Vicky Holland were also on the podium.
“This is not the way that you want to win a race,” Jorgensen said in a post-race interview. “I would have much rather raced to the line on a fair competition, but we all knew the course and the map. When I saw them going straight, I was very confused, I didn’t know why they were going that way and didn’t know what to do, but I decided to trust myself. I told myself that I know the course and I just should follow the course, and I took a longer line.”
Zaferes humbly said after her disqualification, “I was concentrated on the course and took what for me at that moment was the logical path. There were no officials directing us and I did not realize that we were slightly off the course. We passed through the finish gantry in all the laps of the bike and that is what I naturally did on the run. It is unfortunate and of course unintentional, but as the rules state you need to follow the prescribed course and I didn’t do that. I am really proud of my performance today, though. I executed the race exactly as I had planned and am trying to focus on that.”
With now just one place separating them on the World Triathlon Rankings, it is going to be an interesting race to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Brazilian Manoel Messias secured gold in the men’s race, showcasing a decisive kick in the last 500 meters of the run. His teammate, 23-year-old Miguel Hidalgo, had to settle for silver after a remarkable season that included two golds at the Pan American Games just last weekend. Aram Michell Penaflor of Mexico claimed bronze, marking his third World Cup podium and redemption after a disappointing performance at the Pan American Games.
Arizona State University dominates once again at 2023 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships
NCAA Division I, DII, DIII schools across the country gathered together with their strongest female athletes for a draft-legal sprint-distance race to decide the National Champions in Tempe, Arizona. There were individual and team national titles and it was going to be a very intense hour of racing for each of the women who toed the line.
It was the sixth consecutive year Tempe and Arizona State University hosted the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships and the seventh-straight year ASU claimed the DI title. ASU’s was a dominant team effort, with three of their athletes – Naomi Ruff, Amber Schlebusch, and Heidi Jurankova – finishing in the top five. Queens University of Charlotte and the University of San Francisco finished in second and third, and will have to wait another year to topple the Sun Devils.
Canadian Maira Carreau from the University of Denver secured the individual Division I title after overcoming a deficit on the swim to eventually lead on the bike and produce one of the fastest runs to secure the victory. Carreau also competes on the World Triathlon circuit, finishing 26th at the U23 World Championship. At just 20 years old and only a freshman, Carreau clearly has a bright future ahead of her.
In Division II, Lenoir-Rhyne University, led by overall winner Sabrina Fleig, secured the team title for the second consecutive year. Fleig produced a remarkable 18:10 run split that propelled her to her National title. The team’s coach, Harley Mason was also named DII coach of the year. Strong performances from athletes like Julia Kekkonen of Wingate University and Shannon Feran of Colorado Mesa University, who finished in second and third, also helped their respective schools earn silver and bronze medals in the team results.
Division III witnessed an all-North Central College podium, with Hailey Poe winning her third straight DIII title, joined by teammates Charlotte Kumler and Bethany Smeed on the podium. North Central College unsurprisingly topped the team standings in Division III, followed by Trine University and Eastern Mennonite University.
As of now, over 40 schools offer women’s collegiate triathlon at the varsity level, which an important benchmark for the future of collegiate triathlon. Now, the NCAA Emerging Sport for Women has an ever-shrinking number of steps to take on its journey to becoming fully managed by the NCAA as a championship sport – including committee, council, divisional and budget approvals.
For more from the weekend of collegiate racing, check out our photo gallery from Tempe.
It’s almost that time of year to eat some sweet treats and make our predictions for who is going to succeed in next year’s professional triathlon gauntlet – almost. There are four more pro races on tap next weekend, including an Ironman triple-header: Sebastian Kienle’s retirement race at Ironman Cozumel, a return to action for Javier Gomez at Ironman 70.3 Mossel Bay in South Africa, a showdown between Alistair Brownlee and Martin Van Riel at 70.3 Fortaleza. Challenge Florianopolis rounds out the weekend, with athletes looking to improve their standings and continue to climb the rankings ladder in the quest to rack up end-of-year bonus money.
Темы: Olympics