She had been flirting with a glorious victory in recent weeks already, but last night Jolien Vermeylen really succeeded; she just won the World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong, where she left behind Summer Rappaport, Sian Rainsley and Sandra Dodet, among others. For Vermeylen it is her first World Triathlon Cup win ever and it is the first Belgian World Triathlon Cup win since 2004, when Kathleet Smet took victory at the time.
Already during the swim, Vermeylen, Rappaport, Rainsley and also Eva Goodisson managed to break away from the rest of the field and grab a lead of just over half a minute. On the bike, that lead grew even much larger, eventually to as much as two minutes in T2.
During the run, Goodisson was immediately unable to keep up with the pace, while Vermeylen, Rappaport and Rainsley stayed together for a long time. It was only in the closing stages that first Rainsley dropped off and then Rappaport also had to bow her head to the Belgian winner.
Vermeylen won the race in 1:49:22 and was 22 seconds ahead of Rappaport (1:58:44). Rainsley finished third at 35 seconds.
The men’s race was won by Dylan McCullough. Completing the podium were David Cantero Del Campo and Maciej Brudziak.
