It’s never too late to be on top of a
World Cup podium for the first time, must have thought Petra Kurikova (CZE), 31
years of age, and who stormed the field with an impressive run that gave her the
victory at the 2022 World Triathlon Cup Pontevedra. Second crossing the finish
line was Lisa Tertsch, from Germany, while Sandra Dodet (FRA) claimed the
bronze medal.
The 2022 World Triathlon Cup circuit
landed in Pontevedra, Spain, for the third stop of the year, and a start list
packed with athletes trying to get some more Olympic qualification points
before the summer break. Fifty-eight athletes lined up in the pontoon on the
Lerez river, ready for a 1500m swim, eight laps to cover 40km on a bike course
flat but very technical to finish with a 10km run across the city center, and
with hundreds of spectators lining up in the streets to cheer for the athletes.
A group of six athletes, commanded by
Kate Waugh (GBR) and including Lena Meißner (GER), Jolien Vermeylen (BEL),
Mathilde Gaultier (FRA), Sophie Alden (GBR) and Marina Kyryk (UKR), took easily
control of the swim, and started to open a gap that by the time that they
finished the first of the two laps, it was significant. The six of them
stretched the field as much as they could before exiting the river for the long
run up to transition, and by the time the small group was already on their
bikes, they had already a 20 seconds margins with the chasers, Emma Jeffcoat
(AUS) and Anna Godoy Contreras (ESP).
The speed bump right after the
mountline was key for a few athletes, with Kyryk loosing the leader’s train,
and slowing the trio chase group a bit, so even before the end of the first lap
of the bike, there was a large pack of athletes trying to get organised to
avoid the leaders opening a massive gap.
It did work out well, and in the
eight laps of the bike course, the leaders never had more than 45 seconds of a
lead. The group of five seemed to be working together to try to increase the
gap, but the chasers managed to get organised despite being a large train, and
managed carefully the numerous speed bumps (28 per lap, for a total of 224),
the corners and the technical sections around the city.
The five leaders -Alden, Waugh,
Gaultier, Vermeylen and Meißner- made it safely to the second transition
without any mayor issues, and with 50 seconds over the chase group, but knowing
that some of the best runners of the field were on that chase group, and some
had fresher legs having stayed at the back of the large pack on the bike. The
small group started to run leaving Meißner quickly behind them, while a few
seconds behind them, the chase was on from the first minute.
It was Lisa Tertsch who decided to go
full gas in the first lap, followed by Lea Coninx (FRA), while the leaders run
though some of the most iconic landmarks of Pontevedra in the first lap.
Quickly Alden and Meißner were dropped a few meters, while Lisa was approaching
them like a train, with Coninx and Petra Kurikova following her steps. It only
took Tertsch one lap to be on a position of fighting for the medals, and by the
time they were crossing transition halfway through the run she was already in
the first place, with Waugh in second and Vermeylen in third place. But behind
them, another hurricane came flying: Petra Kurikova, an excellent runner, and
catching athletes one by one.
With less than a kilometer to go, the
efforts of the experienced athletes paid off and while Tertsch faded away on
the list little climb to the Plaza de la Peregrina, she moved to first place,
no one able to follow her. She entered the stadium to grab the tape and the
first ever World Cup victory of her career by herself, with Tertsch managing to
hold on to second place.
“I still can’t believe it, it’s
amazing, ” said Kurikova, still amazed by her own performance this Sunday in
Pontevedra. “We were a big group on the bike and I was a little bit scared, I
was at the back of the group but then it was a run race, I know I am a good
runner so it was good for me.”
“I just told myself I am going to
give it all like I did in Hamburg and it worked out really well. I tried to
stay present and focussed and it worked out really well today,” said Tertsch,
bronze medallist in Hamburg WTCS a couple of weeks ago.“On the run, in the last
5 kilometers, that is where the race is decided always and that was the case
today. You always got to stay patient. So I did, tried my best, and it did pay
off”.
The third bronze was for another
athlete that came from the second bike group, Sandra Dodet, that with a
magnificent run proved once again that she is one always to be considered for
podiums when it comes to World Cup races.
“I need to be consistent on World
Cups to be better on WTCS. I had a pretty bad race two weeks ago in Hamburg, so
I am really happy to be on the podium today,” she explained. “With the swim and
the bike that I had today, I couldn’t believe that I could be on the podium, so
I was very surprised and very happy.”’
Eva Daniels, from Luxembourg, claimed
the fourth place, also coming from the chase group on the bike, while the fifth
place was for Waugh, and Spanish young star Noelia Juan closed the top six
athletes.
Results: Elite Women
1. Petra
Kurikova CZE 01:57:43
2. Lisa
Tertsch GER 01:57:55
3. Sandra
Dodet FRA 01:58:08
4. Eva
Daniels LUX 01:58:11
5. Kate
Waugh GBR 01:58:18
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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