The World Triathlon Multisport Championships in Townsville, Australia, concluded last night (European time) with the World Championships Long Distance. In a race covering 3 kilometers of swimming, 114 kilometers of cycling and 30 kilometers of running, the win – and thus the world title – went to Antonio Benito Lopez (SPA) and Charlene Clavel (FRA).
In a race with not that many participants and where most of the big names were missing, Antonio Benito Lopez started the race very strong right away: with a swim time of 37:51, he emerged from the water in a leading group of six. The next shuffling then took place on the bike, as only Steven McKenna, Dylan Magnien and Charlie Quin were then able to join him. Belgian Louis Naeyaert was one minute faster on the bike, but had already left the water more than two minutes behind. Naeyaert did make sure he grabbed a good position when the run started, though.
During that run, Benito Lopez – with a run time of 1:43:06 – was next-level. He was minutes faster than all his competitors and eventually ran to the world title in a time of 5:02:54. McKenna was second in 5:06:03 and Naeyaert third in 5:07:29.
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In the women’s race, it was Julie Iemmolo who took a four-minute lead over her first pursuers with a swim time of 41:37 minutes, and she also recorded the fastest time on the bike. Charlene Clavel was the best to follow, but when entering T2 her gap had grown to almost five minutes.
That a lot can still happen during thirty kilometers of running proved when Clavel was no less than ten minutes faster than Iemmolo and thus turned her deficit into a large lead. Clavel won the race in 5:45:14. Poland’s Marta Lagownik, who also passed Iemmolo during the run, was second in 5:47:16 and Iemmolo eventually finished third in 5:51:04.
Defending champions Clement Mignon and Marjolaine Pierre did not start.
