We Noticed: Championship Racing in Boise, London and More!

Long and Kasper Blast at IRONMAN 70.3 Boise

The IRONMAN Pro Series had another American stop on the weekend and Sam Long and Kirsten Kasper made it an American sweep for the top spots of the podium.

As is usual, Long found himself well back after the swim as Switzerland’s Ben Faeh and France’s Vincent Luis led the way out of the water. Once on the bike, though, there was no stopping Long, who was riding without a bike computer, as he blasted to move from 20th to first, hitting T2 with a lead of more than three minutes on Faeh, with Luis starting the run over four minutes back. Long extended his lead on the run to take a convincing win, while his countryman Ari Klau ran his way to second ahead of Canadian Blake Harris.

“I called (today’s race) the game of revenge, but it was truthfully revenge for myself. I just haven’t shown what I am truly capable of lately,” said Long. “IRONMAN’s tag line is Anything is Possible, and sometimes I feel like we put our own limits on ourselves. This is win number 22 of my professional career so I have confidence when I say to myself, I know what I am doing. Today’s race was a bit about trusting myself, trusting my body, and knowing I had what it takes to get it down. Hats off to all the other guys out there. I’m really proud to race such tough field.”

Top Five Male Professional Results 

As was expected, Kiwi Rebecca Clarke led the way out of the water in the women’s race, ahead of Kasper, Belgium’s Hanne de Vet, American Jenna Campbell and another New Zealander, Hannah Berry. Once on the bike it was de Vet who would power clear, hitting T2 with a two-minute lead over Berry, with Kasper starting the run in third, five minutes down.

On the run, though, Kasper, competing in just her third IRONMAN 70.3 race, used the day’s fastest run split to work her way to the front, with Berry moving into second and de Vet hanging on for third.

“My goal was to have a good swim and hopefully get some time on the girls, but they were right there with me,” said Kasper after her victory. “Then on the bike, it was a solo ride most of the day. I knew I was going to give up some time, but just tried to not give up too much time. And on the run, I just went to my race plan and chipped away at it. I’m just ecstatic to come away with the win.”
 
“It still feels long,” Kasper continued when asked about moving up to longer-distance racing. “About 80K into the bike I was ready to get off. But I come from a run background so I actually love being able to race the half marathon and see how fast I can go.”
 

Top Five Female Professional Results 

Full results are available here.

Hauser and Beaugrand Take WTCS London

The World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) continued with a much-anticipated stop in London. As we reported last week, Hayden Wilde wasn’t in the field, but the race still featured last year’s world champ Matt Hauser, reigning Olympic champ Alex Yee and current WTCS leader Vasco Vilaca.

As is usual, Hauser was among the lead group out of the water behind Hungary’s Mark Devay, with France’s Jules Rethoret, Vilaca, American Morgan Pearson and Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo all in the mix. Eventually a group of 13 would form up front, with Yee, who was 40 seconds down after the swim, part of the chase. The chase pack got to within 20 seconds behind before a crash that involved Canadian Charles Paquet stalled the pack’s progress, and the gap was over a minute by T2.

On the run Hauser, Hungary’s Csongor Lehmann, Vilaca, Pearson and Spain’s Alberto Garcia would form a group of five that would compete for the medals, but Gonzalez had a 10-second penalty to serve. Pearson tried to push at the front, but it was Vilaca who charged ahead on the final hill, only to have Hauser mark the move and sprint by to take the win.

Yee would post the day’s fastest run split – 13:52, but that was only enough to move him to 14th.

After her record-setting 3,000 m run that kept her away from WTCS Hamburg, reigning Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand made it three-for-three after wins at Alghero and Quiberon, but initally the day didn’t start out too well.

“I was not very confident on the swim because I think I had one of my worst swims ever,” Beaugrand said afterwards. “I thought I was having a very bad day when I was swimming. I just had no speed; I was very sleepy. I had to wake up on the bike, and luckily my run is still here from two weeks ago. It was still good and I’m very happy.”

Beaugrand hit T1 30 seconds behind swim leader Tilly Anema (GBR), who came out of the water next to Hungary’s Fanni Szalai, with American Taylor Knibb next out. The American would lead the way out on to the bike, and would break away with Anema to ride clear of the first chase group that included Italy’s Bianca Seregni, Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair, Britain’s Sophie Evans, Szalai and Germany’s reigning world champ Lisa Tertsch.

After Anema crashed, Knibb was on her own and found herself trying to hold off a pack of 30 that formed as the first chase group was engulfed by the next pack. That meant Knibb’s lead was only 21 seconds after T2, and it wasn’t long before she was caught by a group that included Beaugrand, Tertsch, Sweden’s Tilda Månsson, Brit Georgia Taylor-Brown and France’s Emma Lombardi. Hamburg champ Leonie Periault (FRA) and Beth Potter (GBR) would move through the pack, but it was Beaugrand, Tertsch and Månsson who would pull clear to duke it out for the medals.

The Swede got dropped with about 1 km to go, and while Tertsch tried to pull clear of Beaugrand, the Olympic champ had all the answers and would pull clear for the win.

Mislawchuk and Michaličková Tops in Toronto

Three-time Canadian Olympian Tyler Mislawchuk thrilled the Toronto crowd with a big win at Supertri Toronto, surging away from a big lead pack off the bike to take the win over Great Britain’s Solomon Okrafo-Smart with France’s Nathan Grayel taking third. After completing 10 sprint triathlons in a single weekend at the last Supertri event at Blenheim Palace, British legend Jonathan Brownlee took fifth.

It was Slovakia’s Zuzana Michaličková who dominated the women’s race, the only woman to break the one-hour mark. Michaličková, Canadian Kira Gupta-Baltazar and American Mackenzie McConagha broke clear on the bike, but once she got on the run Michaličková was unstoppable. American Annie Fuller ran her way past the Canadian and her countrywoman to take third, while Gupta-Baltazar hung on for the final spot on the podium.

Three athletes from each gender qualified for the Supertri Pro Series Final in Jersey on September 6. Both winners had already qualified, which meant the men’s spots went to Okrafo-Smart, Grayel and Lessmann, while Fuller, Gupta-Baltazar and McConagha earned the women’s spots.

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