Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown Take WTCS Cagliari
The Women
After a disappointing 15th at Abu Dhabi and 7th at Yokohama start to her 2023 WTCS season, reigning Olympic silver medalist Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain scored a dominating 23-seconds margin of victory at Cagliari. Showing affinities for the Italian beach town course, Taylor-Brown and Lombardi repeated their 1-2 finish at Cagliari in 2022.
On a course notable for a wave-ridden swim and a tight, technical bike, Brown finished in 1:46:43 with a 23-seconds margin over silver medalist Emma Lombardi of France. Fifty-three seconds arrears, Taylor Spivey of the U.S. took bronze and seized the lead in WTCS series points chase.
After a disappointing swim, Cassandre Beaugrand of France finished strong with a race-best 32:25 run to take 4th place, followed by Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg in 5th, WTCS Abu Dhabi winner Beth Potter of Great Britain in 6th and Summer Rappaport of the U.S. in 7th.
In a highly anticipated returns to competition by U.S. stars, 2021 Olympic bronze medalist Katie Zaferes took 12th place following a hiatus due to the birth of her first child. And, after an 8-year absence from elite triathlon, 2016 Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen had a humbling beginning to her quest to qualify for the 2024 Olympics as she suffered a DNF when lapped on the bike leg.
Race recap
After the first loop of the swim, Vittoria Lopes of Brazil and Summer Rappaport of the U.S. took the lead. At the end of the 1500-meter swim, Rappaport led with an 18:09 split, followed closely by Lopes, Lombardi, Maya Kingma of Netherlands, Spivey and Taylor-Brown. Next out of the water were highly ranked contenders Beaugrand, Beth Potter of Great Britain, Zaferes and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal of Mexico – none of whom were able to reach the leaders by the end of the bike leg.
On the first laps of the bike, the front pack began with an 18-seconds lead over the chasers with Kingma, Spivey, Rappaport, Lombardi, Lopes and Taylor-Brown taking turns up front. In group three, Katie Zaferes, Natalie Van Coevorden and Zsannett Bragmayer of Hungary pushed hard but did not make a dent on the leaders.
By the end of the 10-lap bike leg, the leading six fashioned a densely packed 1:22 lead. The pace at the front was daunting from the 5th lap onward and Jorgensen, Leonie Periault of France and Tilda Mansson of Sweden were lapped out of the race.
After transition, Taylor-Brown and Lombardi accelerated into the lead, dropping Rappaport to 3rd and Spivey to 4th. Flying to race-best splits were Beaugrand, Potter, Zaferes and Nina Eim of Germany.
After running shoulder to shoulder for 9 kilometers, Taylor-Brown made a break for the win with 300 meters to go and left Lombardi to settle for silver.
With her first win of the 2023 season, Taylor-Brown led Great Britain to a sweep of the three gold medals including Beth Potter at Abu Dhabi and Sophie Coldwell at Yokohama.
Women's Results
1. Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR S 18:18 T1 00:38 B 54:41 T2 00:23 R 32:45 TOT 1:46:43
2. Emma Lombardi FRA S 18:11 T1 00:39 B 54:46 T2 00:23 R 33:10 TOT 1:47:06
3. Taylor Spivey USA S 18:17 T1 00:38 B 54:41 T2 00:24 R 33:38 TOT 1:47:36
4. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA S 18:33 T1 00:41 B 55:44 T2 00:23 R 32:25 TOT 1:47:44
5. Jeanne Lehair LUX S 18:40 S 18:40 T1 00:40 B 55:39 T2 00:23 R 32:40 TOT 1:48:00
6. Beth Potter GBR S 18:46 T1 00:40 B 55:34 T2 00:25 R 32:41 TOT 1:48:04
7. Summer Rappaport USA S 18:09 T1 00:43 B 54:44 T2 00:22 R 34:14 TOT 1:48:12
8. Lisa Tertsch GER S 18:28 T1 00:37 B 55:54 T2 00:29 R 33:29 TOT 1:48:51
9. Nina Eim GER S 18:45 T1 00:37 B 55:36 T2 00:24 R 33:35 TOT 1:48:55
10. Rosa Marie Tapia Vidal MEX S 18:46 T1 00:40 T1 00:40 B 55:35 T2 00:22 R 33:36 TOT 1:48:57
12. Katie Zaferes USA S 18:42 T1 00:40 B 55:38 T2 00:27 R 33:45 TOT 1:49:10
17. Kirsten Kasper USA S 18:36 T1 00:37 B 55:46 T2 00:24 R 34:21 TOT 1:49:42
30. Erika Ackerlund USA S 18:57 T1 00:37 B 56:15 T2 00:23 R 36:12 TOT 1:52:22
LAP Gwen Jorgensen USA S 19:49 T1 00:43 B 00:00:00 T2 00:00:00 R 00:00:00
The Men
Alex Yee edges Hayden Wilde by 5 seconds at WTCS Cagliari, posting a WTCS record 28:31 10k run for the win.
Current Olympic silver medalist Alex Yee of Great Britain fell to his knees before reaching the water right at the start of the World Triathlon Championship Series Cagliari. But he managed to overcome his mistake and claim victory with the fastest 10k run in the recent WTCS history. Today’s Cagliari silver medal went to Olympic bronze medalist New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, who stayed shoulder to shoulder with Yee until the last 400 meters of the run. Frenchman Leo Bergere claimed the bronze on a steaming hit and breezy day in Cagliari.
Race recap
Yee surrendered 12 seconds to the leaders on the swim, tying with chief rival Hayden Wilde. Yee gathered himself after his fall, finished with a record-breaking 28:31 closing run to finish in 1:36:28 with a 5-seconds margin over runner-up Wilde and 36 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Leo Bergere of France.
The field was Olympic caliber-strong, although most of the historic Olympic contenders fell far short of expectations. For example, Mario Mola, Jonathan Brownlee, Henri Schoeman and Richard Murray and Olympic gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt were off the board.
The 55 men dove into choppy waves and Yee soon gathered himself and started the bike leg in the middle pack. At the end of the second lap of the swim, the leaders had 34 seconds to Olympic gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt, one minute to Murray and almost two minutes to Mario Mola, who pulled out when he reached T1. Yee had managed to stay close to Wilde, Bergere, and Marten Van Riel of Belgium
Ahead of Yee’s drama and just behind the leaders, Jonny Brownlee Jamie Riddle of South Africa, Dorian Coninx of France, and Mark Devay of Hungary were trying to jet away from the field as much as possible. Ultimately, the leading 24 men congealed at the front, leaving T2 together. Meanwhile, Blummenfelt and Jelle Geens of Belgium were leading a chase group, that saw their gap increase from 40 seconds to almost 1 minute 20 seconds.
When the bike leg was over, a massive group arrived at T2 with Yee and Hayden starting at the back of the big front group.
Jonas Schomburg of Germany sprinted first out of transition, but 1 kilometer in to the leg Yee and Wilde had left the rest of the chasers behind and by halfway swept past the German. On the final half, a French trio of Leo Bergere, Dorian Coninx and Pierre Le Corre moved up to battle for the bronze.
In increasing at, took its toll on Jonny Brownlee and Kristian Blummenfelt fell to the back. Up front, Ye and Wilde ran elbow to elbow until Yee found another gear with 200m meters to go Yee crossed the finish line 5 seconds ahead of Wilde, repeating his 2022 win at Cagliari.
Despite his close loss, Wilde was ecstatic with his silver. “I am stoked,” he told World Triathlon media. “I spent the winter in New Zealand so I didn’t know how I would perform on the heat but it is lovely to be out here, to recover well after Yokohama. But this is just the type of races that I love and I just love to be on the front pack on the swim. There were a couple of times in which Alex tried to attack and I managed to stay with him. But the next time I’ll try to win that battle for sure.”
With a win at the first 2023 WTCS event in Abu Dhabi and skipping round two at Yokohama, with the Cagliari win Yee advanced to 5th place in the current WTCS Men’s rankings. In the current WTCS standings, Dorian Coninx of France leads with 2131.97 points, followed by Vasco Vilaca of Portugal with 2128.80, Leo Bergere with 2095, Hayden Wilde with 1947 and Yee with 1750.
Results – Men
1. Alex Yee GBR S 17:22 T1 00:36 B 49:38 T2 00:23 R 28:31 TOT 1:36:28
2. Hayden Wilde NZL S 17:22 T1 00:38 B 49:36 T2 00:23 R 28:35 TOT 1:36:33
3. Léo Bergere FRA S 17:23 T1 00:39 B 49:34 T2 00:20 R 29:11 TOT 1:37:04
4. Dorian Coninx FRA S 17:10 T1 00:35 B 49:50 T2 00:19 R 29:22 TOT 1:37:15
5. Pierre Le Corre FRA S 17:21 T1 00:37 B 49:39 T2 00:20 R 29:27 TOT 1:37:21
6. Jonas Schomburg GER S 17:16 T1 00:35 B 49:44 T2 00:21 R 29:45 TOT 1:37:39
7. Csongor Lehmann HUN S 17:24 T1 00:35 B 49:36 T2 00:22 R 29:57 TOT 1:37:52
8. Vasco Vilaca POR S 17:16 T1 00:35 B 49:45 T2 00:22 R 30:03 TOT 1:37:58
9. Kanji Nener JPN S 17:18 T1 00:35 B 49:42 T2 00:20 R 30:05 TOT 1:38:00
10. Lasse Lührs GER S 17:23 T1 00:36 B 49:37 T2 00:20 R 30:10 TOT 1:38:04
27. Seth Rider USA S 17:25 T1 00:36 B 49:34 T2 00:19 R 31:33 TOT 1:39:26
41. Darr Smith USA S 17:15 T1 00:36 B 49:46 T2 00:18 R 35:22 TOT 1:43:16
DNF Morgan Pearson USA S 17:26 T1 00:37 B 50:42 T2 00:25 R 00:00 TOT 00:00:00
