My Week in Tri: 4 September

70.3 Zell am See: Full Results here

Short distance Olympian Perterer lead a very strung out main pack into T1 by well over a minute. The main contenders were in the “pack” except for Kleiser who was almost 4min back. Perterer led until 55km on the bike before a storming Bleymehl caught her with Astle a few minutes back. Off the bike Bleymehl had a 4:21 lead over Astle with Kleiser having cycled up from 14th to 3rd now 5:30 behind the leader. Almost expectedly, Astle didn’t hold the pace on the run due to her extensive calf injury this year and potentially ran conservatively with Kona coming up soon. | Men: Manner had over a minute lead out the water. Similar to the ladies race, he stayed ahead on the bike until Funk eventually made a decisive pass around the 55km mark. Funk got into T2 almost 3min ahead of Manner with Stratmann almost 5min behind. Dreitz came 4th while unfortunately Clavel dropped out.

70.3 Poznan: Full Results here

Konczalla got out the water over 4min behind the leader Krueger and almost 2min behind Curridori. Off the bike she had turned this around to a 2:31 lead over Curridori. She brought it home with the fastest run of the day. | Men: Hirsch had a small 35s lead out the water and extended this on the bike entering T2 over 2min ahead and extended this on the run. Mattner passed Davis in the final few km to take 2nd.

Ironman Wales: Full Results here

Bartlett was 2nd out the water almost 3min behind Ahrens. By 40km on the bike, Bartlett had already established a 4min lead which ballooned to almost 15min into T2. She backed this up with the fastest run to make it a dominant win.

Women

🥇 Nikki Bartlett (09:52:02)

🥈 Heini Hartikainen (10:15:22)

🥉 Johanna Ahrens (10:30:21)

Gerardmer XL: Full Results here

It was an end to end domination by Derron who led out the swim. She had the fastest bike and came into T2 with Pedersen a few minutes back. She had the fastest run by over 5min to really drive it home. | Men: Ceccarelli had a small lead out the water with Wayaffe being over 1min back. Mennesson lead the bike but couldn’t back this up on the run. Wayaffe took the win with the fastest run of the day but Ceccarelli was close behind with the 2nd fastest run keeping the pressure on the whole way.

Super League Toulouse Full Results here

Triple mix format: 3 separate triathlons with a short break between with the order of sports changed each time.

This felt more like a soap opera with plenty drama. Waugh absolutely dominated the first triathlon on the bike and run with last weeks winner Lehair close behind. Spivey took a few steps onto the run course then pulled out which she admitted was the plan as she had an injury concern. On the second triathlon, Lehair bullied the run course to take an early lead but was disqualified for re-fixing her helmet strap while holding her bike in transition (?!). On the 3rd triathlon it was Waugh all the way who comfortably won in the end with Lehair and Spivey not present. | Men: Bergere and Brownlee were the leaders after the first triathlon with the Duracell Bunny Blummenfelt in 3rd. In the 2nd triathlon, Wilde dominated the bike to gain a small lead only to give this up in the swim. Rider started the 3rd triathlon with Wilde, Bergere, Brownlee and Schoeman all in striking distance. Rider crashed on the bike and it was the Wilde and Bergere show as they raced around the technical bike course in true crit style. The drama: coming into T2, Wilde saw 1 lap left on the board and passed Bergere as he was slowing down to dismount. They had some words but amongst confusion, Bergere rode into T2 while Wilde sped right through it. The “1 lap to go” sign was for the athletes that had just been lapped. Bergere was now comfortably in the lead with Wilde having to turn around. Schoeman had a trademark swim to catch Bergere in the water with Brownlee just behind. Bergere ran away on the final leg to win with Brownlee in hot pursuit dropping Schoeman. The drama carried on with an objection that Bergere cycled across the dismount line and wasn’t penalized. This was ruled to be an officiating irregularity and no cause to penalize Bergere.

World Triathlon Cup Valencia Full Results here

Great 3min highlights videos here: Men, Ladies. There was a strung out group of swimmers being led out by Vermeylen containing 22 athletes, including Jorgensen. The flat bike ensured a running race in the absence of any drama and that’s what happened. A small group of runners formed with Jorgensen leading. She broke away with two laps to go to win her first race in 7 years! | Men: Devay had a small gap on the swim and he rode solo in front with Bentley for quite a while before they were caught by the main pack of 15 athletes. Deja vu when Devay and Bentley broke away to gain a few seconds lead into T2. A group of 7 ran together which dropped down to 5 at half way. The attrition carried on with the top two hitting the blue carpet together. There was a 100m sprint to decide the winner.