While anticipation is high for the big clash in Kona, we slake your thirst for triathlon action with dramatic accounts of events this weekend in Cozumel, Barcelona and Rancho Cordova California.
Olympic champion Nicola Spirig and Etienne Diemunsch win Cozumel World Cup
Nicola Spirig, the reigning Swiss Olympic champion, and Etienne Diemunsch of France won the elite titles at the Cozumel ITU World Cup held a hot and humid day on the famed resort island off the Yucatan Peninsula.
Women
In only her third ITU race after taking the gold at London and taking time off for the birth of her first child, Spirig remains 3-for-3 in post-Olympic ITU races with an 8-seconds margin of victory over Lisa Perterer of Austria and 11 seconds over 3rd place Yulia Yelistrova of Ukraine in a sprint triathlon.
Sophie Caldwell of Great Britain, Anastasia Abrosimova of Russia, Erin Jones of the U.S. and Carolina Routier of Spain led the women out of the 750-meter swim but no breakaway was forthcoming on this day as 34 women formed a massive pack one lap into the multi-lap 20-kilometer bike leg. By the finish of the bike leg, that pack of 34 was slimmed to 20 as they left T2.
On this hot day, that pack quickly disintegrated, which suited Spirig. “When we go to the run, I wanted to increase the pace,” she said. “I thought I could win the lead without having to sprint at the end.” And that's just what she wrote as Spirig posted a race-best 8:36 split for the 3k run to finish in 58:47 for the win. Perterer, who was tied with Spirig after the bike, lost 8 seconds to Spirig on the run – precisely Spirig’s margin of victory. Yulia Yelistrova of Ukraine, who also tied with Spirig at T2, ran 8:47 to take 3rd place.
The win was Spirig’s second in a row at Cozumel, which has served as her training base outside Switzerland for years.
Men
Etienne Diemunsch of France won his first ITU World Cup since 2011 with a last lap sprint that gave him a 4-second margin of victory over Jarrod Shoemaker of the U.S. and 5 seconds ahead of 3rd place Joe Maloy of the U.S.
Diemunsch just missed a podium earlier this year at Huatulco and had not made a World Cup podium since 2011 at Guatape.
“I am very happy,” Diemunsch said. “It was hard because of the heat. I was not confident because of my swim [17 seconds behind the leaders]. “All the guys in the chase group had to bike very hard and thanks to Fernandes [of Brazil] we caught the first pack right before the run.”
Diemunsch, Shoemaker and Maloy moved to the front right at the start of the run and kept in that order right to the finish. Shoemaker said the key to success in the sprint was not to begin with run with a desperate sprint. “You have to be very steady,” he said. “You can't go to the front as fast as you want. It’s hot but everybody has to deal with the same conditions.”
Shoemaker improved on his 4th-place photo finish at Cozumel last year and earned his second World Cup podium finish of the season.
Maloy was thrilled with his very first ITU World Cup podium finish. His previous best was a 5TH place at Tongyeong in 2013. “I didn’t come here for an easy race,” said Maloy. The conditions here are no secret – it’s hot, it’s hard, it’s a sprint distance so everything is a little bit faster.”
Cozumel World Cup
Cozumel, Mexico
October 5, 2014
S 750m / B 20k / R 3k
Women
1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 58:47
2. Lisa Perterer (AUT) 58:55
3. Yuliya Yelistrova (UKR) 58:58
4. Paula Findlay (CAN) 59:04
5. Alexandra Razarenova (RUS) 59:06
13. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 59:25
26. Erin Jones (USA) 59:54
28. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 1:00:02
39. Erin Dolan (USA) 1:00:32
54. Katie Hursey (USA) 1:02:44
Men
1. Etienne Diemunsch (FRA) 51:55
2. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 51:59
3. Joe Maloy (USA) 52:00
4. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 52:09
5. Ron Darmon (ISR) 52:10
25. William Huffman (USA) 52:56
26. Ben Kanute (USA) 52:57
52. Sean Jefferson (USA) 55:08
54. Kaleb Van Ort (USA) 55:27
61. John O’Neill (USA) 56:20
67. Nick Karwoski (USA) 1:00:50
Ewa Wutti of Austria and Clemente Alonso McKernan of Spain win Ironman Barcelona
Women
Ewa Wutti of Austria added another fast Ironman time to her résumé as she outdueled Camilla Pedersen for the win and Clemente Alonso McKernan edged fellow Spaniard Miquel Blanchart Tinto by 25 seconds to take top honors at Ironman Barcelona.
Wutti started her day 7:07 behind Pedersen’s women's best 53:35 swim. After her women's-best 4:41:30 bike split, Wutti had a short lead at T2 with Regula Rohrbach of Switzerland right with Pedersen. At 12 km into the run, Wutti had a 2:59 lead on Pedersen, Rohrbach was off the back and Susie Hignett of Great Britain was 3rd, 11:07 arrears. By the end of her race-best 3:04:02, Wutti finished in 8:49:21 with a 9:25 margin of victory over am obviously tiring Pedersen.
Wutti thus broke her own Ironman Barcelona record time by 1 minute 40 seconds. Her 2014 Barcelona time is the 27th fastest women's Ironman-distance performance in history. Excellent, but not as swift as her 2013 Ironman Copenhagen time – 8:37:36 – the 7th fastest Ironman distance time in history.
Men
While not as high on the list of their gender’s all-time Ironman distance performances as Wutti,
the men made up for their lack of historic speed with drama.
Alberto Casadei of Italy led the swim in 51:17, with a pack of 8 other men within 20 seconds – including Horst Reichel, Bas Diederen, Konstantin Bachor and Andreas Niedrig of Germany, and Spaniards Miquel Blanchart Tinto and Alonso McKernan.
At 147 km, Bachor led, followed by a tight pack that included Niedrig (+57 seconds), Alonso McKernan (+59 seconds), Mark Oude Bennink (+1:00), Casadei (+1:01) and Blanchart Tinto (+1:02).
By the time they finished the bike course and reached the 10km mark on the run, Bachor had a 6:06 lead on Alonso McKernan, 6:08 on Blanchart Tinto and Casadei, and 6:11 on Niedrig and Diederen. At 17km, Bachor was fading and his lead was down to 2:45 on Alonso McKernan, 2:50 on Diederen, 3:02 on Blanchart Tinto, and 4:45 on Casadei.
By the halfway point, Bachor’s lead was down to 1:29 on Alonso McKernan, 1:32 on Diederen, and 1:35 on Blanchart Tínto. At 27 km, Alonso McKernan led by 1 second over Blanchart Tínto, 7 seconds on Bachor and 23 seconds on Diederen while Casadei was falling slowly off the back.
At 32 km, Alonso McKernan, Blanchart Tintó and Bachor were still running in a pack. But at 37 km Blanchart Tinto had a 1 second lead on Alonso McKernan while Bachor dropped off.
At the finish, Alonso McKernan’s race-best 2:46:14 marathon was 23 seconds better than Blanchart Tinto and provided almost precisely all of his margin of victory over his fellow Spaniard. Bachor hung tough for third with a 9th best 2:57:49 marathon.
Ironman Barcelona
Calella, Spain
October 5, 2014
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Women
1. Ewa Wutti (AUT) 8:49:21
2. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 8:58:46
3. Susie Hignett (GBR) 9:03:32
4. Elisabeth Gruber (AUT) 9:15:35
5. Camilla Lindholm (SWE) 9:19:37
Men
1. Clemente Alonso McKernan (ESP) 8:04:13
2. Miquel Blanchart Tinto (ESP) 8:04:38
3. Konstantin Bachor (GER) 8:09:42
4. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 8:10:49
5. Bad Diederen (NED) 8:11:26
Kevin Collington and Jennifer Spieldenner win Challenge Rancho Cordova
Jennifer Spieldenner won it on the run and Kevin Collington did it on the bike to give the U.S. athletes a sweep of the elite titles at the inaugural Challenge Rancho Cordova half Ironman distance event in Northern California.
Spieldenner combined a women's 2nd-best 24:49 swim, 3rd-fastest 2:25:40 bike split and a women's-best1:24:26 half marathon to finish in 4:16:43 with a 2:23 margin of victory over Emma-Kate Lidbury of Great Britain and 6:44 over 3rd-place finisher Emily Cocks of the U.S.
Kevin Collington, the 2013 U.S. elite 70.3 champion, won a daylong duel with fellow Boulder, Colorado resident Rodolphe Von Berg, the 2014 USA Triathlon Collegiate men’s individual champion. Von Berg followed roommate and swim leader Davide Giardini by 5 seconds, Todd Skipworth by 1 second and led Collington by 4 seconds as they started the bike. Collington then stepped on the gas and posted a race-best 2:08:25 bike split that put 1:10 on Giardini, 4:46 on Von Berg and 8:10 on Joe Umphenour.
Von Berg countered with a race-fastest 1:13:22 run split that took back 2:49 from Collington but left Van Berg in the runner-up position, 1:39 short of the victory. Giardini, who like Von Berg is racing for Italy, took 3rd, 5 minutes back of his roommate, the winner.
Challenge Rancho Cordova
Rancho Cordova, Northern California
October 5, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Women
1. Jennifer Spieldenner (USA) 4:16:43
2. Emma-Kate Lidbury (GBR) 4:19:06
3. Emily Cocks (USA)
4:23:27
4. Abby Geurink (USA) 4:23:49
5. Jillian Petersen (USA) 4:24:34
Men
1. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:49:53
2. Rodolphe Von Berg (ITA) 3:51:32
3. Davide Giardini (ITA)
3:54:53
4. Joe Umphenour (USA) 3:56:14
5. Sebastian Neef (GER) 3:57:21
