The evening in Birmingham, Alabama, was one to remember for the French team, who showed again that they are one of the most powerful nations in Duathlon by claiming gold and silver in the Men’s individual race of the 2022 World Games Duathlon. Born in 1996, Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger was the first one to cross the finish line to get the best result of his career so far, while his teammate Benjamin Choquert, repeated the second place he got a month ago at Targu Mures World Championships. The bronze medal was for Mexico’s Victor Emmanuel Zambrano Gonzalez, whose fast splits in both runs were enough to get him on his first-ever major Games podium.
The men’s elite race of the Birmingham World Games Duathlon started with a slight delay and with again hot and humid conditions, even though the temperatures were not high enough to have to shorten the race to a sprint distance one. Twenty-nine men were ready for a flat 10km run along the Railroad park, followed by a 40km bike course again flat and technical through Birmingham’s most emblematic streets, to finish with a 5km run that will crown the World Games Duathlon winners. And as soon as the gun went off, it was clear that the French athletes -Hueber-Moosbrugger, Choquert and Nathan Guerbeur- and the three Belgian athletes -Angelo Vandecasteele, Arnaud Dely and Vincent Bierinckx- were in control of the race.
The six of them formed almost immediately a big pack, with only two other athletes able to follow them: Mexico’s Zambrano and Moussa Karich, from Bahrein. The leading group was fast during the first two laps, trying to drop athletes before they got on their bikes, and by the time the athletes were halfway through the first run, they already had a gap of more than 30 seconds with the chase group, and over three minutes with the athletes running in 15th place.
With one lap of the run to go, it was the youngest athlete, Zambrano, who decided to make his move and test the legs of the French and Belgian teams, only Choquert able to follow him. When the Mexican hit transition, Choquert was 5 seconds behind, and the remaining leading group another 13 seconds further back. Behind them, the group stretched more and more, with the athletes from hot and humid countries like Morocco -Nabil Kouzkouz- or UAE -Saud Alzaabi- proving that they know what it is to compete under such circumstances and managing to stay in the chase group.
It only took the Frenchmen and Belgians a few kilometers on the bike to catch the Mexican, though, and from that moment, the group of eight men started a technical and tactical 40km bike ride to try to save some energy for the final run. With Karich out of the race due to a mechanical problem, the remaining laps were not complicated for the leading group until just a few kilometers before hitting the second transition, Guerbeur tried his luck and tried to break away, opening a few seconds between him and the last athlete of the leading group, Zambrano.
By the time they all hit the blue carpet for the second transition, they knew that all would be decided in the final 5km run. And it was Hueber-Moosbrugger who hit first, leading the athletes out of transition while Choquert kept his calm despite leaving transition last, and started to chase right away. Same did Zambrano, who by the time they were entering the last lap, he had chased all the Belgian athletes and was running in third place, Hueber-Moosbrugger and Choquert flying in first and second and impossible to track at that point.
With the finish arch in sight, it was Hueber-Moosbrugger who crossed the line first, all smiles with the best result of his career, after the bronze he got in the 2022 World Championships and the silver in the 2021 World champs. “We came here (the French team) as a team, willing to work together. We knew that the Belgians had a very strong team as well, so we tried to work together to win gold and maybe have more Frenchmen on the podium. With this heat we knew it would be difficult but we have prepared a lot for this race. I tried my chances and it did pay off. I managed to stay ahead of my teammate, Benjamin (Choquert), who is very fast in the second run. I am so happy with my results today”, said the Frenchman.
Silver was for another man that knows what it is to be on podiums at Duathlon races, Benjamin Choquert. Silver medallist in Targu Mures 2022, three-times winner of the European Duathlon Championships and world champion in 2019, he was pleased with the silver. “I tried to save some legs during the bike course and I started the last run a bit behind the leaders so I had to chase and go hard and fast at the begining of the second run, and by the time I got everyone else Maxime was just too far ahead. But I am extremely happy for him and for the French team and how we performed today”, he explained.
Bronze medal was for Zambrano, whose best result before was a bronze medal at the 2021 U23 Duathlon World Championships. “The race was extremely hard because of the heat, I had cramps and thought I would not be able to make it, but I did, I am just so happy with my result today”, said Zambrano.
The three Belgians, Vandecasteele, Dely and Bierinckx, crossed the finish line in fourth, 5th and 6th place in that order, with the third Frenchman, Guerbeur, finishing in the 7th place and Australia’s Samuel Mileham closing the top 8.
