Wilde and Vilaça bid for men's Series
ranking lead and Beaugrand leads strong French challenge for medals at first
ever WTCS Sunderland
Sunderland and the north-east of
England will make a World Triathlon Championship Series debut on Saturday
afternoon, when the 14th successive British leg of top-tier triathlon moves a
two-hour drive north of its traditional home of Leeds, 450km north of London,
ready to start a new chapter in the country’s racing history.
Roker Beach is the centre of the
action, where the crowds will miss a close-up of the injured Georgia
Taylor-Brown, but will have Olivia Mathias to get behind as the sole Brit in
the women’s race up against a powerful-looking French line up spearheaded by
WTCS Hamburg winner Cassandre Beaugrand and a resurgent German team arriving
off the back of a celebratory WTCS Hamburg.
As the chase for the men's 2023 title
continues to heat up, Sunderland will see a straight shootout between New
Zealand’s Hayden Wilde and Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca for who is standing on top
of the rankings on Saturday evening with the Paris Test Event and Championship
Series still to come, defending champion Leo Bergere also returning for the
first time since Cagliari in May.
The course begins with an
anti-clockwise 750m swim in the choppy, chilly North Sea framed by Sunderland
Harbour, the athletes will then head out onto a technical, five-lap 21.3km
bike, each circuit with one steady climb, three quicker straights, a switchback
and dead turns, before wrapping up with a 2-lap 5km run for the medals.
As always, you can watch all the
action over on TriathlonLive.tv - men's start 2pm, women 3.35pm BST, Saturday
29 July.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Cassandre Beaugrand leads a trio of
French talent, fresh from her outstanding WTCS Hamburg victory and looking to
build into August’s huge Paris Test Event with another win that would catapult
her into second place in the rankings behind the absent Beth Potter. From swim
to bike to run, the 26-year-old was again immaculate in Germany, and as a
nearby Loughborough resident these days, the ease of a ‘home’ race should only
add one more to the list of reasons that a successive Series gold could be
hers.
Teammates Emma Lombardi and Leonie
Periault return to the blue carpet, Lombardi a top-10 regular in recent Series
outings including two silvers in Cagliari, more recently putting in the hours
in the Font Romeu mountains and hungry to put those kilometres into race
action. Periault’s road back from injury last year has gone well, bad luck in
Cagliari notwithstanding, a silver in Montreal a month ago just another signal
of her potential for a huge Paris 2024 campaign.
Nicole Van Der Kaay was another to
impress in Hamburg, sixth in the individual race, silver with Team New Zealand
in the mixed relay, and this weekend would be the perfect moment to score a
first Series podium since 2021.
German athletes were collectively on
fire on home turf, with Annika Koch and Marlene Gomez-Goggel putting together
career-best displays and Lena Meissner again impressing. World Cup winners in
Arzachena and Huatulco last year, Goggel and Koch finished fifth and fourth
respectively a fortnight ago, the kind of tough, all-in finishes that will
steel their confidence for another new challenge and medal hunt in Sunderland.
Expect Zsanett Bragmayer (HUN),
Bianca Seregni (ITA) and Vittoria Lopes (BRA) to be leading through the water,
the returning Maya Kingma likely to be right there too as she also explores her
return to full race fitness and pushing her limits with just two Series starts
to her name so far in 2023.
The USA’s great Gwen Jorgensen could
rip through this 5km run and establish herself back among the best this
weekend, at the other end of the experience spectrum but with a no less
dangerous kick is Sweden’s Tiszaujvaros World Cup winner Tilda Mansson. Swiss
pair Cathia Schar and Julie Derron look destined for an imminent Series podium,
and Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen has shown superb consistency in 2023 and is
ready for a Series breakthrough after 9th place in Hamburg.
MEN'S PREVIEW
Fans will be looking for another hit
of the kind of high-octane action that they were treated to at WTCS Hamburg a
fortnight ago, while the athletes will be grateful the challenge is a more
straightforward sprint-distance thrash out than that intense two-day blast in
Germany.
It was Hayden Wilde’s tactical
masterclass that won the day in Germany and put him in touch with Series leader
Vasco Vilaca, the final super-sprint coming down to a brilliant T2 that bought
the kiwi the slither of daylight he needed over his rivals, taking full
advantage to seal a second win of the year.
It should be another fascinating
finale in Sunderland, with those still around him onto the run knowing that
Wilde will be the man to try and hang on to over the first lap, while he will
of course be looking to shake them off as quickly as possible. Current number
one Vilaca hasn’t missed a race this year and continues to build and finesse
his challenge for the title. Out-pacing Alex Yee down the chute in Hamburg will
have given the 23-year-old a boost even if he couldn’t quite reach Wilde, and
there is never any shortage of confidence or bravery from the Portuguese star,
while Yee sits out the race ahead of next month’s Paris Test Event.
The 2022 World Champion Leo Bergere
is back on the start line and keen to see how a solid two month training block
and time at the altitude of Font Romeu has sharpened his challenge. With Pierre
Le Corre by his side, the pair worked so successfully in Abu Dhabi in November
to push the bike pace, and will know that could again be their best chance at
keeping the likes of Wilde at bay.
European Games champion Vetle
Bergsvik Thorn again looked sharp before his unfortunate DSQ in Hamburg and he
will be fired up for redemption after that frustrating finish a fortnight ago
as the sole Norwegian on the men’s side.
There is dangerous run form and speed
deep into the start list, though. Jawad Abdelmoula has yet to recapture his
form of 2022 but remains a threat, Manoel Messias has already run his way to
the podium twice in impressive fashion in 2023, Antonio Serrat Seoane (ESP) and
Tim Hellwig (GER) will want to top up their first tastes of podium successes
last year.
Can Jonas Schomburg (GER) make one of
his signature power moves out of T2 stick for a first Series medal? Will Kenji
Nener (JPN) convert his top-10 consistency to a podium spot? What will it take
for Richard Murray (RSA) or Mario Mola (ESP) to roll back the years and find
what would be a famous finish in Sunderland? Tune in to TriathlonLive.tv from
2pm BST Sunday to find out!
WTCS Sunderland
From 14:00 Saturday 29 July
TriathlonLive.tv https://www.triathlonlive.tv/products/2023-wtcs-sunderland?mc_cid=64065a510f&mc_eid=6139649918
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