Valentina Carvallo of Chile and Irving Perez of Mexico won the Huatulco World Cup at the sprint distance.
Women
Valentina Carvallo of Chile overcame a middling swim with a scorching fast bike split and a women's-best run to win the sprint distance Huatulco World Cup by a decisive 28 seconds over Jolanda Annen of Switzerland and 39 seconds over 3rd-place Kirsten Kasper of the U.S.
Carvallo was thrilled with her first World Cup podium - and her recovery from a serious deficit after the swim. “I didn’t feel super great in the water (her 10:35 split was 33 seconds behind swim leader Annen) I was able to make up a little bit of distance in the transition and have a good first lap. I wanted to be in the top group so I could relax a little bit on the bike (race-best 37:59 bike split) I knew I needed a good transition after that and from there on I felt really comfortable.”
Carvallo jammed into the lead and held a 25 seconds lead after the first of two run laps. After a by far race-best 17:19 5k run, she finished in 1:06:20 with a 28 seconds margin over runner-up Annen.
On the final lap, Kasper surged past several contenders on her way to a 2nd-fastest 17:30 run, passing Aoi Kuramoto and edging Mateja Simic of Slovenia near the line for 3rd thus earning her first World Cup podium.
Kasper’s last lap pass of last year’s Huatulco bronze medalist Simic assured the United States women of a place on every podium this year in the ITU World Cup and World Triathlon Series events.
In a surprise after her World Cup win and top 4 finish at a World Triathlon Series event, U.S. sensation Renee Tomlin had an off day and finished 23rd.
Men
Maximilian Schmetz of Germany led the 750 meter beach swim in 9:13, followed by Irving Perez of Mexico one second later and a mob of other contenders which made any breakaway impossible. Still, 2014 Huatulco bronze medalist Aurelien Lescure of France, who had a big lead at this race last year until he faltered with heat exhaustion, made an attempt on Lap 3, but was quickly sucked back into the mob.
Davide Uccellari of Italy and Gregory Billington of the U.S. led the runners out of T2, but Perez soon powered past and got the home crowd roaring. Ten seconds behind, Massimo De Ponti of Italy, Schwetz, Kevin McDowell of the U.S. and Manuel Huerta of Puerto Rico ran shoulder to shoulder.
Perez continued to draw away to a race-best 15:41 5k run and the win as Schwetz dropped the rest of the pack to secure the silver. Thomas Springer of Austria held off a last lap surge by Kevin McDowell of the U.S. to take the final spot on the podium by 3 seconds.
Huatulco World Cup
Huatulco, Mexico
June 14, 2015
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Women
1. Valentina Carvallo (CHL) 1:06:20
2. Jolanda Annen (SUI) 1:06:48
3. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:06:59
4. Aoi Kuramoto (JPN) 1:07:06
5. Mateja Simic (SLO) 1:07:13
8. Chelsea Burns (USA) 1:07:45
12. Taylor Spivey (USA) 1:08:17
18. Erin Jones (USA) 1:09:18
23. Renee Tomlin (USA) 1:10:07
Men
1. Irving Perez (MEX) 59:25
2. Maximilian Schwetz (GER) 59:29
3. Thomas Springer (AUT) 59:31
4. Kevin McDowell (USA) 59:34
5. Massimo De Ponti (ITA) 59:35
12. Sean Jefferson (USA)
13. Gregory Billington (USA) 1:00:02
14. Andrew Yorke (CAN) 1:00:03
15. Rodolphe Von Berg (ITU) 1:00:26
30. Kaleb Van Ort (USA) 1:01:45
