It had been a long road from her breakthrough bronze at the 2022 Championship Finals Abu Dhabi, but Germany’s Lena Meissner proved herself once more on Saturday as she topped a World Cup podium for the first time in the heat of Samarkand.
A fast swim with Therese Feuersinger, Zuzana Michalickova and Jessica Fullagar saw the quartet out and away on the bike before it boiled down to three, then Meissner and Fullagar ran together for the majority of the 10km before the German drove it home, Sweden’s Tilda Mansson completing the podium, clocking the fastest run split by over two minutes.
“Therese pushed the swim really hard so it was quite hard to stay on her feet,” admitted Meissner. “On the bike we got a gap and I think we rode the 40km nearly all out. Then on the run it was just to get the hot pace on and hopefully a podium, then I started to think I could win. The three of us were motivated to work really hard out there and then Jess and I switched turns to deal with the wind then it was everyone for themselves on the last lap!”
The Feuersinger flow
It was a two-lap 1500m swim to get things underway in the Silk Road rowing lake, and with no out-and-back-in at the halfway mark, it was Feuersinger again on the pace hard, Meissner tucking in well with Fullagar, Sian Rainsley and Michalickova.
Up the ramp and out into transition after lap two, two distinct groups had formed, Roksana Slupek leading the second, but it was Fullagar, Meissner and Feuersigner who were able to push the pace and find themselves clear by the end of lap one.
Power trio pulls clear
It proved to be a potent trio, too, so even the likes of Rainsley, Slupek and Xinyu Lin were unable to do anything about their 35-second advantage, Mansson with Ilaria Zane and Erica Hawley 60 seconds off the front.
As the small chase groups merged, 13 riders were together now 80 seconds from the front three including Selina Klamt, Slupek, Rainsley and Mansson, with another 13 athletes two minutes further behind, Sinem Francisca Tous Servera off the back of them, Vicky Holland trying to get back into the race after coming out of the water three minutes back.
At the bell, the chasers had slipped to 2mins back, and then it was Fullagar and Meissner with the fastest transitions, leaving Feuersinger suddenly chasing shadows.
Chasers turn up the heat
Zane, Klamt and Slupek were straight on the gas, but it was Mansson who was building into the run, working her way through them to take up fourth position and begin her mission to reel in Feuersinger.
That she did over the start of lap three, but there was nothing she could do about the two ahead, and it was Meissner who would deliver one last decisive move to drop Fullagar as the blue carpet neared, the German pulling narrowly ahead, Fullagar a delighted second, Mansson back from her Yokohama DNF disappointment with bronze.
“We worked so well as a three on the bike and then Lena and I did well together, it was really fun running with her,” said Fullagar. “I want to thank Non Stanford my coach, I couldn’t do it without her. I really wanted a result like this, the conditions came together today. Georgia (Taylor-Brown) has been ripping my legs off in training so to have opened that gap onto the run was perfect!”
“It felt good on the run but I was a bit sad not to make it to the front by the end,” admitted Mansson. “In the beginning on the bike we worked well, then lost a lot of time the last two laps and I wanted to save my legs a bit. I wanted to take the run out at my own pace, got a little cramp early on, but I just wanted to keep working well and not push too hard.”
Results here.
