Taylor Knibb lasted four days in off-season mode before deciding she wanted to race again! Less than a month after winning the IRONMAN World Championship, the American came within a sprint finish of landing a World Triathlon Cup in Chile.
Colombia’s Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto pipped Knibb to win the inaugural World Cup Iquique on Sunday, with both women clocking 55:47. Spain’s David Cantero Del Campo won the men’s race, while the Hong Kong World Cup races delivered two tight individual finishes and a Swiss comeback in the mixed relay.
Here’s our round-up of a busy weekend…
Iquique women – Knibb’s late call ends in silver
“I lasted four days of off-season and was just feeling pretty irritable,” Knibb wrote on Instagram. “I wanted to be at peace – it had already been such a great year – but I knew in my gut I really wanted to race and I felt like I was missing out on a good opportunity.”
Knibb said she told coach Dan Lorang how she felt, tested some intensity in training and got the support of USA Triathlon to race. It made for a sharp change of pace after her IRONMAN World Championship win in Kona on 10 October.
Heavy Pacific surf made the 750m swim a test in its own right. Spain’s Ana Carballo Gómez and Italy’s Carlotta Missaglia caught a wave back towards the beach to post the two fastest swims. An early break on the bike involving Knibb came back before the end of the first lap, and 13 women rode into T2 together.
Knibb started the run eight seconds behind Velasquez Soto but worked her way into the lead group and ran the day’s fastest 5km in 16:03. With around 500m to go, she and Velasquez Soto pulled clear of Spain’s Marta Pintanel Raymundo. The Colombian found the edge in the closing metres, while Pintanel Raymundo, the winner in San Pedro de la Paz a week earlier, took bronze in 55:53.
Iquique men – Cantero bounces back with gold
Cantero made amends for his DNF in San Pedro de la Paz with victory in 50:52. He and fellow Spaniard Antonio Serrat Seoane gave up 24 seconds in the swim, while American brothers Sullivan and Porter Middaugh were around 45 seconds back. All four worked their way into contention on the bike.
Márton Kropkó (HUN) and Samuel Künz (AUT) took nearly 20 seconds into T2 after a late break, but the chasers reeled them in. Cantero, Serrat, the Middaugh brothers and San Pedro winner Morgan Pearson (USA) came together on the run, and Cantero made the decisive move off the final turn.
Porter Middaugh edged Serrat for silver, both in 50:55, even though Serrat ran the day’s quickest 5km in 14:14. Sullivan finished fourth in 50:57 and Pearson fifth in 51:00 with just 17 seconds covering the top ten.
Hong Kong individual races – Serre and Isakova win on the line
France’s U23 world champion Nils Serre Gehri claimed his first World Cup win on Saturday, passing Switzerland’s Max Studer late in the run and holding off Australia’s Callum McClusky at the line, with both men timed at 50:14. Spain’s David Castro Fajardo took bronze in 50:20 and Studer finished fourth.
The women’s race was just as tight. Diana Isakova (RUS) backed up her Rome win by edging Jeanne Lehair (LUX), both in 55:39. China’s Anqi Huang ran the fastest 5km of the race (16:38) to take bronze a second back, with Valentina Riasova (RUS) fourth and Britain’s Bethany Cook fifth.
Hong Kong mixed relay – Studer flies for Swiss gold
Studer got his gold on Sunday. After legs from Anouk Danna, Simon Westermann and Alissa Konig, Switzerland were 35 seconds behind China at the last handover and had a 10-second penalty still to serve.
Huang had given Xirui Zhang an 18-second lead, but Studer, Russia’s Grigory Antipov and Italy’s Samuele Angelini caught him on the bike. Studer broke clear on the run and built enough of a lead to stop in the penalty box and still win by more than seven seconds. Antipov took silver for Russia and Zhang secured bronze for China while Angelini served Italy’s own 10-second penalty.
“I had two finish lines today,” Studer told World Triathlon.
