The chase for Olympic and World Ranking points continues this weekend with another stop of the World Triathlon Cup circuit that will take some of the best elite athletes of the world to Valencia. The Spanish Mediterranean city is ready for a fast Standard distance race that will see great legends of the sport like Gwen Jorgensen lining up along with some of the fastest rising stars of the sport. get ready for a fast and furious race this Saturday!
With a flat but quite technical course, and rain expected for Saturday, the Valencia World Cup promises to be one that will be decided on the final run. And if that is finally the case, get ready to see in action some of the fastest women of the circuit. Lisa Tertsch, Nina Eim (both from Germany), Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) or Gwen Jorgensen (USA), just to name a few, have all impressive marks on a 10k run.
The German athletes have shown this season that they are always ones to be considered in all events, with both their male and female athletes consistently finishing in top five positions in all types of races, from Standard distance to Sprint, Super-Sprint or Mixed Relay events. Wearing number 1 this weekend will be Lisa Tertsch, the current silver medallist at the European Championships and part of the German Team that delivered a fantastic race in the Paris Test Event to grab gold at the Mixed Relay. Tertsch is always on the top 10 running splits when it comes to a 10k run, so she will be a hard one to beat in the flat running circuit in Valencia.
Lining up next to her will be another german, Nina Eim, who just sealed her ticket to the Paris Olympic Games with her sixth place at the Paris Test Event, and who is willing to produce another magnificent running split in Valencia. Eim has been consistently on the top 10 at the World Triathlon Championship Series she has started this year, but has not yet seen herself on the podium this year at the World Cup level. The third German in contention will be Marlene Gomez-Goggle, fifth in Hamburg and Sunderland WTCS races this year, and looking forward another consistent performance that will put her name up for contention to be selected for the German team in the next races.
Valencia is known as a race “good for the fast runners”, and indeed there’s a few of them lining up this Saturday, including the Rio 2016 Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen. The American returned this season to the blue carpet after an hiatus of a few years, now a mother of two kids, and is making everything on her hands to try to make it back to the strong USA team and fight for a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Currently the 7th USA athlete on the World Rankings, a podium at a World Cup level will mean the world for her, as she is looking for some points that will get her on more start lists for the rest of the season.
But Jorgensen is not the only fast runner on the field of play. Belgian rising star Jolien Vermeylen, a former track and field athlete, showed an impressive 10k run split to grab the bronze medal at the European Games only a few months ago, and has proven in races like Karlovy Vary or Bergen that she is one to keep an eye on if it all comes to a run race. Tilda Mansson (SWE) is another one than can produce fantastic running splits, even though at 19 years old, she will be the youngest athlete lining up this Saturday.
Mathilde Gaultier (FRA), Yuko Takahashi (JPN) and Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto (COL) -member of the World Triathlon Team- are among the ones that will be trying their best to try to break away on the bike to buy a bit of extra time against the fast runners, while the Spanish team will have another large delegation on the Women’s race, with local athletes like Noelia Juan trying to impress the local crowds and repeat on a World Cup podium.
The women’s race will get underway on Saturday at 15.15h CET, and you can watch the races live and on demand on TriathlonLIVE.tv.
Check the full start lists here.