Silver in his last two World Cup outings - in Hong Kong back in February and last November in Brasilia - Spain’s Antonio Serrat Seoane takes up the number one cap this weekend in Valencia, ready to ignite the home fans hungry for some Spanish success. It was in Hong Kong that Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez pulled away late on to get the win, in Brasilia it was Miguel Hidalgo, and there can be no doubt that Serrat will be in no mood to relinquish a strong position a third time on this fast and furious course.
It’s a sprint-distance set up that awaits, fast and flat around the famous harbour. The 750m swim transitions to a rolling 19.2km bike with one dead turn and wrapping up with an out-and-back 5km run to the tape. Watch it all live and direct on World Triathlon YouTube, Facebook and, of course, on TriathlonLive.tv, from 7pm CEST on Saturday 14 September.
Spanish sweep on the cards?
Local favourites arrive in the form of Antonio Serrat, David Cantero del Campo and Karlovy Vary bronze medallist Kevin Tarek Vinuela Gonzalez, a trio with dynamite run speed on their day and, in Cantero, a man who has tasted gold here in 2023, albeit over the Olympic distance. Add in the skills of Sergio Baxter Cabrera, and a Spanish podium sweep is not out of the question.
Nicola Azzano, Italy’s freshly minted sprint champion of Europe, goes out in search of a second World Cup podium, while the winner of the season-opener in Napier, Callum McClusky, spearheads Australia’s medal hopes.
After narrowly missing out on an Olympic place, Kazakhstan’s Ayan Beisenbayev will have all the motivation he needs to make his mark on the race, USA’s Darr Smith will be one to watch driving the swim and bike, and Hungarian Gabor Faldum is chasing a first international podium since Tongyeong 2022.
Elsewhere, Canada’s silver medallist in Huatulco Mathis Beaulieu, Barbadian Matthew Wright and Japan’s Kyotaro Yoshikawa will all pose a major threat out of a full, 65-deep men’s field ready to go on the attack on Saturday evening.
Past Valencia victories
It was none other than Vincent Luis who became the first ever winner of a Valencia World Cup back in 2020, beating his sparring partner Alistair Brownlee to the gold, Jelle Geens with bronze on a star-studded debut for the course.
Manoel Messias took over the reigns in 2022, posting the fastest bike and run splits to win in a time of 0:50:14 and put the mighty Mario Mola into silver ahead of Matthew McElroy. Last year it was David Cantero with the win over the Olympic distance. As Brazil’s Messias proved two years ago, being a full 30 seconds back out of the water certainly doesn’t have to negate the chances of a medal.
