Fresh off his last-gasp victory at the Hong Kong World Cup, Nils Serre Gehri (FRA) is back for more and headlines this weekend’s race in Miyazaki. The 2024 World Junior champion and 2026 World U23 champion will be wearing the number 1 for the first time at a World Cup and, based on the year he has been having, few will bet against him notching another gold in Japan.
On a high-seed sprint distance course – made up of a one-lap 750m sea swim and five 4km laps on the bike before two laps of 2.5km round things off on the run – the route should also favour Serre. Nevertheless, plenty of contenders lie in wait to knock him off his game, including an athlete hunting a Miyazaki hat-trick, another Hong Kong medallist, and two of Asia’s best triathletes. Catch every minute live on TriathlonLive with the men’s race starting from 11:00 (local time).
The top seed and the top dog
For Serre, this weekend will be a case of going back to where it all began in a sense. It was one year ago that he made his World Cup debut in Miyazaki, a race at which he finished 7th. A week later, he placed 5th in Tongyeong. At the start of this year, he grabbed a first medal by finishing 2nd in Chengdu. His Hong Kong win followed last week. The only way has been up, except there is no more room for the Frenchman to rise. Another win, however, would more than suffice.
Joining Serre in Miyazaki will be Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger (FRA), the 2024 race winner and last year’s silver medallist. He has not been in all-singing all-dancing form this year, but Hueber-Moosbrugger did win the Coimbra Europe Cup in September and is a proven operator with a knack for crossing the line first at World Cups. Perhaps his love affair with Miyazaki will continue this weekend with a third straight trip to the podium.
Rome buddies
At last week’s Hong Kong World Cup, Nathan Grayel (FRA) led onto the run and was not far off making the podium himself. The Frenchman is a well-balanced triathlete, making him a likely challenger to Serre regardless of how the race unfold.
Grayel won his first World Cup medal last autumn in Rome. That day, he shared the podium with Izan Edo Aguilar (ESP), and the Spaniard is the third seed in Miyazaki behind Serre and Grayel. Edo was another to narrowly miss out on the podium in Hong Kong while prior to that he placed 4th at the World U23 Championships; again, he was a whisker from putting himself among the medals. After their recent near misses, it seems only a matter of time before Grayel and Edo are back on the podium.
Asia’s finest
Takumi Hojo (JPN), the Asian Games gold medallist, will be one to watch. Racing on home soil, the World Cup race winner will look to sign off his year with a flourish. Similarly, Xirui Zhang (CHN), winner of the silver medal at the Asian Games, will look to cap an autumn in which he also claimed a maiden World Cup medal in Beijing.
Zhang also opted to only tackle the Mixed Team Relay in Hong Kong, where he anchored Team China to the bronze medal. By not racing the individual event he may have a little more in reserve than his rivals this weekend.
Medallists abound
David Castro Fajardo (ESP) is on the upswing after placing 4th and Tongyeong and then 3rd in Hong Kong. The logical next step in the progression would be a silver in Miyazaki, but as a multiple World Cup winner he can never be counted out of the gold medal conversation.
Among some of the younger athletes in the field, Toby Powers (AUS) comes into this race having claimed a first World Cup medal in the summer. Plus, Alex Robin (GBR), the 2025 World Junior Championships silver medallist, will be hoping to make a similar step into the big leagues as Serre.
