Yuka Sato of Japan fought off a challenge from Jolanda Annen of Switzerland with a race-best run and Matthew Sharp of Great Britain did the same to David Fajardo of Spain to take their first ITU World Cup victories at Tongyeong, South Korea.

Women

Tongyeong has been very good to 23-year-old Yuka Sato of Japan, who won bronze at this World Cup stop in 2012, and now it has provided the stage for her breakthrough victory.

Brazil’s Pamella Oliveira led the swim in Tongyeong Harbour in 18:41, followed closely by 2012 Olympic silver medalist Lisa Norden of Sweden, Yuko Takahashi of Japan, Gaia Peron (ITU), Mari Rabie of South Africa, and home country favorite Yun-Jung Jang of South Korea.

Norden had the fastest transition and she led a pack of 12 into the bike.

Attacking two steep hills, the lead pack including Norden, Annen, Carolina Routier of Spain, and Valentina Zapatrina of Russia created a 2 minute 21 seconds gap entering T2.

Starting the run, Yuko Takahashi of Japan and Norden broke out front, followed closely by Sato, Zapatrina, and Annen. On the second of four run laps, Norden fell back as Sato and Takahashi took control while Annen overtook Zapatrina to lead for the final medal position.

Sato surged ahead on the third lap of the run toward a race-best 36:23 run split to finish in 2:00:52, with a 14-seconds margin of victory over Annen, who out-sprinted Takahashi for the silver.

“I am very happy for this win,” said Sato. “I knew Takahashi is a good runner, but I just felt good today and confident on the last two laps.”

Annen was surprised with her runner-up performance. “This morning I had a really bad feeling so I hope this race come good and I get top 10,” said Annen. “But I am so happy I got 2nd I can’t believe it.”

Zapatrina finished 4th, 14 seconds behind Takahashi, and Ai Ueda of Japan was 5th, 42 seconds behind Zapatrina. Norden, on the comeback trail and aiming at the Rio Olympics after injuries slowed her the past year, finished 1:35 behind the winner in 6th place.

Men

Seunghun Seo of South Korea led the swim in 17:02, just one second ahead of Ben Kanute of the U.S., but no breakaway was possible as 60 men jammed into T1 within a minute and formed a crowded, unwieldy lead pack. A few attempts to break it up or get away were made along the way, but nothing stuck and only a few riders were unable to hang on. When it was all said and done 55 men reached T2 together.

Portugal’s Miguel Arraiolos took the lead out of T2, followed closely by Basson Engelbrecht of South Africa and Gabor Faldum of Hungary, who was in recent good form with podiums at the two most recent World Cup races. Sharp was 4th and Fajardo 7th.

Two-time Olympian Atkinson quickly moved to the front on lap 2, followed closely by Dmitry Polyanskiy of Russia and David Castro Fajardo of Spain. On lap 3, Sharp and Joe Maloy of the U.S. made up ground and joined Atkinson, Fajardo, and Polyanskiy at the front. While Maloy faded on the final lap, Sharp erased a 6-seconds gap and surged to the front. Only Fajardo managed to hang with Sharp, but in the end the Brit took the win with a race-best 31:41 run that brought him to the line in 1:48:39, with an 11 seconds margin on Fajardo (31:51 run) and 17 seconds on Atkinson (31:51 run).

Polyanskiy had faded from that initial front trio and ended up taking 4th, 8 seconds behind Atkinson, and Gregory Billington of the U.S. finished 5th, 2 seconds behind Polyanskiy.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had an ITU race,” said Sharp. “I've been struggling for a few years so this means a lot to me.”

Sharp said patience played a bit part in his victory. “I think on the first lap of the run, not through choice, I just couldn’t go with pace up and down the [steep] hill,” said Sharp. “On the flat I was feeling good so I just worked the cadence and slowly caught up.”

Fajardo was satisfied with his silver. “I am a sprinter and on the last lap in the last 100 meters I sprinted and Sharp attacked and I had no more sprint left,” said Fajardo.

“I stay at home all year in Australia and it’s a long, long way to travel races, so when I race I’m up against guys that race week in and week out at this and I’m not getting any younger but turning up and still racing, still in the race," said 3rd place finisher Atkinson. “Maybe ask me after London if I’d be back doing this again and at this level, never say never.”

Tongyeong World Cup
Tongyeong, South Korea
October 24, 2015
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Men

1. Matthew Sharp (GBR) 1:48:39
2. David Castro Fajardo (ESP) 1:48:51
3. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:48:56
4. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) 1:49:05
5. Gregory Billington (USA) 1:49:07
10. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:49:19
11. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:49:21
25. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 1:50:21
45. Eli Hemming (USA) 1:52:01

Women

1. Yuka Sato (JPN) 2:00:52
2. Jolanda Annen (SUI) 2:01:06
3. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) 2:01:15
4. Valentina Zapatrina (RUS) 2:01:29
5. Ai Ueda (JPN) 2:01:11
6. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:02:27
23. Chelsea Burns (USA) 2:04:39