The third edition of the Salinas ITU Triathlon World Cup was the most dramatic and exciting to date after Yuliya Yelistratova and David Castro Fajardo both won their way to the top of the podium in down-to-the-wire sprint finishes on the blue carpet.
With an emotional grab of the victory tape, both Yelistratova and Castro returned to the winner’s circle after years of not making it onto a World Cup podium, with Yelistratova seizing Gold for the first time since 2015 and Castro not winning a World Cup race since winning in the debut Salinas event back in 2016.
Bermuda pair Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley also competed.
Yelistratova was clocked across the line in a time of 58:19, with Hawley finishing 39th overall was clocked at 1:00:24, Hawley was clocked at 9:49 on the Swim, 30:11 on the Bike Course, before closing out with a time of 18:33 on the Run Course.
Smith finished 41st in the Men’s Elite Field, one minute and thirty-nine seconds behind Fajardo who clocked 52:21, Smith was clocked in a time of 54:00, Smith recorded a time of 9:13 on the Swim, 27:22 on the Bike Course and then he clocked 15:44 on the Run Course.
Smith telling www.islandstats.com, “The course itself today wasn't too difficult but it was very fast and tightly packed racing throughout. It was my first time racing at this World Cup level, but I was expecting a better result, I struggled with a rough and physical swim as well as the first part of the bike course being at the back of such a large group through some technical sections.”
Hawley said, “My race went well - as it’s Olympic qualifying time the race was stacked. I believe the girls had 65 athletes which is huge. I had a good swim and bike, but unfortunately the race unfolded as one large bike pack of about 50 girls so it ended up all being determined on the run. I was injured most of September and had only started running a couple of weeks ago so I am overall pleased with the race, even though I would’ve like to have finished up higher than 39th. From 1st to my 40th there was only 2 minutes so the gaps were so much smaller in this race.”
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