The northern Spanish city of
Pontevedra is ready once again for the famous World Triathlon blue carpet, when
it welcomes some of the fastest triathletes in the world for Sunday’s 2022
World Triathlon Cup Pontevedra. The event, part of the Olympic qualification
period, will also serve as an appetizer for what is to come in 2023, when the
Galician city hosts the World Triathlon Championship Series Final.
Pontevedra has a long association
with triathlon. Hometown of five-time world champion Javier Gomez Noya and host
of the European Championships in 2011 and the Multisports Festival in 2019, the
races this year will be over the Olympic distance format: 1500m of swimming in
the river, followed by 40km bike to finish with a 10km run in the heart of the
city, and you can watch all the action as it happens on TriathlonLive.tv.
Men’s Preview
With Gomez Noya retired from World
Triathlon racing, it seems only natural that one of the “heirs” to the Spanish
throne, Antonio Serrat Seoane, wears the number one on Sunday. Born in Vigo,
only a few kilometers away from the venue, he knows well not only the course,
but also the weather conditions and the tides that affect the River Lerez.
Serrat, currently training in
Pontevedra with Gomez, has had a great start of the season, with a 5th place at
WTCS Abu Dhabi and 9th at WTCS Leeds, enough to keep him currently in the 7th
place in the Maurice Lacroix Championship Series Rankings. He will be leading a
strong and fast Spanish team, including Sergio Baxter Cabrera - 5th in the Huatulco
World Cup and winner of the Europe Triathlon Premium Cup in Holten - and Genis
Grau, eager to have another great performance after his victory in Huatulco.
Another sensation this season who
will be lining up in Pontevedra is Jawad Abdelmoula, the young Moroccan athlete
that stormed the field in Hamburg to claim the bronze and a first ever WTCS
podium for his country. He has proven to be an athlete to watch in sprint and
super-sprint distance races, and now is the time to prove if he has also the legs
to perform over the Olympic distance.
Abdelmoula is one of the newest
additions to the ASICS World Triathlon Team, that will present in Pontevedra a
strong squad including also Diego Moya (CHI), Badr Siwane (MAR) and Henry Räppo
(EST).
The flat and technical Pontevedra
bike course should suit athletes like Jonas Schomburg (GER), always trying to
make an impact in the race and break away from large packs, or Paul Georgenthum
and Valentin Morlec (FRA), both excellent bikers.
Also training for a week in Pontevedra
alongside the legend Gomez Noya has been Chase McQueen (USA), looking forward
to getting some good Olympic points this weekend after a quiet start to the
year.
Barclay Izzard (GBR), Max Studer
(SUI) and Rodrigo Gonzalez (MEX) are some of the names that should be
considered among those likely to be fighting for the top positions, especially
if a large pack hits the second transition together.
Women’s Preview
Germany’s women have proven to be the
ones to beat lately in World Cup races, and they are sending a powerful squad
to Pontevedra to target a full podium sweep, unless the likes of the Spanish or
French can prevent it.
Olympian and Mixed Relay Leeds winner
Anabel Knoll has had a great season so far, finishing 7th in WTCS Yokohama, 8th
in Leeds and 6th in Hamburg, but she has yet to step on a World Cup podium, and
Pontevedra seems like a perfect place for her to do so. Strong on the bike and
great runner, flat courses like the one in the Galicean city suit her really
well, and having other strong German girls in there with her can surely only
help her to perform on the day.
Talking about someone that knows how
to perform on the day, Lisa Terstch is the young German who finished in third
place in WTCS Hamburg two weeks ago, and looks to be in great running form. The
same can be said for Lena Meißner, so expect the Germans to continue their
momentum in Pontevedra.
Miriam Casillas Garcia (ESP) will be
leading the Spanish team this Sunday. Another excellent runner, she has been
training lately in Portugal and is quite used to the weather conditions that we
can expect in Pontevedra, and this could play in her favor. Alongside her will
be Anna Godoy Contreras (ESP), Marta Pintanel Raymundo (ESP), Sara Guerrero
Manso (ESP) and Noelia Juan (ESP). With the Spanish women not ranked so high,
it will be vital for them to get some valuable Olympic points to guarantee that
they can at least have two women amongst the eligible athletes for the
Olympics.
Sandra Dodet (FRA) is known for her
great World Cup performances and along with Lea Coninx (FRA) they are two of
the most powerful athletes both on the bike and run segments, who will surely
be looking for extending her dominancy at this level of events.
After her great performance at the
Hamburg Mixed Relay, Kate Waugh is another athlete that seems to be perfectly
shaped for a course like the one in Pontevedra. Her GB teammates Sophie Alden
and Iona Miller have produced solid results recently in European Cups and are
always tough athletes to beat when it comes to Olympic distance races.
Fast swimmers like Erika Ackerlund
(USA), Emma Jeffcoat (AUS) and Jaz Hedgeland (AUS) are always names to be
considered to follow, as is Yuko Takahashi (JPN) if she has a good day on the
swim.
Another fast swimmer is ASICS World
Triathlon Team member Edda Hannesdottir (ISL), who will be accompanied in
Pontevedra by the development squad teammates Macarena Salazar (CHI) and Romana
Gajdošová (SVK).
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.
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