Taylor Spivey, Henri Schoeman, set the Swim pace on Day One in Malta

Day one at Super League Triathlon Malta took place on Friday afternoon in Birgu.

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LIVE at EQUALISER Part 1
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Individual Swim Time Trial
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Last of the men in the TT pic.twitter.com/Ymz5zTuSFG

— supertri (@supertri_) October 26, 2018

Something of a ‘prologue’, the standalone 600 metre individual swim time trial forms Stage 1 of ‘The Equalizer’, which will be the concluding race on Sunday, following on from Saturday’s Eliminator. Athletes will get a head-start / penalty based upon their swim performance today, when they begin the swim/bike/run/swim/bike/run enduro style event. A weak swim today and you really start off in a poor position on Sunday. That’s Super League – any weaknesses quickly get exposed and magnified.

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RELATED: HOW TO WATCH SUPER LEAGUE TRIATHLON MALTA

Women’s Review

Always swift in the water, the U.S. women filled four of the top six positions, headed by Taylor Spivey (7:04), but with Katie Zaferes, Summer Cook and Kirsten Kasper less than 10 seconds slower (7:11/12/13 respectively), they should all be right in the mix from the start – and have a small buffer over athletes including Rachel Klamer (NED), Jodie Stimpson (GBR) and Claire Michel (BEL).

Look out for Zaferes to push hard on that very first 300m swim and try and force a small group (which eventually just became her and Kirsten Kasper), as she did in Jersey. Overall, no ‘win’ today for Katie Zaferes, but she will be more than content with that as an opening effort.

Men’s Review

Not too much of a surprise to see Henri Schoeman (RSA) at the top of the leaderboard after a swim race – and SLT Jersey winner, Vincent Luis, will be happy to have finished the closest to him, 11 seconds slower over today’s 600m course. He will start just ahead of Igor Polyanskiy (RUS) and Jonas Schomburg (GER) on Sunday – with a small, but perhaps not insignificant advantage over Jonathan Brownlee.

With a 7:21 today (versus the 6:31 of his fellow South African, Schoeman), Richard Murray will have a deficit of 50 seconds to make up before he even hits the water for his first swim on Sunday. Murray performed brilliantly during the Enduro in Jersey to make the podium in that discipline a month ago. He’s going to need something even more impressive this time around, with Jonathan Brownlee, Ben Kanute (USA) and Léo Bergere (FRA) also starting with a significant advantage over the champion from Super League Hamilton Island.

Super League Triathlon Malta, Friday 26th October 2018
The Equalizer (Stage 1) – 600m Individual Swim Time Trial

WOMEN

1st – Taylor Spivey (USA) #29 – 00:07:04
2nd – Yuko Takahashi (JAP) #27  – 00:07:10
3rd – Katie Zaferes (USA) #16 – 00:07:11
4th – Summer Cook (USA) #99 – 00:07:12
5th – Danielle De Francesco (AUS) #94 – 00:07:13
6th – Kirsten Kasper (USA) #91 – 00:07:13
7th – Emma Jeffcoat (AUS) #22 – 00:07:16
8th – Rachel Klamer (NED) #07 – 00:07:20
9th – Charlotte McShane (AUS) #24 – 00:07:25
10th – Jodie Stimpson (GBR) #08 – 00:07:26
11th – Erin Storie (USA) #78 – 00:07:34
12th – Joanna Brown (CAN) #11 – 00:07:34
13th – Megan Foley (USA) #75 – 00:07:38
14th – Claire Michel (BEL) #13 – 00:07:42
15th – Elena Danilova (RUS) #97 – 00:07:54
16th – Desirae Ridenour (CAN) #17 – 00:07:54
17th – Klaudia Sebők (HUN) #23 – 00:07:59
18th – Sarah Alexander (USA) #76 – 00:07:59

MEN

1st – Henri Schoeman (RSA) #04 – 00:06:31
2nd -Vincent Luis (FRA) #29 – 00:06:42
3rd – Jonas Schomburg (GER) #09 – 00:06:46
4th – Igor Polyanskiy (RUS) #11 – 00:06:46
5th – Tommy Zaferes (USA) – 00:06:47
6th – Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) #05 – 00:06:54
7th – Ben Kanute (USA) #75 – 00:06:55
8th – Matthew Sharpe (USA) #91 – 00:06:58
9th – Léo Bergere (FRA) #52 – 00:06:59
10th – Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) #65 – 00:06:59
11th – Hayden Wilde (NZL) #53 – 00:07:10
12th – Andreas Schilling (DEN) #00 – 00:07:12
13th – João Pereira (POR) #99 – 00:07:19
14th – Luke Schofield (AUS) #77 – 00:07:20
15th – Richard Murray (RSA) #07 – 00:07:21
16th – Oliver Turner (JER) #76 – 00:07:24
17th – Jack Felix (USA) #78 – 00:07:32
18th – Jayden Schofield (AUS) #95 – 00:07:33