My Week in Tri: 21 August

PTO Asian Open: Full Results here

10min race highlights worth a watch - men’s, ladies. Charles-Barclay didn’t come out the water 1st! Perez-Sala was 2 seconds ahead of her with an almost 2min lead over the main contenders, including Gentle and Sodaro. Haug was about another 40s back. The gap came down quickly with Gentle, Haug, Sodaro and Simmonds all riding very well. Gentle took the lead halfway on the bike with Haug sticking about 40s behind her. Disaster struck for Haug with just over 10km left to ride when her spare tube came loose and wrapped around her cranks and she lost almost 3min. Gentle got off the bike with 30s to Simmonds in 2nd, 2:30 to Haug and 5:30 to Sodaro who couldn’t keep pace on the last half of the bike. Gentle was never under pressure with Haug and Sodaro only running a few seconds faster. | Lots of drama on the men’s with Bishop, Phillips and Royle all having mechanicals. Laidlow pulled out on the bike due to illness, Iden crashed out and even West had a crash and took skin off his elbow. The swim was relatively uneventful with everyone except Long getting out together. By halfway on the bike, Heemeryk had stamped his authority and gained a 40s lead over Noodt and Blummenfelt. This ballooned to over 2min by the end of the bike with Heemeryk absurdly admitting that he thought he still had another lap to ride when he got to T2?! The run started with a sense of how long will it take for Blummenfelt to catch him and can West have a sublime day and maybe leapfrog a fatigued Blummenfelt for the win. Heemeryk ran exceptionally well to only be caught at the 11km mark and in the end he comfortably held off a tiring West.

Ironman Sweden: Full Results here

An absolute domination by Norden for a home race win as she comfortably lead from start to finish. Cheetham briefly rode in 2nd before dropping back to 3rd and Zimmerman briefly ran her off the podium for a few kms before fading to 4th. This is Mathieux’s first “result” since being disqualified at Ironman South Africa earlier this year.

Women

🥇 Lisa Norden (08:47:02)

🥈 Justine Mathieux (08:54:20)

🥉 Susie Cheetham (08:56:16)

Ireland 70.3: Full Results here

A tragic race with two age group deaths, perhaps vindicating all other times when race organizers have chosen to cancel the swim. The swim for the Ironman had already been shortened due to adverse swimming conditions. De Boer turned around an 80s deficit after the swim into a 2min lead off the bike. She only grew this lead on the run. | Quenet and Smith came out within 30s of each other in the swim but Smith gained over 5min on the field during the bike and, on top of this, had the fastest run.

Ironman Mont Tremblant: Full Results here

Zilinskas lead the race until Crowley passed her at 96km into the bike. Crowley held the lead until 120km where she started to lose time and by 150km she was 43s behind sitting in 3rd behind Kessler and Zilinskas. Kessler started the run with a 1:17 lead over Zilinskas and this grew to over 2min at the 10km mark. Zilinskas took the lead shortly after 21km of running and never looked back. Crowley had another tough day on the run and only managed 5th a good 22min behind.

Women

🥇 Rachel Zilinskas (09:12:06)

🥈 Meredith Kessler (09:20:52)

🥉 Manon Genet (09:23:59)

Paris Test Event: Full Results here

Beaugrand was leading soon after T2 with Potter a few seconds behind in 15th. The two eventually dropped everyone with Potter having a decisive kick to drop a cramping Beaugrand to take the win. Knibb started the run in 23rd and ran herself up to 5th to book her spot to the Olympics with Spivey only managing 10th. | Yee ran 29:00 for the 10km with no one being able to keep up. That being said, the top 9, including Blummenfelt in 9th, all ran sub 30min! Wilde crashed his bike earlier in the day so was nursing a hip injury and pulled out early on the run along with Luis. Pearson only started the race at very late notice due to a DNS of a Canadian athlete, found himself leading the race early on the run ahead of Yee. He managed an outstanding 6th place to book his spot to the Olympics. Blummenflet left the race and flew to Singapore to win the PTO Asian Open 2 days later 🤯