David Castro Fajardo just took the win during Europe Triathlon Cup Barcelona. The Spaniard needed 51:39 minutes to stay ahead of his competitors, of which the fastest men were Connor Bentley (GBR), who finished second (+0:11), and Jamie Riddle (ZAR), who took third (+0:15). In the women’s race, it was Germany’s Nina Eim, who showed to be strongest. She noted a finish time of 57:42 minutes and shared the podium with fellow German Lena Meissner and Britain’s Olivia Mathias, who both finished only two seconds later.
Castro Fajardo was right in the mix straight from the beginning. Only eight seconds behind the leading man, New Zealand’s Dylan McCullough, Castro Fajardo got out of the water. That saw him enjoy a nice spot in the front pack on the bike, which meant Castro Fajardo was already in a great position before heading out on the run. Running 14:37 minutes on five km, Castro Fajardo finished it off during the final discipline and managed to outrun his strongest competitors.
Mathias noted the fastest swim time in the women’s race. She was only four seconds ahead of Eim, who was in fourth place at this point. Together with five other women, Eim led the bike part. During the final 5k run, Eim and her fellow pack “mates” didn’t need to push it that hard anymore, as they had a buffer of approximately 40 seconds to the fastest chasers. In 16:45 minutes, Eim ran to the win, while Meissner and Mathias battled side-by-side for silver. Meissner ended up being a split-second faster, which meant she took second, while Mathias settled for third.
