It had
been a long road from their breakthrough races at the 2022 Championship Finals
Abu Dhabi, but Germany’s Lena Meissner and Britain's Connor Bentley proved
themselves once more on Saturday as they topped the World Cup podium for the
first time in the heat of Samarkand.
Both
found themselves locked into late battles over the run before finding the feet
in the heat that they needed to steer home for the golds. Jessica Fullagar
(GBR) and Tilda Mansson (SWE) won silver and bronze in the women's race, Yanis
Seguin (FRA) and Jonas Schomburg (GER) the men's.
WOMEN'S
REPORT
The
Feuersinger flow
It was a
two-lap 1500m swim to get things underway in the Silk Road rowing lake, and
with no out-and-back-in at the halfway mark, it was Feuersinger again on the
pace hard, Meissner tucking in well with Fullagar, Sian Rainsley and
Michalickova.
Up the
ramp and out into transition after lap two, two distinct groups had formed,
Roksana Slupek leading the second, but it was Fullagar, Meissner and
Feuersigner who were able to push the pace and find themselves clear by the end
of lap one.
Power
trio pulls clear
It proved
to be a potent trio, too, so even the likes of Rainsley, Slupek and Xinyu Lin
were unable to do anything about their 35-second advantage, Mansson with Ilaria
Zane and Erica Hawley 60 seconds off the front.
As the
small chase groups merged, 13 riders were together now 80 seconds from the
front three including Selina Klamt, Slupek, Rainsley and Mansson, with another
13 athletes two minutes further behind, Sinem Francisca Tous Servera off the
back of them, Vicky Holland trying to get back into the race after coming out
of the water three minutes back.
At the
bell, the chasers had slipped to 2mins back, and then it was Fullagar and
Meissner with the fastest transitions, leaving Feuersinger suddenly chasing
shadows.
Chasers
turn up the heat
Zane,
Klamt and Slupek were straight on the gas, but it was Mansson who was building
into the run, working her way through them to take up fourth position and begin
her mission to reel in Feuersinger.
That she
did over the start of lap three, but there was nothing she could do about the
two ahead, and it was Meissner who would deliver one last decisive move to drop
Fullagar as the blue carpet neared, the German pulling narrowly ahead, Fullagar
a delighted second, Mansson back from her Yokohama DNF disappointment with
bronze.
“Therese
pushed the swim really hard so it was quite hard to stay on her feet,” admitted
Meissner. “On the bike we got a gap and I think we rode the 40km nearly all
out. Then on the run it was just to get the hot pace on and hopefully a podium,
then I started to think I could win. The three of us were motivated to work
really hard out there and then Jess and I switched turns to deal with the wind
then it was everyone for themselves on the last lap!”
“We
worked so well as a three on the bike and then Lena and I did well together, it
was really fun running with her,” said Fullagar. “I want to thank Non Stanford
my coach, I couldn’t do it without her. I really wanted a result like this, the
conditions came together today. Georgia (Taylor-Brown) has been ripping my legs
off in training so to have opened that gap onto the run was perfect!”
“It felt
good on the run but I was a bit sad not to make it to the front by the end,”
admitted Mansson. “In the beginning on the bike we worked well, then lost a lot
of time the last two laps and I wanted to save my legs a bit. I wanted to take
the run out at my own pace, got a little cramp early on, but I just wanted to
keep working well and not push too hard.”
MEN'S
REPORT
Devay and
Longcroft Harris for the swim win
The front
three swimmers of Mark Devay, Chase McQueen and Canada’s Aiden Longcroft-Harris
managed to put some time over the chasers by the end of lap one, but the
American would lose a little ground over the second loop, Simon Westermann
digging in to keep himself firmly in the front-pack hunt, Ireland’s James Edgar
also flying early on.
Eight
take control of bike
Bentley
was right there, too, so it was a well-set bunch that merged early on the bike,
Yanis Seguin and Jonas Schomburg completing the eight hard-riding leaders.
Seth
Rider and Sylvain Fridelance were 28 seconds back along with Tyler Smith and
Panagiotis Bitados then a huge chase group settled but never organised, the gap
to the front slipping with every passing lap.
At the
20km mark the lead was 80 seconds, by the bell it had gone out to two minutes,
Emil Holm, Gaspar Riveros and Shachar Sagiv battling to keep in check, Harry
Leleu off the back after coming off and riding solo for the second half of the
bike.
The chase
gets going
It was
Bentley-Westermann-Seguin with the three fastest transitions and out first,
Schomburg losing a couple of places but soon hauling his way back up.
Australia’s Oscar Dart was first into the chase, soon joined by David Cantero
del Campo, as they set about reeling in Longcroft Harris and Edgar, the first
to drift from the leaders.
Westermann
was next to be dropped, Devay yo-yo’d but hung on, Cantero absolutely flying
further back and suddenly within 30 seconds of the leaders.
That was
as close as he could get, though, as up ahead Connor Bentley was able to find
one last almighty surge to finally break his rivals and find daylight. Seguin
and Schomburg locked into a huge sprint as Bentley hoovered up the blue carpet
for his first World Cup gold, Seguin narrowly edging the silver, Schomburg back
on the podium in third.
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