The legend that is the Tiszaujvaros World Cup returns this weekend for another two-day extravaganza and it is a short drive to the east of Budapest where you will find the small industrial town that can rightfully lay claim to being the spiritual home of Hungarian triathlon.
A firm fixture on the World Triathlon schedule since 1997, this will be the 24th edition of the race following a three-year hiatus, and the anticipation will be higher than ever for the infamous event that has previously seen the likes of Gwen Jorgensen, Emma Carney and Katie Zaferes taking the tape down one of the loudest home straights around.
Two women’s qualifiers on Saturday will dictate the line up for the 30-deep final on Sunday, the course also varies significantly from Saturday to Sunday. Both days start with a dizzying three-lap, anti-clockwise, 750m swim, before a long run into transition precedes 2 x 10km loops on the bike (switching to 8 x 2.5km laps for the finals) and then a three-lap run to the tape (four laps for the final).
You can watch all of Sunday’s finals on TriathlonLive.tv from 14.45 CEST.
Semi-Final One - Bragmayer on fire
It has already been quite the eventful 2023 for Zsanett Bragmayer, but a Tiszaujvaros World Cup victory on home turf at the sixth time of asking would send it into the stratosphere. Her best World Cup finish here is 6th back in 2019, since when she has gone on to Arena Games glory and been crowned World Aquathlon Champion and Duathlon runner-up in Ibiza.
This time last year the 29-year-old ran away with the Europe Triathlon Premium Cup win here, but she’ll face much stiffer competition this time around, including Norway’s Solveig Lovseth. The recently crowned European Games Champion proved once again in Krakow that her bike power is up there with the best and she has the engine to maintain the pace over 5km or 10km on foot. Lovseth now has the winning habit, but has she had the recovery time to build back up?
This year began with a first World Cup podium for Lovseth, too, with third in New Plymouth, and it was in her native Bergen that Junior World Champion Tilda Mansson (SWE) scored a remarkable first World Cup win a year ago. Since then the 19-year-old has made her first forays into WTCS racing, and while the swim course may not suit her, if Mansson can get back in touch by T2, she has the pace to out-run most of her rivals on her day.
Fifth in Huatulco and 17th at WTCS Montreal, Dominika Jamnicky has looked in good form in 2023 and should be a nailed-on finalist, likewise Australia’s Charlotte McShane who finished one place ahead of the Canadian in Huatulco and has been putting in the hours in Spain to build in to a crucial race period for her Olympic ambitions.
Semi-Final Two - Seregni torpedo loaded
Italy’s Bianca Seregni will want to lead from the first strokes of the swim and could find herself all alone in T1 if past form is anything to go by. Also possessing incredible powers of endurance on the run as shown in last year’s Karlovy Vary silver medal display, at the age of just 23, Seregni is undoubtedly one of the most exciting of a rich crop of Italian talent coming through.
USA’s Gina Sereno took the Arena Games gold in Montreal but hasn’t quite found her best form on the blue carpet so far in 2023, a first slice of unique Tiszy action may not be the place to do so but she will know that the likes of Sara Vilic (AUT) and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) will be ones to stay in touch with in the bid for safe passage to the final, all three with huge podium potential on Sunday, too.
Another strong Austrian contender, Lisa Perterer touches down in Tiszy after a stop-start 2023 that has seen illness and injury blight most chances to build some consistency and that could cost her over the later stages, while Spain’s Sara Guerrero Manso and GB’s Sophie Alden will be eyeing up a very good opportunity for a first slice of World Cup silverware following strong Continental Cup and European Games displays.
Full start lists can be found here.
