Van Egdom, Lindemann top U23s
Jorik Van Egdom of Netherlands won it with a top bike split and Laura Lindemann of Germany won it with a race-best run at the Under23 World Championship in Cozumel, Mexico.
Men
High temperatures led race officials to delay the men’s U23 race by an hour and a half on Friday, and David Castro Fajardo of Spain led the field into T1. Eager to make a break, a pack of 10 men including Castro, William Huffman of the U.S., Tom Richard of France, Tayler Reid of Great Britain, Edison Gomez of Mexico, Jorgen Gundersen of Norway, Zavier Grenier–Talavera of Canada, Vicente Trewhela of Chile, Gianluca Pozzatti of Italy, and Sam Ward of New Zealand broke into a 19-seconds lead on a chase group of 40 men.
Halfway through the 8-lap, 40-kilometer bike leg, the chase pack gobbled up the leaders, forming a 50-man pack. On the final lap of the bike, Van Egdom, Japanese riders Ryosuke Maeda and Shiruba Tariguchi, as well as Sylvain Fridelance of Switzerland succeeded in a break that gave them a 40-seconds gap starting the run.
Van Egdom blasted out of T2 into the lead, and then maintained a large advantage to the finish where he crossed the line in 1:52:39 with a 21 seconds margin of victory over Manoel Messias of Brazil.
“I feel so good,” Van Egdom told ITU media. “On the run I thought that this is once in a lifetime so I just need to ‘keep on going, keep on going.’ It was so hot. Everything was overheated. The other competitors chased me a bit to about 20 seconds, but I had a great run and a great bike – it just feels so good!”
Manoel Messias of Brazil came from a 46-seconds deficit at T2 to the silver medal with a race-best 31:39 run.
“I am happy because all of the work that I did throughout the entire year now has paid off,” Messias told ITU media. “I did feel the heat, but my preparations in Brazil were in the same conditions, so I am used to [it].”
Bence Bicsák of Hungary also made up a big deficit at T2 with a 2nd-best 31:42 run to take bronze, 2 seconds back of Messias.
“This is better than my biggest dreams,” said Bicsák. “I just cannot believe it. On the run I tried to not push so hard and find my energy on the last lap. I then gave my all!”
Women
Lindemann won her third consecutive world title, taking the Under23 women's race after ITU World Championship victories in the previous two junior races.
Leonie Periault of France repeated her Under23 silver medal after a fierce duel with Lindemann in the middle of the run that ended with a 15-seconds margin of victory for the German. Periault’s countrywoman Sandra Dodet filled out the podium, 47 seconds behind the winner.
The women began just after dawn today. Favorable currents led a pack including Sophie Coldwell of Great Britain and Lizeth Rueda Santos of Mexico (17:57), Vittoria Lopes of Brazil (17:59), Anastasia Gorbunova of Russia (18:01), and Georgia Taylor-Brown (18:06), to a big lead. The group charged hard to increase their lead to nearly a minute after the first of eight laps on the bike leg.
Led by Lindemann, who finished 28th in her first Olympics last month in Rio, a pack of 14 bridged the gap to the leaders with two laps to go and arrived at T2 with a 2 minutes edge on the rest of the field.
On the first lap, Lindemann, Kaidi Kivioja of Estonia and Periault broke into a lead, soon joined by Dodet, who surged up to the leaders. On the second lap, Kivioja opted to serve a 10-seconds penalty she incurred for failure to get all her equipment into her personal box at T1 and fell 15 seconds behind the leading trio. On the third lap, Lindemann and Periault dropped Dodet and battled even until the final 500 meters when Lindemann rocketed away.
After a race-best 36:13 run, Lindemann finished in 1:59:18 with a 15 seconds margin of victory over Periault and 47 seconds on Dodet.
ITU Under23 World Championship
Cozumel, Mexico
September 15-16, 2016
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Jorik Van Egdom (NED) 1:52:39
2. Manoel Messias (BRA) 1:53:00
3. Bence Bicsák (HUN) 1:53:02
4. Simon Viain (FRA) 1:53:12
5. Tom Richard (FRA) 1:53:13
6. Cesar Saracho (MEX) 1:53:19
7. Léo Bergere (FRA)
8. István Király (HUN) 1:54:42
9. Zavier Grenier Talavera (CAN) 1:54:50
10. Declan Wilson (AUS) 1:54:56
13. Eli Hemming (USA) 1:55:11
27. William Huffman (USA) 1:58:02
32. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 1:59:22
Women
1. Laura Lindemann (GER) 1:59:18
2. Leonie Periault (FRA) 1:59:33
3. Sandra Dodet (FRA) 2:00:05
4. Georgia Taylor–Brown (GBR) 2:00:50
5. Kaidi Kivioja (EST) 2:01:07
6. Sophie Coldwell (GBR) 2:01:36
7. Julie Derron (SUI) 2:01:48
8. Melanie Santos (POR) 2:02:06
9. Jaz Hedgeland (AUS) 2:02:25
10. Sara Papais (ITA) 2:02:44
15. Katie Gorczyca (USA) 2:04:22
23. Bria Edwards (USA) 2:06:48
