Arena Games Triathlon powered by
Zwift began with a famous victory in Munich, Germany, with a dominant
performance by British triathlon star Beth Potter. Home favourites Lena
Meissner and Olympian Anabel Knoll secured the second and third spots on the
podium.
Famed as a run powerhouse, the
30-year-old from Glasgow bossed every discipline in Munich and refused to give
the chasing field a glimpse of the win, claiming the victory in all three
stages of the final and also in the two stages of her heat.
Having won 2021’s Super League
Triathlon Arena Games in London and finished second at the Rotterdam event last
year, and also winner of the Quarteira Europe Cup just a couple of weeks ago,
she is now on a great position for winning the debut esports Triathlon World
Championship.
“That was good, that was hard. I
enjoyed that. I didn’t think it was a format that I’d be good at, so I’m really
happy to win here,” said the Brit at the finish line. “I wanted to run as hard
as I could to see if the wheels came off on the final leg.” Her final kilometre
time of 3:09min suggesting the wheels were securely in place.
Stage 1’s 200m swim saw the Hungarian
Zsanett Bragmayer (HUN) setting the tempo before Spain’s Anna Godoy edged her
out of the water and reached the Tacx turbo trainers first. Italy’s Ilaria Zane
and Potter both took turns at the front alongside Anna Godoy Contreras (Spain)
on the 4km bike, with the field bunching on Zwift’s cobbled climbs. By the
bike’s halfway stage, there was little separating the top six contenders, but
Gina Sereno (USA) and Luisa Iogna-Prat (Italy) had been cut adrift at the rear,
some 15secs behind.
The top six stayed together until the
start of Stage 1’s run leg, but within 400m Potter had assumed control and
created a 10sec buffer between herself and the chasers. That lead was 17secs
over home favourite Lena Meissner by Stage 1’s finale. Advantage Potter.
Stage 2 again witnessed a mass start,
yet the classic triathlon order was reversed, with a 1km run giving way to a
4km bike and 200m swim. Potter and Sereno instantly pushed to the front, with
Meissner staying in the shadow of their avatars. At the midway stage, Potter’s
run prowess saw her create a 5sec lead with Meissner creating some daylight
ahead of Senero.
Potter’s advantage was 9secs at the
conclusion of the run, boarding her Factor bike ahead of Meissner and her
German compatriot Anabel Knoll. Anna Godoy struggling to get her feet in her
bike shoes highlighted the complexity and pitfalls of the unique Arena Games
format, the experienced Spaniard dropping out of the Stage 2 reckoning.
By the start of the final swim,
Potter’s Stage 2 advantage was 25secs and the Scot was already thinking of a
healthy cushion for Stage 3’s Pursuit-style finale. That combined lead would be
a sizeable 24secs over Meissner, with Potter’s sub-3:10min run kilometres a
sign of her formidable tri-athletic skills.
Stage 3 witnessed a Pursuit-style
beginning, with Potter having a head start of 24secs (initially it was reported
to be 2mins) ahead of the 200m swim, 4km bike and 1km run seen in Stage 1.
After a delay to find the exact results from Stage 1 and 2, Potter was first in
the pool, barring incident the true battle being who would finish behind her in
the final two podium spots, with German eyes on the duel between Meissner and
Knoll.
At the halfway stage of the 4km bike,
Potter’s lead was 1:14mins but Meissner and Knoll were neck-and-neck with Godoy
now in pursuit. Potter looked like she was on a training ride yet still
increased her advantage.
Potter has already completed half of
the final 1km run by the time Meissner and Knoll took to the course and would
romp home by 90secs in what was one of Super League Triathlon’s most convincing
victories. In a frenetic finale, Meissner edged Knoll to the silver medal, with
Godoy and Zane rounding out the top five.
Following last year’s debut German
showing, Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift Munich was Super League
Triathlon’s second visit to the multisport-mad nation, the setting being the
iconic Olympiapark in Munich, Bavaria, home of the 1972 Olympic Games and the
venue for the 2022 European Games, in which triathlon is set to feature.
Heats
Beth Potter also cruised into the
finals of the Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift World Championship Series
opener. Potter was always the heavy favourite and made light work of Heat 1 at
Munich’s Olympiapark. A fast Stage 1 saw her secure a whopping 27 second
advantage to take into Stage 2 and she was able to cruise home.
The battle for the two other
automatic qualification places behind her were much more intense, but it was
hometown favourite Lisa Meissner who finished second while the USA’s Gina
Sereno narrowly pipped Ilaria Zane for third.
Zane still made the finals as one of
two fastest losers. The other also came from Heat 1 to underline the pace in
that wave with Luisa Iogna-Prat making the cut.
Heat 2 was more controversial with
Petra Kurikova leading after Stage 1 but disqualified before the start of Stage
2 for spitting. Zsanett Bragmayer took the win with German star Anabel Knoll
second. Anna Godoy, who has a previous Arena Games podium spot to her name,
ended up in third.
Results: Elite Women
1. Beth
Potter GBR 00:37:10
2. Anabel
Knoll GER 00:38:53
2. Lena
Meißner GER 00:39:09
4. Anna
Godoy Contreras ESP 00:39:44
5. Ilaria
Zane ITA 00:39:51
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney
2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the programme at
Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic programme at
Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development of the sport
worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and transparency at our
core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the sport to be
extraordinary.
www.triathlon.org
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