It were – again – the French athletes that were untouchable in a duathlon. France’s Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger ran to an impressive gold medal at the Duathlon World Games, partly thanks to some strong team tactics. Fellow Frenchman Benjamin Choquert took second (+0:23) and Mexico’s Victor Emmanuel Zambrano Gonzalez completed the podium (+0:59).
After the finish, Hueber-Moosbrugger commented: “We came here (the French team, ed.) as a team, willing to work together. We knew that the Belgians had a very strong team as well, so we tried to work together to win gold and maybe have more Frenchmen on the podium. With this heat, we knew it would be difficult, but we have prepared a lot for this race. I tried my chances and it did pay off. I managed to stay ahead of my teammate, Benjamin (Choquert, ed.), who is very fast in the second run. I am so happy with my results today.”
Despite the tough weather conditions with temperatures of around 35 degrees Celsius, Zambrano Gonzalez managed to pull off an incredible run part, as he noted a time of 30:23 on the first 10 km. Choquert followed within a handful of seconds, while Hueber-Moosbrugger allowed a bigger gap to take shape.
On the bike it eventually all came back together, creating a lead group of eight with – among others – all three French and Belgian athletes and the Mexican Zambrano Gonzalez.
During the final run, Hueber-Moosbrugger was off to a strong start and didn’t come back into sight anymore. The French athletes ended up noting one of the two sub-16 times on the 5K. That was 15:59 minutes for Hueber-Moosbrugger. Choquert was even faster – 15:48 minutes – but as he was a bit behind after T2, he therefor wasn’t able to catch up with Hueber-Moosbrugger anymore. Hueber-Moosbrugger broke the tape after 1:47:57 hour and Choquert took home silver. The final podium spot was for Zambrano Gonzalez.
