Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown win World Triathlon Cagliari

With a smashing women’s second-best final run, Olympic medalist Georgia Taylor-Brown of the UK scored her third victory of the season, with a second place in another event keeping her atop the women’s World Triathlon Championship Series points standings. Taylor-Brown now resides just ahead of Flora Duffy of Bermuda (who did not compete this weekend) with one more race and the Grand Final to decide the 2022 Olympic Distance World Championship crown.

In the first edition of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Cagliari. Emma Lombardi of Italy earned her first WTCS podium at 20 years old, and Taylor Knibb of the U.S led a bike break that rescued her from a minute deficit out of the water and brought her to a bronze.

Amidst choppy waves and wicked current in the swim, and fighting cramps throughout, double Olympic medalist Alex Yee unleashed a race-best run to slam past the 42-seconds lead of Olympic veteran Jonathan Brownlee and take the finish by 12 seconds. While Hayden Wilde of New Zealand was not racing this weekend in Cagliari (he remains The Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Series rankings leader. But Yee’s hopes for the title are still within range as he currently ranks fourth (3000 points, three victories in three races) with one more race to go before the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi.

Women’s race

Summer Rappaport of the U.S. led the way with a 1940 split that gave her a 1 second lead on Cassandre Beaugrand of France and Maya Kingma of the Netherlands with equal 19:41 splits, 2-seconds on Sophie Coldwell of Great Britain, 3 seconds on Kirsten Kasper of the U.S., and 5- and 7- seconds on series leaders Taylor Brown and Taylor Spivey of the U.S.

Pre-race medal contender Taylor Knibb, found herself almost a minute behind the leaders, but with her superior cycling chops it took just a single lap of the bike to get out of that fix. While she arrived in the middle of a massive traffic jam, Knibb was not satisfied. She pushed through and found clear sailing in the solo role.

After an unfortunate crash by Claire Michel of Belgium, the lead group was cut in two and Knibb, Julie Derron of Switzerland, Spivey, Emma Lombardi of Italy, Taylor-Brown, Coldwell and Miriam Casillas Garcia of Spain led a group of 11 women. Behind, top runners like Beth Potter, Cassandre Beaugrand, Summer Rappaport and Laura Lindemann were caught behind the crash and losing 20 seconds per lap.

As the field arrived at T2, the 10 leaders had a 90-seconds lead on the chasers. First out of the gate, Taylor-Brown, Lombardi and Knibb left the second transition together, and then pushed for the first three laps of the 10km flat run along the seafront in Cagliari. Well behind, Beaugrand struggled mightily but futilely to bridge the one minute and a half gap.
With 2 kilometers to go, Knibb was the first to fall off the leading pace, Lombardi held on a little longer before Taylor-Brown take final charge and, after a women’s-best 32:43 run hit the line in 1:47:42 with a 12 seconds margin on Lombardi, 16 seconds on third-place finisher Knibb and 50 seconds on 4th-place Taylor Spivey.

Despite her statistical dominance, Taylor-Brown told World Triathlon media that it was a struggle: “The swim was long, the bike was long, the run was very long. It was a bit of a shock to the system for most of us, to be honest. I just tried to run my own race and tried to stay in contact with the bike group. Taylor made it really hard but that worked in our favor because we got a really good gap on the bike.” Taylor-Brown further elaborated: “I forgot how hard she (Taylor Knibb) rides. It’s good, she really gets the group going and we’re all really trying to hold onto her wheel.”

Extremely pleased with her silver medal was the current U23 World Champion, Emma Lombardi. At only 20 years of age, and after missing the podium for just a heartbeat in WTCS Yokohama earlier in the season, she managed to get her first Series podium in her career, holding on to Georgia for most part of the 10k.

Under 23 World Champion Lombardi was ecstatic with her silver. “I am very happy, she told World Triathlon media. “After the first two laps of the bike I saw her (Taylor Knibb) coming to the front and I thought ok, the race is starting now. She really pushed the bike with Julie Derron so it was a really hard race.”

Knibb too was happy with her performance, returning to the podium after an injury that kept her out of the races since WTCS Yokohama.
“Any day you get on the WTCS podium it’s a pretty good day, these don’t come very frequently,” she told World Triathlon media. “I am just grateful to be back on the start line and race well.”

Fourth place was for Spivey, who outsprinted her training partner Casillas in the blue carpet, while Kasper finished in the 6th place.
Series leader Taylor-Brown, who now has a slightly bigger gap with Flora Duffy. “It’s all going to come down to the Grand Final now,” she said.

2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Cagliari
8 October 2022
October 8, 2022
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Elite Women

1. Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) S 19:45 T1 00:36 B 5t4:18 T2 00:23 R 32:43 TOT 1:47:42
2. Emma Lombardi (FRA) S 19:48 T1 00:36 B 54:14 T2 00:22 R 32:56 TOT 1:47:54
3. Taylor Knibb (USA) S 20:12 T1 00:39 B 53:47 T2 00:22 R 33:01 TOT 1:47:58
4. Taylor Spivey (USA) S 19:47 T1 00:38 B 54:12 T2 00:24 R 33:33 TOT 1:48:32
5. Miriam Casillas Garcia (ESP) S 20:03 T1 00:37 B 53:57 T2 00:22 R 33:37 TOT 1:48:35
6. Kirsten Kasper (USA) S 19:43 T1 00:37 B 54:18 T2 00:25 R 33:45 TOT 1:48:46
7. Sophie Coldwell (GBR) S 19:42 T1 00:39 B 54:18 T2 00:25 R 33:55 TOT 1:48:56
8. Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) S 19:41 T1 00:37 B 56:06 T2 00:23 R 32:16 TOT 1:49:00
9. Maya Kingma (NED) S 19:41 T1 00:38 B 54:18 T2 00:21 R 34:15 TOT 1:49:11
10. Beth Potter (GBR) S 19:44 T1 00:38 B 56:00 T2 00:22 R 32:46 TOT 1:49:28
20. Erika Ackerlund (USA) S NA T1 NA B NA T2 NA R NA TOT 1:51:20
27. Summer Rappaport (USA) S 19:40 T1 00:40 B 56:05 T2 00:23 R 36:33 TOT 1:53:18

The Men

It was a revenge of sorts for Alex Yee, who proved how much things have changed for him on his return to the Italian beach resort five years after the horrendous bike crash he suffered in this same place in 2017
With the wind picking up and the shoreside current strengthening and the waves pounding, the lucky starters with the higher numbers chose superior positions the far right while otherwise excellent swimmers like Jonathan Brownlee, Mario Mola and Richard Varga ended up on the far inferior far left.

Australia’s Matthew Hauser issued a superior dolphin diving in and out of the water, with Frenchmen Dorian Coninx and Pierre Le Corre , Kenji Nener of Japan and Jonas Schomburg of Germany flailing away against the current, following Hauser up the beach in Lap One.

Behind the leaders, Yee, Jelle Geens of Belgium and Mario Mola of Spain were struggling of the back. At the end of the 1500-meter swim, Yee trailed by 32 seconds, accompanied by Mark Devay of Hungary, Matt Hauser of Australia and Dorian Coninx. Jelle Geens lost 47 seconds and Mola one minute.

Hauser and Devay were the first on their bikes, trying to break away from the large pack behind them. Brownlee, Coninx, Leo Bergere and Tom Richard of France, Manoel Messias of Brazil, David Castro Fajardo of Spain and Chase MacQueen of the U.S. took turns in a frantic effort to chase.

Yee organized the best chase group that managed to contact with the leaders in six laps. Meanwhile, Jumpei Furuya of Japan decided to try to breakaway. Brownlee followed and the two broke away. Brownlee quickly surged 30 seconds ahead and that half minute proved to be decisive.

Half way through the 10km run, Yee passed Brownlee and things seemed decisive for a solo charge to the finish. But then Yee started to struggle and cramps forced him to stop to recover. Yee summoned just enough energy keep the pain under control and, after a race-best 29:18 split he finished in 1:40:19 with a 7 seconds margin of victory and 10 seconds over 3rd place finisher Manoel Messias of Brazil.

“I had cramps – I was in so much pain I just had to hang on whatever I could,” he told World Triathlon media. “We had to work so hard on the bike to get to the front. For me, that was full gas and it’s really hot today.”

Brownlee was exuberant over his podium after a crash in Leeds that scratched him from a planned Commonwealth Games start.

“I think what I was most proud of today was that I committed to a race, got stuck in and dictated the race rather than just being a passenger. It’s taken my months to get my confidence back – and I was really enjoying it.”

The 2012 Olympic silver medalist added: “I knew I had to pace the run. I knew they would go out fast and I would try and build into it. I can’t remember the last time I was on a WTCS podium, in Edmonton 2019. It’s nice to be back and nice to know I am not past it just yet,” he said.

Leo Bergere, Castro Fajardo, Lasse Luhrs and Manoel Messias took turns on the lead, and the Brazilian finally bringing it home, getting the first ever medal at the World Triathlon Championship Series for Brazil. “I am super happy,” he said at the finish.

Elite Men

1. Alex Yee (GBR) S 18:56 T1 00:37 B 51:07 T2 00:23 R 29:18 TOT 1:40:19
2. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) S 18:38 T1 00:36 B 50:55 T2 00:18 R 30:01 TOT 1:40:26
3. Manoel Messias (BRA) S 18:46 T1 00:35 B 51:20 T2 00:23 R 29:27 TOT 1:40:29
4. Lasse Lührs GER) S 18:41 T1 00:39 B 51:21 T2 00:22 R 29:31 TOT 1:40:31
5. David Castro Fajardo (ESP) S 18:37 T1 00:35 B 51:30 T2 00:22 R 29:35 TOT 1:40:36
6. Leo Bergere (FRA) S 18:41 T1 00:36 B 51:22 T2 00:27 R 29:36 TOT 1:40:40
7. Gianluca Pozzatti (ITA) S 18:34 T1 00:33 B 51:33 T2 00:20 R 29:46 TOT 1:40:45
8. Michele Sarzilla (ITA) S 18:43 T1 00:34 B 51:23 T2 00:21 R 29:47 TOT 1:40:45
9. Csongor Lehmann (HUN) S NA T1 NA B NA T2 NA R 29:46 TOT 1:40:50
10. Kevin McDowell (USA) S 18:48 T1 00:37 B 51:13 T2 00:22 R 29:55 TOT 1:40:54
19. Seth Rider (USA) 18:49 T1 00:38 B 51:12 T2 00:20 R 30:30 TOT 1:41:28
22. Chase McQueen (USA) S 18:37 T1 00:39 B 51:24 T2 00:23 R 30:53 TOT 1:41:53