Annen, Briffod of Switzerland top Cagliari WC
Swiss competitors Jolanda Annen and Adrien Briffod took elite victories on a hilly and technical sprint bike course in Cagliari, Italy.
Women
After surviving five laps of one of the toughest bike courses on the World Cup circuit, Annen blew away the women’s field with a by-far-best 17:01 5k run on the sprint course. Annen finished in 1:02:04 with a 24 seconds margin over Kirsten Kasper of the U.S., who edged Joanna Brown of Canada by a second for the runner-up position.
Annen was 5th out of the water, just 3 seconds back of Kirsten Kasper of the U.S. and 2 seconds behind 2012 Olympic silver medalist Lisa Norden of Sweden.
Annen did much of the work for a breakaway group of eight women including Kasper and Taylor Knibb of the U.S. and Juka Sato of Japan. They navigated the tricky, tight and fast downhills of Cagliari with alacrity and left behind the rest of the field.
Annen pushed hard from the beginning and was never challenged on her way to a 17:01 5k run. Kasper and Joanna Brown of Canada dueled to the finish with the American (17:21 run) prevailing by one second over Brown (17:22 run) at the line. Up and comer Knibb ran 17:25 to take 4th.
“I felt really confident from the first meters,” Annen told ITU media. “My goal was to have a good swim and then push hard on the hill and run fast. Even though the bike was really tough, I left T2 in second place and I wanted to push hard because I knew I had a small gap.”
“It was a tough hill [and] took everything I had on my legs, and it also was a challenge for all of us on the run,” said Kasper. “I had my legs so burnt that I did a really slow transition. I just tried to follow Jolanda and pick up her pace, but she was the one to beat today.”
Annen’s victory was her second World Cup after a win last year at Huatulco. She came to this race after a 5th at the Cape Town World Cup, 11th at WTS Abu Dhabi and 15th at WTS Yokohama.
Men
Briffod had a much harder time earning his first World Cup win. He left the water in 20th place, 28 seconds behind the swim leaders, 2016 WTS Grand Final winner and Rio Olympic bronze medalist Henri Schoeman of South Africa and Anthony Pujades of France. By the second lap of the hilly bike course, the two leaders were joined by four chasers including Briffod, Stefan Zacheus of Luxembourg, Charles Paquet of Canada, and Andreas Schilling of Denmark. By T2, the pack of six had a 30 seconds advantage on the field.
From the start of the 5k run, Schoeman, Briffod and Pujades broke away and ran together until the final 100 meters. In that final chute, Briffod had a few more ounces of energy and broke the tape in 54:49 with a 3 second margin on Schoeman and 9 seconds on 3rd place finisher Pujades.
Justus Nieschlag of Germany ran 14:55, the fastest split, to finish 4th. But after his bike leg heroics, Briffod’s 15:12 run was equal to Schoeman’s effort and 8 seconds better than Pujades – and enough to eke out the win at the line.
“This is my first World Cup victory and I couldn’t be happier,” the 23-year-old Swiss told ITU media. He is on a career upswing after his 7th place at WTS Yokohama. “In the run I gave everything I had, I kept the pace on every lap and at the end just tried to speed up a bit. When I saw that nobody passed me I was incredibly happy.”
Schoeman had some trouble recovering from the brutal bike leg, so he appeared satisfied with his runner-up finish. “Unfortunately, when I stood off the bike I had stitches and my breathing muscles were so tight I couldn’t get all the oxygen I needed for the run,” Schoeman told ITU media.
Cagliari World Cup
Cagliari, Italy
June 4, 2017
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Elite Women
1. Jolanda Annen (SUI) 1:02:04
2. Kirsten Kasper (USA) 1:02:28
3. Joanna Brown (CAN) 1:02:29
4. Taylor Knibb (USA) 1:02:32
5. Yuka Sato (JPN) 1:02:39
6. Verena Steinhauser (ITA) 1:02:47
7. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) 1:02:49
8. Fuka Sega (JPN) 1:02:53
9. Alice Betto (ITA) 1:03:04
10. Chelsea Burns (USA) 1:03:05
Elite men
1. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 54:49
2. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 54:52
3. Anthony Pujades (FRA) 54:58
4. Justus Nieschlag (GER) 55:13
5. Matthew McElroy (USA) 55:15
6. Simon Vliain (FRA) 55:20
7. Eli Hemming (USA) 55:20
8. David Castro Fajardo (ESP) 55:37
9. Bence Bicsák (HUN) 55:37
10. Lukas Pertl (AUT) 55:42
14. Kevin McDowell (USA) 55:50
30. Alec Wilmovsky (USA) 58:04
