Team Europe ruthlessly defended the Collins Cup in Samorin, winning eight of the 12 matches as Team International and Team USA struggled to come to terms with the calibre of athlete the home side had at their disposal.
With half the team claiming the maximum 6pt haul because of the margin of their victories, Europe eventually ran out 15pt winners with 53pts to Team International's 38pts. Team USA had a day to forget with just 22.5pts as they failed to register a single win.
A strong start for Team Europe
Over a 2km swim, 80km cycle and 18km run in Slovakia, the momentum was set from the first three-way matchup, when Daniela Ryf posted the fastest women’s time of the day as she tore away from Olympic champion Flora Duffy to score a maximum for Europe.
Team International fought back briefly thanks to thumping wins from Australia's Ashleigh Gentle and Canada's Paula Findlay in the next two match-ups.
But captains' pick Nicola Spirig – six years to the day since picking up Olympic silver in Rio – returned another maximum and kicked off a run of four successive match wins for Europe, with Holly Lawrence, Anne Haug and then Kristian Blummenfelt all storming to bonus point victories.
Blummenfelt, the Ironman and Olympic champion, was PTO-ranked No 1 going into the event and justified that position by setting the fastest men's time of the day of 3:09:19, defeating New Zealand's Commonwealth Games silver medallist Hayden Wilde in the process.
Match 8 brings the drama
While Europe had victory in their grasp by this point, there was at least some drama in Match 8 as Team International's Lionel Sanders and USA's Sam Long overhauled a big deficit to Sam Laidlow, and were then involved in a sprint finish that saw Sanders take the tape.
Magnus Ditlev restored Europe's ascendency with another maximum in Match 9, and while Australian Aaron Royle took down two-time Ironman champion Patrick Lange of Germany in Match 10, Europe's Gustav Iden and Daniel Baekkegard both romped home in the final two contests to wrap-up a resounding defence of the trophy.
Team Internationals had been billed as putting up a potential challenge to the hosts, and at least avoided the ignominy of the Broken Spokes trophy – awarded for finishing last – which they had to stomach in 2021.
There were only two Britons on show for Team Europe this year, with PTO-ranked No 4 Kat Matthews alongside captains' pick Lawrence, who was raised in Somerset and is now based in California.
Lawrence renewed her rivalry with Australian Ellie Salthouse and reversed the fortunes from a crash and third-place finish in 2021, with Jocelyn McCauley splitting the pair. Matthews couldn't live with Findlay but did manage to hold off Skye Moench to take second in Match 3.
Team Europe take dominant win... again
Team Europe's athletes and captains celebrate a successful defence of their Collins Cup title (Credit: PTO)
It didn't matter though as Europe continued to plunder the opposition, finishing 10.5pts better than last year in a comprehensive display.
"Defending a title is much harder than winning the first one," said European team co-captain Normann Stadler. "On paper we were the strongest, but this year's races looked closer. But the first race with Daniela against Flora Duffy was amazing and the start for a good day."
Team International skipper Erin Baker said: "The team did brilliantly and the wins were fantastic but everyone put everything into it. But give it all to Europe, they were amazing."
Top image credit: PTO
