For the
first time since Rio de Janeiro in 2004, Brazil is gearing up to host World
Triathlon Cup action this weekend, coming live and direct from the capital
Brasilia as part of a packed World Cup finish to the 2023 calendar.
The full
stretch of Brasilia's famous 1.2km Juscelino Kubitschek bridge and the Paranoa
Lake it traverses are the focal points of the racing, where a water start and
single-lap 1500m swim should make for an unusual swim segment, before the long
straights of the six-lap, 40km bike course, crossing the bridge 12 times in
total.
Out of T2
it’s back onto the bridge for three run laps and 10km in total to the tape, and
you can watch full coverage of the women's race from 7am and the men’s race
from 10am, local time, on TriathlonLive.tv.
MEN'S
PREVIEW
#1 Serrat
chases positive season closer
Wearing
the one will be Spain’s Antonio Serrat Seoane, the 28-year-old who looked the
natural heir to the Mola-Gomez throne but now is hungry to recapture his form
of 2021, when he sat at number one in the world for a couple of stops in the
Series.
After
kicking to his first WTCS podium in Bermuda near the end of 2022 it looked like
this could be his year, but the top-end speed hasn’t quite been flowing this
campaign. Disappointing results in the Paris Test Event and Pontevedra
Championship Finals hinged on Serrat being unable to claw his way back into
contention after the swim, and this certainly won’t be an easy Olympic distance
one-lapper in the water with no-wetsuits likely to be enforced.
Brazilian
bullet train pulls in
The
Brazilian power couple is Miguel Hidalgo and Manoel Messias, two different
profiles, two very strong medal contenders for the host nation. Hidalgo is
still just 23 but burst onto the scene with World Cup bronze in the Huatulco
heat of 2021, a result he repeated last year after scoring a career-best WTCS
6th in Leeds; strong outcomes in two very different environments that
underlined his versatility and adaptability, always based off a strong swim.
The first
Series podium that has eluded Hidalgo to date was scooped by Manoel Messias in
Cagliari last year with bronze and again in Abu Dhabi, silver in Montreal
showing the incredible run speed that is his signature. Likely to be at the
opposite end of the pack to Hidalgo out of the Lake, that hasn’t stopped him
scoring multiple World Cup golds and Pan American Games and continental titles,
and the heat and straightforward course could be right up Messias’ street.
Moya and
Castro back in battle
Diego
Moya is another South American talent who will likely spearhead the swim and
need to deliver a strong bike to give enough daylight to hold off the Brazilian
charge out of T2. A bold solo charge in Vina Del Mar late last year almost saw
the 25-year-old take his first World Cup gold, only for Spaniard David Castro
Fajardo to pick him off late on.
Castro
will also go again on Sunday, hoping to bring a difficult second half of the
season to an end on a positive note. The European Champion followed that title
in June with a World Cup win in Huatulco but has struggled since to find that
devastating run form in the tricky confines of Paris, Pontevedra and most
recently Rome.
South
American powerhouses
Expect
the likes of Antonio Bravo Neto (BRA), Crisanto Grajales (MEX) and Rodrigo
Gonzalez (MEX) to rise to the occasion of a World Cup on their continent, and
the World Triathlon development team is also packed with talent from the
region; Ramon Armando Matute Alava (ECU), Alvaro Campos Solano (CRC), Gabriel
Teran Carvajal (ECU) line up along with Diego Moya.
Barbados’
Matthew Wright is currently in pole position for the Americas’ New Flag Paris
2024 slot after a fine run to return to the squad, and Vitalii Vorontsov also
starts as a packed year comes to a close for the Ukrainian, including an Arena
Games debut in London.
WOMEN'S
PREVIEW
Casillas
looks to convert
Wearing
the number one is Miriam Casillas Garcia, the Spaniard who has seen some of her
very best performances in the past 12 months on tough Olympic-distance courses
and will no doubt relish going in as the top-ranked athlete.
Casillas
may not have hit a World Cup podium since Weihai in 2019, but a brilliant run of
series results in the second half of 2022 included a trio of WTCS top 10s at
the full distance, and she will want to prove a point and bank some precious
points after a disappointing Paris Test Event.
Brazilian
talent runs deep
The hosts
can count on Vittoria Lopes to be spearheading the swim, particularly on a
course where things could really string out if the Brazilian wants to roll the
dice early on. It was an effective tactic at last year’s continental
championships where she was solo until the final stages when Luisa Baptista
caught her, and she will have more motivation than ever to make that run stick
in front of her home fans.
For
Baptista and another talented Brazilian, Djenyfer Arnold, this race represents
a big opportunity to put a difficult period into the history books and launch
into the off-season on a high. Dabbling with longer distances appeared to have
derailed Baptista’s short course form and after cracking the WTCS top 10 in
Montreal Arnold last year, Arnold has yet to kick on as she would have wanted.
Mexico’s
Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal burst onto the biggest stage of them all with a
career-best silver at WTCS Yokohama in the second Series race this year,
running solo and free to her first major podium. A top 10 in Cagliari and 6th
in Huatulco followed, and she will need to replicate that Yokohama swim and
save the legs on the bike to set up a grandstand finish in Brasilia.
Olympic
medalist Zaferes chasing top form
World
Champion and double Olympic medal pedigree is brought to the start in the form
of USA’s Katie Zaferes who continues her quest for the points that could take
her to a Paris 2024 ticket. Two further graduates from the Tokyo 2020 top 10,
Alice Betto (ITA) and Valerie Barthelemy (BEL) will also be looking to sign off
on 2023 with strong results.
The Team
World Triathlon development squad, subsidising costs for those athletes from
smaller nations but full of Olympic potential, comes together for their final
race of the year in Brasilia. Moira Miranda (ARG) joins for the first time,
while Raquel Campos Solano (CRC), Erica Hawley (BER) and Zuzana Michalikova
(SVK) return to continue the pursuit of their Paris 2024 and LA 2028 dreams.
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