Emilie Morier of France and Roberto Sanchez of Spain earned the ITU World Championship Under 23 crowns today at Lausanne, Switzerland.

Women

Emilie Morier of France surged to the front starting the run, built a large lead for the first three laps, then staved off collapse with a slow tired run for the final kilometer to take the win with a 7 seconds margin of victory over Olivia Mathias of Great Britain and 31 seconds over 3rd place Lisa Tertsch of Germany.

Dorka Putnoczki of Hungary led the swim in Lake Geneva with a 19:53 split that gave her a 3 seconds lead on Sophie Alden of Great Britain and, pm ultimate contenders, 4 seconds on Kira Hedgeland of Australia, 5 seconds on Olivia Mathias of Great Britain, 12 seconds on Morier and 16 seconds on Lisa Tertsch of Germany.

Once on the bike leg, Hedgeland surged to the front of a pack of 11 riders that included Therese Feuersinger of Austria, Raz Porados of Israel. Next in line were Kate Waugh of Great Britain, Morier, Germans Tertsch and Lina Meissner and Feuersinger.

As the field emerged from T2, Morier accelerated away from a front pack with a 65 seconds lead on the chasers. After the first lap, Morier was 20 seconds faster than the next best effort by Mathias. After the second lap, Tertsch, Waugh and Erica Ackerlund of the U.S. fell off the back and Mathias found herself in 2nd place 12 seconds arrears with Hedgeland 18 seconds back and Feuersinger next with a 45 seconds deficit.

After building a considerable lead after 3 of 4 laps, Morier found herself tiring and doled out her margin until she crossed the line in 2:04:01 with a 7 seconds margin of victory on Mathias 37:49 run split) and 31 seconds on 3rd place Tertsch (race-best 37:11 run).

“I worked very hard during the race,” Morier told ITU media. “I had a very good performance in Tokyo (12th of 54 finishers in a senior WTS field) and today I am World Champion. All my family are here and I am really emotional. I stayed focused but that last lap was so difficult - but now I am World Champion.”

“I knew we just needed to get a gap in the second pack because I knew how good their leaders were,” Mathias told ITYU media. “Me and Emilie were just trying to work together and it worked. I went in for my life. I knew I just had to get through the third lap and I went as fast as I could to get to the line.”

“I tried to be conservative in the beginning and push it at the end and it worked out super well,” said Tertsch. “Kate (Waugh) [and I’ worked together and try to get as far ahead as possible. I didn’t think I was able to get a medal and suddenly we were I third and fourth.”

Men

Roberto Sanchez of Spain applied a race-best 32:12 split over on the 10 kilometer run on the challenging hilly streets of Lausanne to draw away from last year’s Junior World Champion Csongor Lehmann of Hungary. Sanchez finished in 2:04:01 with a 16 seconds margin of victory on Lehmann (32:32 run split) and 30 seconds on 3rd place Ran Sagiv of Israel.

“I feel incredible,” said Sanchez. “It was the perfect race for me. I was in the second group at the beginning of the bike course but we managed to work together and chase down the leaders. In the first lap of the run I gave it all and managed to open a 20-second gap, and then it was just a matter of maintaining it. This is the World Championships and I knew that there were really good runners in the field, I’m so happy with how the race went.”

Tayler Reid of New Zealand and Seth Rider of the U.S. led the swim and Mathew Hauser of Australia charged out front of the first lap of the bike. Soon a 26-man lead pack formed, creating a 60 seconds lead on the chasers.

Leaving T2, Sanchez seized the lead and was never headed. After a 2nd-fastest 32:12 run split he crossed the line in 1:50:20 with a 16 seconds margin of victory on Lehmann and 30 seconds on 3rd place Sagiv.

ITU World Championship Under 23 Women
Lausanne, Switzerland
August 30, 2019
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Under 23 Women

1. Emilie Morier (FRA)2:04:01 S 20:05 T1 00:40 B 1:05:05 T2 00:29 R 37:42
2. Olivia Mathias (GBR) 2:04:08 S 19:58 T1 00:42 B 1:05:11 T2 00:28 R 37:49
3. Lisa Tertsch (GER) 2:04:32 S 20:32 T1 00:38 B 1:05:42 T2 00:29 R 37:11
4. Kate Waugh (GBR) 2:04:53 S 20:33 T1 00:44 B 1:05:37 T2 00:29 R 37:30
5. Kira Hedgeland (AUS) 2:05:22 S 19:57 T1 00:41 B 1:05:14 T2 00:32 R 38:58
6. Alicja Ulatowska (POL) 2:05:38 S 20:01 T1 00:41 B 1:05:11 T2 00:31 R 39:14
7. Lena Meissner (GER) 2:06:30 S 20:22 T1 00:46 B 1:05:44 T2 00”30 R 39:08
8. Erica Ackerlund (USA) 2:06:49 S 20:08 T1 00:38 B 1:05:05 T2 00:23 R 40:35
9. Ainsley Thorpe (NZL) 2:07:25 S 20:24 T1 00:39 B 1:05:50 T2 00:29 R 40:03
10. Therese Feuersinger (AUT) 2:07:37 S 19:58 T1 00:44 B 1:05:09 T2 00:27 R 41:19

Under 23 Men

1. Roberto Sanchez (ESP) 1:50:20 S 18:52 T1 00:40 B 58:08 T2 00:28 R 32:12
2. Csongor Lehmann (HUN) 1:50:36 S 18:09 T1 00:36 B 58:54 T2 00:25 R 32:32
3. Ran Sagiv (ISR) 1:50:50 S 18:53 T1 00:40 B 58:07 T2 00:34 R 32:36
4. Vasco Vilaca (POR) 1:51:07 S 18:52 T1 00:35 B 58:12 T2 00:25 R 33:03
5. Brandon Copeland (AUS) 1:51:12 S 18:26 T1 00:34 B 58:40 T2 00:27 R 33:05
6. Diego Moya (CHL) 1:51:28 S 18:12 T1 00:39 B 548:48 T2 00:26 R 33:23
7. Diego Alejandro Lopez-Acosta (MEX) 1:51:38 T1 00:38 B 58:52 T2 00:28 R 33:30
8. Ben Dijkstra (GBR) 1:51:44 S 18:46 T1 18:10 T1 00:40 B 59:55 T2 00:27 R 31:56
9. Matthew Hauser (AUS) 1:51:52 S 18:05 T1 00:36 B 58:59 T2 00:41 R 33:31
10. Simon Westermann (SUI) 1:51:57 S 18:06 T1 00:38 B 58:56 T1 00:25 R 33:52
12. Seth Rider (USA) 1:52:13 S 18:03 T1 00:38 B 58:58 T2 00:25 R 34:09
21. Darr Smith (USA) 1:54:01 S 18:08 T1 00:40 B 1:00:16 T2 00:27 R 34:30
31. Austin Hindman (USA) 1:56:12 S 18:12 T1 00:40B 58:54 T2 00:43 R 37:43