World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong results: Gwen Jorgensen picks up another win, Hellwig stars

Tim Hellwig and Gwen Jorgensen added to their medal tallies this season at World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong this weekend, as the in-form pair both won tight races following strong battles on the run.

Hellwig, who has finished on the podium in his last three races and won the World Triathlon Cup Chengdu last weekend, beat Portugal’s Ricardo Batista and Britain’s Samuel Dickinson to the tape, whilst Jorgensen outlasted Japanese veteran Yuko Takahashi and Czech star Tereza Zimovjanova.

Following the race, Hellwig, who has already qualified for the Paris Olympic Games, moved up to #15 in the Individual Olympic Rankings. Following her third victory of the season, Jorgensen moved up to #53, but remains the seventh ranked American.

Elite Women – Jorgensen takes the tape

Leading out of the water in Tongyeong, Takahashi, who was coming in off the back of a recent win at the Asian Games Championship, was first, followed closely by Hungarian Zsannett Bragmayer and Belgian Claire Michel.

2016 Olympic Champion Jorgensen and the bronze medalist from that race in Rio, Britain’s Vicky Holland, both had a significant deficit to overcome out of the water, as the pair exited transition with +0:25 to the front of the race.

Fortunately for Jorgensen, she managed to make it into the chase pack of 13 women, who spent the first lap hunting down the lead pack of seven before it all came together on the second lap of the bike, as 18 athletes lead the way at the front.

With a gap of over 30 seconds coming off the bikes into T2, Jorgensen looked to be in pole position, but was slow through transition to give her rivals a glimmer of hope at the start of the 5km run.

However, running to victory over the closing stages, Jorgensen worked her way into a podium position and then surged past Takahashi, as the recently crowned Japanese national champion could only hold on for second ahead of Zimovjanova.

After the race, Jorgensen said that she made a few mistakes on the day and was unhappy with how she performed in the swim, but will have a chance to improve upon any deficiencies next weekend when she races the World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki.

““You know I was happy to get up to the front, I had a few mistakes today so I’m not really thrilled with my process today, but I’m always happy to come over to the win. I had pre-run this course a few times and so I kind of knew what the angles to take and how to kind of take the best line and so I was really trying to just work my way up.

World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong podium featuring Gwen Jorgensen — [Photo Credit – World Triathlon/Janos M Schmidt]

“I feel like I had a horrible swim I’m really disappointed with my swim today and then on the bike it was a little bit of like all the way on or totally easy and then we got a transition and my hands were so cold I couldn’t get on my shoes and I just felt like it was a pretty crazy so for me I tried to stay in the moment, tried to stay present and just worked my way up.”

Elite Men – Hellwig unbeatable

In the men’s race, South African Jamie Riddle was first out of the water, with Kiwi Dylan McCullough and Swiss star Simon Westermann neck and neck as the leading trio stretched out the field in the water as nine men made the front pack.

Hellwig, who won last weekend over the Olympic distance in Chengdu and was a brilliant second last month at the WTCS Finals in Pontevedra, was safe and sound in the front pack, along with teammate Jonas Schomburg plus British duo Jack Willis and Sam Dickinson.

In the chase pack, former winner Matt McElroy of the USA was working hard to bridge the gap, along with Norway’s Casper Stornes and Australian Jacob Birtwhistle, but the gap just kept growing and by the time they hit transition the leaders had +0:35.

On to the run, the British pair led the charge, with Batista also looking strong and Hellwig demonstrating his form over the closing stages to move into pole position heading on to the blue carpet and finishing straight.

World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong podium featuring Tim Hellwig, Ricardo Batista and Samuel Dickinson — [Photo Credit – World Triathlon/Janos M Schmidt]

Getting the better of Batista in the sprint, Hellwig took back-to-back World Cup victories in style, as Dickinson rounded out the podium following a great race across swim, bike and run in only his fourth race of the season.