Chase McQueen crowned supertri E World Triathlon Champion
The USA’s Chase McQueen stormed to victory at the supertri E World Triathlon Championships powered by Zwift in London to put behind him the nightmare of his 2023 collapse in the capital.
The 26-year-old’s advantage was nine seconds over the home favourite Max Stapley, with France’s Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger taking bronze.
Having blown his chance of winning the 2023 supertri E World Champs in London last year (including famously doing butterfly on the swim), the convincing victory acted as redemption for McQueen and he could enjoy the final run leg in front of a packed London Aquatics Centre.
“I’m getting emotional even thinking about being a world champion,” said McQueen at the finish. “It’s been a really hard 12 months and I’ve been thinking about this moment every day. I was fading on that last round and I’m so glad to share the podium with Max and Maxime, who pushed me so hard. I owe this to my team and family for bringing the best out of me every single day.”
While hopes of a home victory were dashed by McQueen, Max Stapley continued his rise as a major supertri player with a silver medal, having finished fifth in London in 2023.
CAPITAL GAINS
The London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Park was the host of the supertri E World Triathlon Championships, with 10 triathletes qualifying from the morning heats, including heat winners Chase McQueen (USA), Max Stapley (GBR) and world U23 champion Simon Henseleit (GER), as well as Brit athletes Harry Leleu, Samuel Dickinson and Hugo Milner hoping to impress on home soil. Olympic qualifying points were also on offer, raising the stakes even higher.
The World Championship race consisted of three stages over the supertri E format (200m Swim – 4km Bike – 1km Run; 1km Run – 4km Bike – 200m Swim; before a final 200m Swim – 4km Bike – 1km Run).
The final stage would see a Pursuit start based on the time difference accumulated across the first two stages, with the athlete with the fastest times starting first.
STAGE 1
Swim: 200m
Into the pool and the USA’s Chase McQueen was straight into the lead in the 50m pool just ahead of Brit Max Stapley. Those two exited the water after 2:04mins, with Samuel Dickinson (GBR) and Henry Graf (GER) in hot pursuit.
Bike: 4km
Onto the Tacx Neo smarter trainers, and McQueen continued to push the pace at the front ahead of Dickinson and Stapley. Having battled the virtual Zwift cobbles in the draft-free race, McQueen’s lead was 3secs over Dickinson by Transition 2, with Stapley 8secs in arrears.
Run: 1km
Hitting the elliptical treadmills at close to 20km/h pace, the gap between McQueen and Dickinson remained locked at 3secs, but Stapley was gaining on the leaders and, by the end of the hot and frenetic 1km, only 3secs separated the top three.
STAGE 2
Run: 1km
The reverse order run, bike, swim began on the Zwift-linked treadmills, with Hugo Milner into the lead hoping to bring down his 27sec gap to the leaders from Stage 1. French racer Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger was in close proximity, entering T1 alongside the Brit athlete and taking the lead at the start of the race’s second bike leg.
Bike: 4km
Hueber-Moosbrugger, with plenty of Super League experience in his locker, maintained his advantage throughout the Zwift bike leg, with Milner dropping down the field and McQueen, Stapley and Dickinson returning to the pointy end of the field. Just seven seconds would separate the top four in T2, with much hanging on their bike-to-swim transition speed.
Swim: 200m
McQueen was the fastest in transition, entering the pool first ahead of Hueber-Moosbrugger. The American’s lead was 7secs by the 200m mark ahead of Henry Graf (GER), with Dickinson and Stapley 9secs behind. Advantage America.
STAGE 3
Swim: 200m
The pursuit-style start saw McQueen with a 12sec advantage over Stapley and 13secs over Dickinson. That lead was 11secs over Stapley by T1, with Dickinson a further 4secs back.
Bike: 4km
The day’s final men’s bike leg again saw McQueen at the fore, producing a 350-watt output to create a 16sec advantage over Stapley by the halfway mark, 18secs by T2.
Run: 1km
With the win a near formality, the chief battle of the final run leg was between Stapley, Dickinson and Hueber-Moosbrugger for the remaining podium spots. With McQueen cruising to the title, Stapley battled to second overall 9secs back, with Hueber-Moosbrugger rounding out the podium 4secs behind Stapley. Dickinson would come home in fourth, with Graf taking fifth.
