The second edition of the Aquabike Standard Distance World Championships took place on September 24th in Pontevedra, Spain. For most athletes from the northern hemisphere, it was the last race of the season while it was the season opener for those who travelled to Galicia from South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. According to participating athletes we saw an almost perfectly organized race with only minor points of criticism. So everything was well prepared for a thrilling race.
The Men´s Race
The male aquabikers started in four waves, with the oldest competitors in the first and the youngest in the last wave. First of the prerace favourites to start was Frank ERK. The third overall from the European Championships in Menen showed some improvement in the water compared to the last races. But there was no doubt that the younger competitors would set faster swim times than the German. The runner ups in this year´s long distance World Championships and European Championships followed in the next wave. First out of the water was somebody else though. New Zealands Terence JACK left the water after 18 minutes and 41 seconds – more than four minutes faster than the strong German cyclist. Vice World Champion Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO came out 19 seconds later, with last year´s 4th placed Thomas WINKELMANN only two seconds later. After a quick transition by the Spaniard and the German, the three leading athletes started the bike leg only separated by a few seconds, while vice European Champion Tommy NIELSEN lost about one and a half minute in the swim. Everything was set for a close race for the podium spots on the bike. However, when the last start wave finished the swim it became clear that the older favourites will have to wait for the finish of the young guns to know who was the fastest overall. Because it was young British athlete Robin HUGHES who left the water after exactly 18 minutes.
When Frank ERK crossed the finish line, setting the fastest time of his start wave, it was clear that his time gap after the swim was too big to hold off his younger competitors. It took him 58:47 minutes for the quite demanding bike course. Only one athlete should be able to beat this time. Tommy NIELSEN put down the hammer on the bike, finishing the bike leg in 58:36. While he was able to pass the strong swimmers from New Zealand and Germany, it was not enough to catch the Spaniard. So it was Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO crossing the finish line first with the Dane coming in 14 seconds later. Two minutes later Thomas WINKELMANN came in next, with Terence JACK only five more seconds behind.
The question now was: Can Robin HUGHES hold off his older rivals on the bike? With 1:00:38 the 23-year-old set the 4th fastest bike split of the day. He crossed the finish line after one hour, 21 minutes and 28 seconds – 20 seconds faster than Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO. After missing the overall win at the Long Distance World´s by just 21 seconds he had to settle for second spot on the podium again by almost the same small margin. Denmark´s Tommy NIELSEN finished third overall, so Thomas WINKELMANN had to settle for 4th place just like last year. Behind Terence JACK it was another young guy from New Zealand to finish 6th overall. National Champion Liam MILLER came in about a minute after his fellow countryman, putting Frank ERK in 7th place overall.
This July Robin HUGHES also became British National Triathlon Champion in his age group. Coming from a swimming and bike racing background, running is clearly his weaker discipline though. Let´s hope we will also see him again in some aquabike races in the future. “The Cycling Triathlete” also has a YouTube channel. No new videos for a few months though – about time for some aquabike stories on YouTube 😉.
The Women´s Race
The big showdown between the two reigning World Champions unfortunately didn´t take place. Despite appearing on the start list Long Distance World Champion Katrín Pálsdóttir did not make it to Pontevedra. So defending champion Amy PRITCHARD was the big favourite for the race. And after the swim it looked like she would live up to her role as race favourite. She came out of the water first, together with Andrea DAMIANI. After a quick transition she started the bike leg with a time gap of about half a minute to the Canadian. Next to follow was Kai SACHTLEBER from Germany, more than a minute behind.
But when the swimmers from the last wave left the water, it was clear that there would be some serious competition from the younger athletes.
The women´s race started in three waves, also with the youngest athletes in the last wave. Sarah MCCLURE left the water after 19 minutes and 33 seconds – about one and a half minute faster than Amy PRITCHARD. In her first aquabike race the 22-year-old athlete from New Zealand was not only clearly the fastest swimmer. Coming from Elite Triathlon she also was a class on her own in transition, giving her a clear lead going into the bike section. But also some other young athletes showed strong performances on the swim course. 18-year-old US girl Chesney WATSON came out of the water next, exactly 100 seconds down on the leader. Half a minute later two British athletes finished the swim only separated by a few seconds. Eleanore NASH and Rosalind DAVIES-JONES were closely followed by Austrian athlete Vanessa URBANZ, who lost about half a minute to the UK girls through transition though.
On the bike Amy PRITCHARD was able to increase her lead, crossing the finish line after one hour, 34 minutes and five seconds, about a minute ahead of Andrea DAMIANI. With Kai SACHTLEBER being the next to finish the race the top spots in this start wave remained unchanged after the swim. But it was clear that the athletes from the “young start wave” would have a say when it came to the overall podium ranks. After a super-fast swim and transition Sarah MCCLURE also showed a strong performance on the bike, taking a clear win finishing the race two minutes and 43 seconds faster than the defending champion. She wasn´t the fastest on the bike though. Fellow countrywoman Ange KEEN needed ten seconds less to finish the bike leg. Coming out of the water in 10th position, she managed to make it on the overall podium, about three and a half minutes down on the winner, while Andrea DAMIANI had to settle for fourth place by only eight seconds. Behind the Canadian Eleanore NASH, Rosalind DAVIES-JONES and Vanessa URBANZ finished in 5th, 6th and 7th position – the same positions they had after the swim. Kai SACHTLEBER ended up in 8th place overall – also the same position she already was in after the swim.
Check out the full results of the 2023 Standard Distance Aquabike World Chamionships
Impressive title & medal records
Despite not repeating her overall win Amy PRITCHARD still defended the World Championship title in her age group, taking home the fifth gold medal in five World Championships races, leaving her undefeated in all the nine international championship races she competed in. What an impressive record, Chapeau Amy!
A special shout out also goes out to Birger Frederiksen. The 67-year-old Dane won the bronze medal in his age group, making him the aquabike athlete with the biggest collection of medals from national and international championships. Five medals at World Championships, three from European and three more from national championships adding up to a total of 11 medals. What is still missing though is a gold medal at World Championships. I´m sure Birger will give it some more tries over the next years. Good Luck for that!
Team GB is back
It was quite a surprise that Team GB was not leading the medals table after the European Championships in Menen last August (see our race report). In Pontevedra UK aquabike athletes came home with 22 medals. Four more than US aquabikers who are still leading the medals table after winning no less than ten world championships titles. It´s for the second time in the history of aquabike championships that British aquabikers won more medals than athletes from the United States. The first time was also in Pontevedra, at the Long Distance World Chamionships in 2019. Looks like Galicia is a pretty good place for UK aquabikers.
Here´s the full medals table for the 2023 Aquabike Standard Distance World Championships
| Rank | Country |  |  |  |
| 1. | United States of America | 17 | 2 | 6 |
| 2. | United Kingdom | 8 | 10 | 6 |
| 3. | Spain | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 4. | New Zealand | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 5. | Germany | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 6. | Austria | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 7. | Norway | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 8. | Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 9. | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10. | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11. | Poland | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | Mexico | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13. | Denmark | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 14. | Ireland | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 15. | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16. | Australia | 0 | 0 | 1 |
In my race preview I expressed – once again – my concerns about the finish line. With more than 300 athletes in a short race like that close finishes are inevitable and locating the finish line at or near the dismount line really didn´t seem like a good idea. I didn´t hear about too many incidents. Still some though, but overall it seems like athletes were quite aware of the somewhat less than perfect solution of the aquabike finish and did not take any crazy risks. However, the appeal to World Triathlon and the race organizers of international championship races to waste a few more thoughts on where to finish the aquabike race to allow a fair and safe finish for aquabike athletes certainly remains.
Congratulations go out to the newly crowned World Champions, medal winners and all the other finishers of the race. See you next year in Malaga!