At the end of an extended trip to Japan, arriving from the near-miss of fourth place in Tongyeong a fortnight ago, Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger of France pulled out a sprint-distance masterclass to win the Miyazaki World Cup on Saturday morning.

It was the perfect finish to a gruelling season as he dictated the run pace off the bike and pulled clear of nearest challenger Ben Dijkstra, the Brit crossing for silver and a first World Cup podium. Behind him, a Yanis Seguin time penalty opened the door for home favourite Kenji Nener to secure bronze, having hung tough on the Frenchman’s shoulder to round out the podium to the delight of the crowds.

“First gold, first podium for me, i’ve been looking for this since I first started in triathlon and taking the tape was a great day and end to the season,” said an emotional Hueber-Moosbrugger. “I was first pack in the swim and had really good legs after the bike so I went for it. They were struggling to keep with me so I took it to the line. The bike was technical, it’s good to have sharp turns, it hurts the legs but, that’s triathlon. I felt really good these last two weeks in Japan and had a podium on my mind but you just never know, so I’m really happy.”

Hojo and Nener out fast for Japan

In as race number one but short of training after illness, Nener lined up on the far left of the beach start, Seguin and Takumi Hojo to his right and as the horn sounded it was Reese Vannerson taking a tumble on the way in before working his way forward unfazed. 

The swim broke up on the way back to the beach, and it was Hojo, Valentin Morlec and Igor Dupuis with useful daylight behind them out of T1, Vannerson back to within 12s of leaders, Dijkstra just ahead of him.

It was an early chase on the bike for 20 of the field to catch on together, but as they tried to organise there was a big crash that took out Vannerson and Aurelien Jem and left 16 together at the end of lap one, Hojo driving things forward.

Pulls were shared, Jack Willis and Yanis Seguin also driving things on up front, and the gap soon went out to 30 seconds to a chase pack including Blake Harris (CAN) and Jayden Schofield (AUS)

Hueber-Moosbrugger unstoppable

A penalty for Seguin for swimming under the buoy was suddenly up on the officials’ board, meaning a 10-second time penalty to be served on the run, and as he led the group at the bell with Willis and Dijkstra for company, it soon looked like that could be very costly.

Off the bikes and out of T2, it was Australia’s Luke Schofield from Seguin, Dijkstra and Cameron Main, but soon Hueber-Moosbrugger worked his way through and was pushing the pace.

Nener, Dijkstra and Seguin were tucked in on the Frenchman’s shadow at the halfway mark, Hojo, Main and Willis just dropping off the pace as Morlec dug in, leaving four athletes for three medals.

With Seguin choosing to save the penalty for the very end, it was to be a late pep for the exhausted Nener as he found himself in third having refused to let the Frenchman gap him significantly.

Up ahead, Hueber-Moosbrugger had managed to move ahead of Dijkstra and into a clear lead he wouldn’t let slip, the gold and silver respectively their first podiums at the level, an exhausted Nener followed over the line by Seguin and Morlec.

QUOTES:
Ben Dijkstra
“It feels amazing. I’ve been waiting for this for a while. Max was super strong out there and the crash happened right next to me so I hope they’re okay. I saw the number two on the penalty board but didn’t know it was Yanis specifically. Max started swinging it out and I wanted to go with him and latch on. He was just too strong and I went for as long as I could. Down the blue carpet, a silver felt like gold for me. The first season since 2019 I have completed start to finish, and knew I was in good form.”

Kenji Nener
“After getting sick in Neom I didn’t have much expectation but in front of the home crowd and last one (of the season) I wanted to see what I had and I wanted to see it through. Yanis worked hard and sorry he had the penalty. I was so emotional after Neom and didn’t want to end the season that way, so thanks to everyone for their support and congratulations to Ben Dijkstra.”