It was a weekend of French and Australian domination at BCA Super League Bali, which saw France’s Sandra Dodet, Aurelien Raphael and Anthony Pujades, and Australia’s Danielle De Francesco, Felicity Sheedy-Ryan and Ryan Fisher claim the first Golden Tickets to the main Super League Triathlon (SLT) Championship Series. 

Day 1: Equalizer Stage 1
The first of two days of racing kicked off on Saturday morning with the professionals lining up for the Equalizer Race Stage 1: a 1.6km Time Trial (TT) effort that went off in pursuit style. Dodet pulled forward ahead of a slew of Australians, including Danielle De Francesco, Kerry Morris, Maighan Brown and Felicity Sheedy-Ryan, to finish first. Eventually, Sheedy-Ryan would beat her compatriots to finish second with De Francesco rounding out the top three. 

Shortly following the women’s TT was the men’s race, with Walter Schafer (USA) winning the foot race, blitzing a cool 4:19 mile. Lachlan Jones (AUS) and Ryan Fisher would eventually join Schafer in the top three. The crowd favourite was local athlete and Olympian Andy Wibowo, who finished 50 seconds behind Schafer. 

Day 1: Women’s Equalizer Stage 2
After a short break, the athletes would return in the afternoon’s scorching heat to kick off Stage 2 of the Equalizer Race, a swim-bike-run-swim-bike-run format. Leaders of the time trial started ahead of their hard-charging competitors and looked to hold their lead against the competition. The women dived into the ocean in huge, choppy swells and immediately the field strung out, with super swimmer De Francesco exiting the water first, followed by Dodet, Morris, Alessia Orla (ITA) and Sheedy-Ryan hot on her heels. 

The difficult swim would claim the first of the competitors and the early part of the bike chopped the women’s field almost in half. By the time the women were running in the heat of the day, it was Dodet, Sheedy-Ryan and Morris who had pulled ahead. The French athlete kicked towards the halfway mark of the final lap to come through the line with a convincing win, followed by Sheedy-Ryan and Morris, putting up an impressive effort coming from a long distance racing background. De Francesco and Orla rounded out the top five after the first day of racing.

“The swim was really tactical and I tried to hit the buoy straight on. I’m a surfer at heart so I thought I could grab a wave and ride it in,” said Morris when asked about the swim. “At some point, I thought, Kerry, you’re either in this race or you’re out. The conditions were brutal out there.” 
 

Australia's Ryan Fisher crosses the finish line to claim a full-sweep victory in Bali

Day 1: Men’s Equalizer Stage 2
Shortly after the podium ceremony, the gun was fired for the start of men’s Stage 2 race, who were faced with an equally difficult ocean swim. Having the advantage of watching the shifting tide of the women’s water leg, the pack remained tightly packed with a string of men exiting the water in relatively quick succession.

Large groups of athletes immediately bunched up during the bike leg, with the main pack consisting of Fisher, Tommy Zaferes (USA), Michael Lori (CAN), Pujades, Raphael, and Jones. This front group schooled the tight corners, with the top six transitioning into the run within a few seconds of one another. The two-lap run saw the triathletes start to space out, with Fisher pulling ahead halfway and holding the lead through to the finish. Raphael and Pujades hung on to finish second and third respectively. Lori had a standout performance finishing fourth, and Japanese athlete Jumpei Furuya – a previous Super League competitor –  took fifth place on Day 1.

“It doesn't always look pretty,” said Equalizer winner Fisher. “I’ve had a pretty good focus on my technical running and biomechanics, and it’s been working well. Obviously, there is still lots to do but I am thrilled to be here.”

Day 2: Women’s Enduro
Dodet pulled off a repeat performance on Day 2 of BCA Super League Bali, topping the podium of the Enduro ahead of De Francesco and Morris. Perhaps the French athlete was inspired by her training partner, Cassandre Beaugrand, who won last season’s SLT Singapore finale weekend and finished third overall in the league.

With surf and current conditions less brutal than Saturday’s, De Francesco and Dodet were able to make a beeline for the first buoy. The Australian made full use of her strong swim to pull clear of the field and log a 23-second lead out of the swim. Dodet and Morris soon emerged from the surf to form a chase group with Alessia Orla and Jasmine Greaves (AUS). Sheedy-Ryan, along with compatriots Aleisha Wesley and Maighan Brown and American Erin Storie, made up a second chase group more than 10 seconds back.

De Francesco’s early lead led to a host of eliminations out of the swim, and she maintained her stamina to keep the lead throughout the bike race. While the Australian was first off the bike, Dodet was right on her heels and overtook her on the run. The French athlete kept that lead into the second swim, heading into the water with De Francesco and Morris. Due to the 90-second elimination rule, it was Sheedy-Ryan who rounded off the final four triathletes left on course.

This time around, De Francesco kept her lead position with Dodet staying close behind – seemingly biding her time. Going into the final run lap, Dodet dug deep and never looked back. In a matter of minutes, she was lifting the winner’s tape overhead, with De Francesco and Morris taking second and third respectively. 

“It was the hardest short course race I’ve ever done,” said Bali weekend winner Dodet.

De Francesco said of her commanding leads out of the swims, “I didn’t know how it would pan out… But it just worked out in my favour I guess!”

Having earned the maximum 50 points from her performance over the two days, Dodet earned the first Golden Ticket to the 2019 SLT Championship Series. In the points race from the overall weekend, De Francesco and Sheedy-Ryan both ended on 37 points to take the final two Golden Tickets in the women’s field. Due to her finishing position on Day 2’s Enduro, De Francesco finished ahead of her compatriot in the final official rankings. A particularly impressive result for Sheedy-Ryan as this was her first major race back after a year and a half, having suffered from a slipped disk and only just returning to the sport.

Morris just missed out on a Golden Ticket by one point. She said, “Whenever I race I give it 110 percent, which you can see on my face -- it’s not a pretty pain face.”

Women’s Golden Ticket Winners
• Sandra Dodet (FRA) - 50 pts (Day 1: 25 pts / Day 2: 25 pts)
• Danielle De Francesco (AUS) - 37 pts (Day 1: 16 pts / Day 2: 21 pts)
• Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) - 37 pts (Day 1: 21 pts / Day 2: 16 pts)

Day 2: Men’s Enduro
In a repeat of Saturday’s podium, Fisher once again beat Raphael and Pujades to claim victory on Day 2 of BCA Super League Bali. With this result, these top three men also led a field of 32 other competitors to claim their Golden Tickets to the 2019 SLT Championship Series.

Taking on the same Enduro format as the women, it was Raphael who was first out of the water. with Fisher, Pujades, and Pierre le Corre (FRA) on his tail. 

Once on the bike, the lead group expanded with Furuya, Zaferes, Lori and James Tan of Hong Kong adding to the mass pack. Casualties of the 90-second elimination rule after the first swim and bike legs included athletes from the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia. By the second swim and bike, only Furuya was left to keep the Asian hopes alive.

Meanwhile, up front into the third lap of swim-bike-run, Fisher turned up the pace once again along with the three Frenchmen, dropping Furuya, Zaferes, and Lori on the bike. Jones took the opportunity to leap-frog the three athletes to bridge onto the fast-moving lead group. Soon enough, Zaferes and Lori slid backwards into elimination.

Summoning what strength he had left in his legs, Fisher made a breakaway and built a 10-second lead into the final run, which grew to 22 seconds by the finish line, ahead of the French train of Raphael, Pujades and le Corre respectively. Jones and Furuya rounded off the top six on Day 2.

“I felt like I was at the French National Championships or something,” said Fisher after his winning performance. “One of them would attack and they’d try to bridge up to him; another one would go around… so I figured if I could sit on the front I’d at least get a bit of a heads-up if they were going to come past.”

Golden Ticket winner Anthony Pujades spoke about his training regime: “It’s quite hard to find some good athletes where I live and I don’t want to move, so I have to train on my own – but it’s ok… I like it. It’s hard to train with people all the time because you have to manage with the way of life of others and I don’t really like that...”

Like Dodet, Fisher earned the maximum 50 points from his winning weekend performance, earning the fourth of six Golden Tickets to the 2019 SLT Championship Series. As the top 3 remained unchanged across the two days, Raphael claimed the fifth Golden Ticket with his 42 points, and Pujades won the sixth and final Golden Ticket of the Qualifier with his 36 points.

Men’s Golden Ticket Winners
• Ryan Fisher (AUS) - 50 pts (Day 1: 25 pts / Day 2: 25 pts)
• Aurelien Raphael (FRA) - 42 pts (Day 1: 21 pts / Day 2: 21 pts)
• Anthony Pujades (FRA) - 36 pts (Day 1: 18 pts / Day 2: 18 pts)