A tough and hot day of racing in the Austrian Alps saw career-defining wins for Austrian Olympian, Tjebbe Kaindl, and Laura Jansen (GER) as they both took their first professional wins over the middle distance in 3:46:19 and 4:15:15 respectively.
The pro women kicked the day off with Therese Feuersinger (AUT) dominating the swim in 24:13, posting the fastest swim split of the day, for both men and women! She was 2:24 ahead of Julie Iemmolo (ITA). Behind them, a large chase group, that included Jansen, was over three minutes down. On the bike, Feuersinger was untouchable, taking full benefit from her home-course advantage and coming into T2 with a 3:58 lead over Jansen with Iemmolo 5:50 down on the lead.
Out onto the run and conditions were hot, reaching 30C and Feuersinger seemed to be on track to lead from start to finish. However, Jansen had other plans and despite having a four-minute deficit off the bike, she slowly ticked away the seconds and by the beginning of the final lap she moved into the lead, quickly putting a minute between herself and Feuersinger, taking the win in 4:15:15, with Feuersinger finishing in 4:17:05. Behind them, Iemmolo and Johanna Ahrens (GER) were battling for third with Iemmolo taking the final spot on the podium in 4:24:41.
“It’s really amazing to win here, I really wanted it today and everything worked really well,” said Jansen. “I had four minutes to make up at the start at the run and I just had to focus on my race but I knew I could make it. It was really hot on the run and I was so grateful for all the volunteers handing out water! This win gives me a huge amount of confidence, I’m really happy!”
Starting 10 minutes after the women, the men’s swim was more compact with Kaindl exiting the water first in 24:15, just three seconds ahead of Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) who in turn was three seconds ahead of Rafael Lukatsch (AUT). In all, the top seven men were within 18 seconds of each other, including Kurt McDonald (AUS).
A super-fast trasition by McDonald saw him out of T2 in second chasing Kaindl. After a nervous mechanical moment for Kaindl during which McDonald too the lead, he soon caught up and the two set the pace for the full length of the course, riding together within the Challenge Family 20 m drafting rule constraints. Lukatsch remained with them for the first half of the bike but couldn’t keep the pace, falling two minutes behind riding with Marcel Bolbat (GER). They arrived in T2 2:33 down on the leaders.
The run was one of the most exciting this season, McDonald and Kaindl ran together, neck and neck for the first three laps, while behind them Bolbat was closing after dropping Lukatsch. Onto the fourth and final lap and it was all change, Kaindl pulled away from McDonald, Bolbat continued to close, each of the gaps just over 30 seconds. At the finish, there was less than a minute separating the top three, with Kaindl securing the win in 3:46:19 with Bolbat just beating McDonald into second in 3:46:59 and McDonald crossing the line just 10 seconds later in third in 3:47:09.
“It feels amazing, my first middle distance, my first win in front of my home crowd, I’m just so happy. I heard my name being screamed a thousand times and I thought, I just have to win for them,” said Kaindl. “With the heat, I was saving my energy on the run, then after three laps, Bolbat was closing and I knew I had to go.”