Once the run started, the uncertainty was put to rest. David Cantero del Campo (ESP) reigned supreme before an ecstatic home crowd at the men’s World U23 Championships as he delivered a running performance that channelled his Spanish world champion forebears, Mario Mola, Javier Gomez Noya and Iván Raña. Until Cantero struck, the race had been a cagey, tactical affair with a multitude of potential winners. When he made his move, though, he made his victory look like simplicity itself.

“The other guys were going fast but I just went at my pace and I felt good,” he said after the race. “From the beginning of the race I felt really nice. I was in the lead group which was nice for me. I thought if I got out of the water in the chase pack it would be hard to win but I saw I was with the big ones out of the water and it was good.”

Marcus Dey (GBR) navigated the choppy conditions best across the two-lap 1500m sea swim and led into the first transition. Zalán Hóbor (HUN) and Dylan McCullough (NZL) were the next to follow, with the three leaders carrying a narrow 4 seconds advantage into T1 over the next quickest men. An initial lead pack of four then formed as Pavel Sorokin (AIN) sped through the opening kilometre of the bike.

However, dangers lurked close behind. Cantero, the winner of the Valencia World Cup, had a fantastic swim to emerge through transition only 10 seconds in arrears. By the second bike lap, he had bridged to the leaders. As one of the fastest runners in the field, Cantero’s presence will have sent alarm bells ringing among his rivals. Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) likewise left T1 a mere 13 seconds back and alongside Henry Graf (GER) and Mitch Kolkman (NED), the medallist from the 2023 iteration of the World U23 Championships, slotted into an eventual front group of eleven athletes.

However, John Reed (USA), the recent victor at the Karlovy Vary World Cup, and 2022 World U23 Championships silver medallist Gergely Kiss (HUN) found themselves in a chase pack of three alongside Sebastian Wernersen (NOR). As the gap to the leaders grew, they were swallowed up by the next group on the road.

Pelayo González Turrez (ESP) and Andree Buc (CHI) each made their presence known in the lead pack. Alongside Hóbor, they represented the three men in the front group racing in their first year out of the junior ranks. By the midpoint of the bike, though, the battle was between a pack of eleven and a pack of fourteen with 30 seconds separating them.

It was a fight the chase pack would win. The packs came together at the start of the eighth and final lap and instantly the momentum of the race evaporated. A spate of late surges brought the field back to life before Graf led out onto the four-lap 10km run.

It was on the first lap of the run that Cantero applied the killer blow. After an impressive swim and a tactically astute performance on the bike, the Spanish athlete shrugged off the chase pack’s minor victory in the second discipline to win the larger war. Bitados was the only man able to put up any kind of fight but the gap between the two men only grew.

By the halfway point of the run, Bitados trailed Cantero by 24 seconds. Kiss, Reed, McCullough, Buc, Graf and Jules Rethoret (FRA) were twice as far behind as their hopes shifted from gold to bronze. As the group guarded against one another, Bitados consolidated his position and held on for a wonderful silver medal behind Cantero.

Afterwards, Bitados said, “I am super happy from my result. I pushed and took everything from my body. I tried to keep it close but this guy (Cantero) is amazing, he ran amazing!”

Rethoret made a bold move during the third lap but it was Kiss that took over in the race for 3rd heading into the last lap. Rethoret hung 5 seconds back with Graf also pushing hard. Nevertheless, the Hungarian athlete was in full flight. Graf lifted his tempo and passed Rethoret yet Kiss continued to gain time. The German athlete threw everything he had, but it was too little too late as his Hungarian rival sealed a second World U23 Championships medal of his career. Ultimately, however, the intensity of the battle for bronze only served to reinforce just how easy Cantero had made efforts look.