After the women’s race on Saturday
night, Sunday morning was the men’s turn to tackle the grind of Huatulco’s hard
and hot circuit, and they collectively produced plenty of sprint-distance
triathlon fireworks over the course of the hour until a final kick from Spain’s
Genis Grau ultimately proved decisive.
A huge pack had formed on the 20km
bike and there were a dozen athletes still well in contention as the run slowly
boiled the field down until eventually just Grau, Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) and
Miguel Hidalgo (BRA) remained. It was cat-and-mouse for the final 500m, but
ultimately Grau found the best line and some precious daylight at the final
turn, pressing on to take the tape by just a second from Canada’s two-time
winner, Hidalgo repeating last year’s result with bronze.
‘I was not expecting this, it’s a
really big surprise,” admitted a thrilled Grau. “I came from WTCS Leeds and
didn’t know what was going to happen or how I would adapt to the heat. I swam
well and managed to stay with the leaders on the bike, then found myself with
the leading athletes on the run. I was dropped a couple of times but knew I had
a powerful sprint and just went for it right before the finish line.”
A sea breeze helped conditions feel
considerably cooler than for Saturday's women’s race as the men lined the
beach, race number one Hidalgo taking to the right of the start position and
followed by all the top ranked athletes, Mislawchuk and Diego Moya (CHI)
included.
Swim specialist Richard Varga (SVK)
found himself in the middle, and it was he and Mislawchuk fastest out of the
traps at the horn. It wasn’t long before Hidalgo had manoeuvred to the front,
New Zealand’s Trent Thorpe trying to stick to keep up with the leaders.
Only 15 seconds separated the top 20
out of transition and onto the bike, and despite an early burst that saw 14
athletes clear together over the first half of lap one – Sergio Baxter Cabrera
(ESP) and Brock Hoel (CAN) included - that soon became 25 as the likes of Grau,
Justus Nieschlag (GER) and Shachar Sagiv (ISR) bridged up.
At the halfway point it was still
Hidalgo driving from the front along with Baxter and Ren Sato (JPN), the group
now 38, before the bell signalled the last lap and nearly the entire field had
merged, home favourite Crisanto Grajales (MEX) left to ride solo off the back
but cheered on by the crowd at every turn.
Out of T2 it was Sato and Hidalgo
shoulder-to-shoulder, Mislawchuk tucked in there too along with teammate Hoel,
Moya and Baxter but only ten seconds separated the top 40 as they hit the 5km
run and a fascinating race to the finish began.
Baxter was going well with Portugal’s
Joao Pereira and another pair of crowd favourites Aram Michell Penaflor Moysen
and David Nunez full of running, so that at the bell it looked like any one of
11 athletes could take the win.
The final climb out of transition
shuffled the pack once more, Mislawchuk asking the questions but failing to
make any significant impact on the group, then Hidalgo burst on the downhill as
the final kilometre really heated up.
Nunez, Baxter and Sagiv’s medal
challenges faded but their own battle for positions still raged, while ahead
there was nothing to call between Grau, Mislawchuk and Hidalgo. The Brazilian
pressed before the final turn but it was Grau who had the line and the sprint,
searing to the tape, Mislawchuk with silver, Hidalgo the bronze.
Nunez was a popular fourth ahead of
Baxter, Sagiv, Pereira, Penaflor, Moya and Alois Knabl (AUT) rounding out the
ten.
“It was a bit of a strange race,”
said Mislawchuk. “On the run it was kind of like a championship style track
event where I pushed the first bit but realised there was fifteen or twenty
guys with us, tactical until the end and I got caught off guard going into the
last corner. I mean after I tore my achilles last year I didn’t know if I was
ever going to be on one of these podiums again, you never know when your last
podium is… I’ll enjoy this one.”
“I thought I was going to win on the
last corner but Genis (Grau) and Tyler (Mislawchuk) were fastest on the
day," admitted Hidalgo. "I am happy with my performance but I wanted
the win so much but repeated last year’s result. I gave it everything, no
hiding from the start. This course is so hard to breakaway on the bike and
always comes down to a running race.”
For the full results, click here. https://triathlon.org/results/result/2022_world_triathlon_cup_huatulco/545502?mc_cid=3979fed6cc&mc_eid=6139649918
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
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