A staple of the Asian triathlon scene, the Tongyeong World Cup is back for yet another edition. This year will be the seventeenth time Tongyeong has welcomed athletes to the event and it has drawn a field brimming with potential winners. As was the case in 2022, the race will be contested over the standard distance. Two laps in the sea covering 1500m will start things off. Next up will be a 40km bike course made up of six laps, and with climbs containing 13% and 15% gradients the bike will be a real test of late-season resolve. The race then concludes with a four-lap 10km run around the harbour.
The women’s race will get underway at 08:00 local time (01:00 CEST) this Saturday and you can watch every minute live on TriathlonLive.
Autumn form
Among the women starting are a group of athletes that have already made it onto World Cup podiums within the past two months. Alissa Konig (SUI) goes again after claiming a stunning silver medal in Rome, renewing her battle with Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) who came away with the bronze medal in the Italian capital. Whereas Rome represented Konig’s maiden World Cup medal, Vermeylen has made it onto multiple World Cup podiums over the past few years. Having come close on to gold repeatedly, she will arrive in search of a first win at this level.
Gina Sereno (USA) is another to have recently excelled on the World Cup circuit. She took the bronze medal in Karlovy Vary in early September. Notably, Sereno’s medal came over the standard distance, unlike the Rome World Cup, which is a promising indicator. Furthermore, she then finished 8th at WTCS Weihai, which stands by far as her best ever WTCS performance. Sereno is therefore clearly in form and will be tough to beat.
On the way back
Two of Sereno’s American teammates are currently working their way back to their top form after injury absences. Tamara Gorman (USA), the former World U23 and World Junior champion, returned to the World Cup level earlier this season after missing all of the 2023 season. Gorman has won multiple World Cup medals hitherto and should she recapture that form she will be a tough opponent. Likewise, multiple WTCS medallist Summer Rappaport (USA) cannot be counted out. After an injury-hit winter, she has been working her way back to her best this year. Still, she was a WTCS medallist only last summer and won in Tongyeong back in 2016 and 2017.
Meanwhile, Sandra Dodet (FRA) will also look to make her mark. The World Cup gold medallist is also building back after an injury-hit 2023 but the signs are promising. After all, she recently became the European champion over the super sprint format. Having won World Cup golds in Vina del Mar and Arzachena in 2022, she certainly has the credentials to win this weekend.
Not to be ignored
Sian Rainsley (GBR) won the Hong Kong World Cup at the start of the year while Ainsley Thorpe (NZL) is another World Cup medallist to enter the fray. In addition, Tereza Zimovjanova (CZE) will look to repeat her huge performance that gave the bronze medal in Tongyeong last year. Finally, one younger athlete to watch out for might just be Manami Hayashi (JPN). The youngster is on a run of four straight wins at Asia Cup events and her form in the region should not be overlooked.
What the history says
In recent times, standard distance events have been a little on the rarer side in Tongyeong. Other than 2022, we would have to look back to 2015 and earlier for any direct points of comparison. Nevertheless, there is still a very obvious pattern that can be seen from recent events.
Since 2013, nine of the ten women’s races have been won by the fastest runner. While there has been some variety in how the race played out before the run, the quickest runner has essentially always come out on top. Last year, Gwen Jorgensen won in a running race while the same was largely true of Audrey Merle’s victory in 2022. In 2021, exp:tag_this}Beth Potter{/exp:tag_this} finished in 1st place so you would be forgiven for thinking she won in a running race. In actuality, she was part of a two-woman breakaway with Kate Waugh. The duo gained over 20 seconds in the water and led by over a minute into T2. From there, Potter had the fastest run; as such the pattern of a top run split coming in handy still held true.
If we look back to the last cluster of standard distance events, a similar story can be seen. Emma Jackson won in 2013 from a breakaway in an admittedly quite small field. She still logged the fastest run by almost a minute. Jackson won again in 2014 as the field came together on the bike. The only time the fastest runner did not win was when Yuka Sato triumphed in 2015. As a result, while there may be potential for a breakaway in Tongyeong, it has fundamentally been a runner’s race to win, a point many of this weekend’s top contenders may keep in mind.
Track all the action in Tongyeong across all World Triathlon channels and catch the racing live this Saturday on TriathlonLive.
