Katie Hursey and Mark Buckingham secure first World Cup titles in Palamos

Hursey secured her win with a killer run leg, while Buckingham used a well-time breakaway on the bike to take the top spot.

Women’s Review

In her rookie elite triathlon season, Katie Hursey (USA) made a name for herself as she killed the run in Palamos to win the women’s title in two hours, one minute, 19 seconds.

The run was also key for Italy’s Annamaria Mazzetti and Australia’s Tamsyn Moana-Veale, as they both made up a sizeable gap off the bike to run themselves onto the podium. Mazzetti took silver in 2:02:06, while Moana-Veale was third in 2:02:08.

A five-woman group of Lucy Hall (GBR), Erin Jones (USA), Carolina Routier (ESP), Natalie Milne (GBR) and Hursey broke away early on the bike. Although strong athletes like Mazzetti, Kirsten Sweetland (CAN), Ainhoa Murua (ESP) and Amelie Kretz (CAN) rode in the chase group, the 18-deep pack couldn’t manage to bridge up despite Sweetland’s attempts to push the pace.

With a stroke of bad luck, Hall fell to the second chase group and out of contention for the podium on the sixth lap, meanwhile the quad of Hursey, Jones, Routier and Milne stormed out on the run course with a 1:24 head start. With a running background, Hursey took off and never looked back on the three-lap course. Straight away she worked to build her lead, cruising 22 seconds ahead of teammate on the first time around the circuit. It only increased from there, earning Hursey her first ITU podium.

Meanwhile, Mazzetti, Sweetland and Moana-Veale worked to cross the gaping hole left by the leaders on the run course. Moana-Veale went first, overtaking Jones on the second lap, but Mazzetti executed a solid race plan to keep the Aussie in sight. The Italian struck just at the last moment, sprinting past Moana-Veale in the final metres for silver and leaving bronze for Moana-Veale.

Palamos ITU Triathlon World Cup – 14 July 2013

Final Results – Elite Women – 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run

1	Katie	Hursey	USA		02:01:19
2	Annamaria	Mazzetti	ITA		02:02:06
3	Tamsyn	Moana-veale	AUS		02:02:08
4	Vendula	Frintova	CZE		02:02:41
5	Kirsten	Sweetland	CAN		02:02:52
6	Erin	Jones	USA		02:02:56
7	Katrien	Verstuyft	BEL		02:03:13
8	Felicity	Sheedy-ryan	AUS		02:03:35
9	Kate	Roberts	RSA		02:03:36
10	Natalie	Van Coevorden	AUS		02:03:44

12

Amelie

Kretz

CAN

02:03:59

Men’s Review

A well-timed bike breakaway helped Mark Buckingham (GBR) secure his first World Cup title in Palamos. Although blistering heat and the high sun added challenges to the already tough course, Buckingham was seemingly unfazed en route to beating Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) and Yegor Martynenko (UKR), who finished second and third.

Alessandro Fabian (ITA) and the Polyanskiy brothers wasted no time jutting to the front of the swim early on the first of two laps. The men maintained their positions, slicing through the sea to get to their bikes first. But any hopes of a breakaway were quickly slashed, as a group of 60 men came together by the second of seven technical bike laps.

Prior to the bell lap, Buckingham, along with Mattia Ceccarelli (ITA), Ryan Fisher (AUS), Ben Kanute (USA) and Alberto Casadei (ITA), worked up the nerve to pull away from the field. While the break failed to help most of them, Buckingnam was able to make it stick, proving to be a game-changing moment for him.

Coming for behind, the Polyanskiy hammered out an impressive first run lap, as did Martynenko and Sebastian Rank (GER) to close in on Buckhingham. With just 600 meters to go, Polyanskiy and Martynenko pulled even with the Brit, but Buckingham was not to be outdone. In a last blast of speed, he charged down the finish chute, clinching the title in 1:48:50. Polyanskiy sailed over the finish line for silver by just one second in 1:48:52. Martynenko earned his first World Cup podium in 1:48:53.
Palamos ITU Triathlon World Cup – 14 July 2013

Final Results – Elite Men – 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run

1	Mark	Buckingham	GBR		01:48:50
2	Dmitry	Polyanskiy	RUS		01:48:52
3	Yegor	Martynenko	UKR		01:48:53
4	Sebastian	Rank	GER		01:48:58
5	Kyle	Jones	CAN		01:49:03
6	Vicente	Hernandez	ESP		01:49:13
7	Uxio	Abuin Ares	ESP		01:49:38
8	Alessandro	Fabian	ITA		01:49:44
9	Daniel	Hofer	ITA		01:49:57
10	Irving	Perez	MEX		01:50:00

59

Taylor

Reid

CAN

02:00:26