Matt McElroy of the U.S. broke away from a duel with David Castro of Spain and fellow American Kevin McDowell with a powerful surge to win the 2019 Tongyeong World Cup event. McElroy finished in 51:25 with an 8 seconds margin of victory over Castro and 10 seconds ahead of 3rd place McDowell.
By a razor thin margin, defending champion Max Studer of Switzerland took 4th place over Eli Hemming of the U.S. in equal 51:41 times.
The men’s race promised to have a different look from the women’s contest, as a four-man pack including Diego Moya of Chile, Richard Varga of Slovakia, Antonio Serrat of Spain and Matthew Sharpe of Canada broke away on the swim and took the early lead on the bike leg.
But after the first of three laps on the 20-kilometer bike leg, the elite chase group powered through Tongyeong’s hills to close the gap and form a 42-man crowd.
Joao Pereira of Portugal took the early lead on the run, with Jelle Geens of Belgium on his shoulder. Soon, McElroy sped into the lead, with fellow U/.S. competitor Kevin McDowell in 4th place. They were soon joined by Studer and David Castro of Spain.
With a few hundred yards to go, McElroy turned on the jets to finish with a race-best 14:41 split for the 5k run, gapping Castro and McDowell by 8 and 10 seconds, respectively.
“Just running on pure emotion,” McElroy told ITU media. “I feel great and tried to have fun today. As soon as I saw the TV, I knew I had a bit of a gap. As soon as I kicked it up on the hill, I came flying down and didn’t look back.”
“The race was very hard,” said Castro. “The swim was a fight and the hill on the run is very important. I am very happy with second place. In 2015 I was second also. I am very happy.”
“I just went for it and was able to latch onto Matt (McElroy) and hang on,” said McDowell. “I am pretty pleased with third. I have had some highs and lows this year and I have been working on the mental side, so I am happy with today.”
Tongyeong World Cup
Tongyeong, South Korea
October 19, 2019
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Elite Men
1. Matt McElroy USA 51:25 S 8:18 T1 00:36 B 27:29 T2 00:23 R 14:41
2. David Castro Fajardo ESP 51:33 S 8:20 T1 00:39 B 27:22 T2 00:24 R 14:48
3. Kevin McDowell USA 51:35 S 9:06 T1 00:39 B 27:35 T2 00:29 R 14:48
4. Max Studer SUI 51:41 S 8:23 T1 00:38 B 27:26 T2 00:26 R 14:50
5. Eli Hemming USA 51:41 S 8:11 T1 00:37 B 27:33 T2 00:24 R 14:59
6. Joao Pereira POR 51:42 S 8:15 T1 00:35 V 27:29 T2 00:22 R 15:04
7. Kenji Nener JPN 51:43 S 8:02 T1 00:39 B 27:40 T2 00:23 R 15:01
8. Crisanto Grajales MEX 51:45 S 8:19 T1 00:38 B 27:26 T2 00:26 R 14:58
9. Ran Sagiv USR 51:48 S 8:06 T1 00:41 B 27:38 T2 00:27 R 14:57
10. Adrien Briffod SUI 51:49 S 8:09 T1 00:37 B 27:36 T2 00:25 R 15:93
