After striking gold at the World Cross Triathlon Championships yesterday, Michele Bonacina (ITA) and Marta Menditto (ITA) will have the chance tomorrow to claim another world title. The cross duathlon racing will see a return to the Pallarenda Park venue and the athletes that have chosen to tackle both the cross triathlon and cross duathlon events should have a degree of familiarity with the nature of the course.
The cross duathlon will run through a two-lap 6km run, a single lap of 20.5km on the bike and then a final 3.5km lap on the run. The bike contains a total of 296m of elevation while on each of the run laps the athletes will tackle a sharp hill. Technical sections also abound throughout the course. Given that Bonacina and Menditto have already thrived at the venue, the challenge therefore stands for one of their rivals to produce something special tomorrow morning.
Elite women
As things stand, Menditto is the obvious favourite. She was the fastest cyclist at the World Cross Triathlon Championships in Pallarenda and narrowly missed the fastest run split of the day. With her comparatively weakest discipline, the swim, removed, she should be an even more difficult opponent to beat.
Nevertheless, she will be up against the 3rd and 4th place finishers from the cross triathlon event. Maeve Kennedy (AUS) goes again after claiming a maiden international medal yesterday. She impressed across all three disciplines in the cross triathlon and her recent performance may provide an invaluable psychological boost. Jacqueline Allen (GBR) will likewise race after coming close to winning a medal yesterday. An experienced operator, Allen will likely be in the mix from the outset.
One athlete that will not start, though, is Charlotte McShane (AUS). The home star was unfortunately injured by a collision with another athlete during the duathlon mixed relay on Sunday. As a result, her racing in Townsville has been put to a premature end.
Elite men
In much the same manner as the women’s race, those competing in the men’s event face the conundrum of defeating the newly-crowned world cross triathlon champion. Bonacina was imperious on his way to gold and was the fastest runner of the day. On paper, then, he holds a crucial advantage when it comes to the first and third legs tomorrow.
On the other hand, there are reasons for some of his rivals to be confident. Benjamin Forbes (AUS) will be a prominent threat after coming away with the bronze medal yesterday. In that respect, the crucial detail to note is actually that Forbes clocked the quickest bike split of the cross triathlon field. Indeed, his time was 58 seconds quicker than Bonacina’s. Without the swim, where Forbes lost time, the two men could be much closer together, although Bonacina does have the advantage on the run. Should Forbes unleash something spectacular on the mountain bike course, which is his natural domain, he could come away with the world title.
Moreover, Lukas Kocar (CZE) showed hints of the danger his poses in off-road racing as he rode with Bonacina at the World Cross Triathlon Championships yesterday until a puncture compromised his race. Should he have a clean run this time, he could prove a handful. The men’s cross duathlon is by no means clear-cut then and you can follow the action across World Triathlon social channels from 07:50 AEST.
