Photos: World Triathlon
By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
A World Cup best result gives Saxon Morgan licence to head into the off-season quietly chuffed. The best part about his well deserved refresh is that he knows he has so much more to give.
The 24-year-old Cantabrian’s 9th at World Cup Miyazaki on Saturday easily eclipsed his 38th placing in the same race a year ago and edged his World Cup best of 10th in Hong Kong in March.
It neatly bookended a year that started and finished strongly but was peppered in between by a series of races where Morgan swam and rode strongly but couldn’t quite finish things off.
To a degree, the same applied in Miyazaki where the Kiwi’s 15min 18sec 5km split was the 12th best run of the day and 49sec slower than Frenchman Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger’s race winning 14:29 effort.
So yes, Morgan is happy with the result. Still, he knows he’s a way off maximising the potential he showed by claiming 8th in the U23 World Championships in Abu Dhabi in November 2022.
“I’m really happy to finish the season off like that, a solid day all round over the three disciplines,” said Morgan. “But still slightly off the pace in the run which has been a common theme throughout the latter stages of this season.”
Morgan will sit down with coach John Hellemans during the off-season to reassess and plan another year on the World Triathlon circuit. The goal will be to get his run speed, and by default his world ranking, up. He’s also eyeing a couple of Ironman 70.3 starts to mix things up.
While the step up to mid distance racing will make for a refreshing change, Morgan’s ultimate goal is an Olympic Games start. It has been pretty much ever since he took up the sport.
“As a kid, I remember watching the Brownlee brothers, Javier Gomez, Mario Mola and guys like Richard Murray always mixing it up at the front of the races which was super inspiring and something I knew I wanted to try achieve. It’s been very cool over the years having the opportunity to race and hang out with athletes I grew up looking up to.
“From a young kid I’ve always dreamed of going to the Olympics so am really striving to be in contention for the LA2028 Olympics.
“This year has been a tough one for results. Training and everything has been going really well just haven’t been able to translate it into consistent race results.”
Perhaps Saturday in Miyazaki was a turning point.
Japan’s Takumi Hoko gave the home fans early delight by leading out of the water in 8:39. Morgan was in the leading chase pack just 8 secs adrift and then went to work on the bike.
“The bike was tight and fairly strung out through the U-turns so I positioned myself towards the front to avoid trouble and save my legs from too many surges,” he said.
“I went with the pace early on in the run and hung on for the first kilometre before falling off the pace slightly and then running by myself for a fair chunk of the run. Fortunately I had a bit of a buffer from the chase group and the guys behind me from the front group weren’t making up any time.
“Overall pretty happy to finish 9th. Still plenty of work to do over the New Zealand summer but nice to show a glimpse of what I feel I’m capable of.”
JORGENSEN RECOVERS FROM FALL FOR WOMEN’S GOLD
After a taxing 20km bike in Miyazaki, the scene looked set for another World Cup run to the sun for USA’s Gwen Jorgensen on Saturday morning, before a tumble threatened to derail all the former Olympic champion’s hard work.
Suddenly over 15 seconds back from the leaders, the American dug deep, picked her way through 15 athletes, and finally reeled in Switzerland’s Alissa Konig to score another gutsy gold right at the end of a wild chase to the tape in Japan.
Konig had taken the run out hard with Jolien Vermeylen, but the Belgian dropped back before Jorgensen’s final surge, Konig kicking early as the chute approached but running out of steam to cede the lead at the line.
“I feel like I made this race harder than it needed to be but the theme was just not to give up, and I just kept telling myself to race,” said Jorgensen.
“I’m not sure what happened in T2, I went into someone as they racked their bike and fell. At one point I thought a podium was enough but then I thought, ‘Gwen, stop. Race, give your best’. Alissa really made me work for it and sprinted early… but I kept in it and gave my all.
“A lot of things happened today so I’m really proud I never gave up.”
World Cup Miyazaki
(Sprint – 9.11.2024)
Men
1. Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger (FRA) 00:53:59
2. Ben Dijkstra (GBR) 00:54:07
3. Kenji Nener (JPN) 00:54:19
Also
9. Saxon Morgan (NZL) 00:54:46
Women
1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 00:59:54
2. Alissa Konig (SUI) 00:59:56
3. Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) 01:00:11
