Galician athlete Esperanza Barreras successfully defended her long-distance title on Friday and timed her final perfectly to the surprise of onlookers, solidifying a great week in Pattaya, Thailand. Born in Vigo in 1983, she secured the second position behind defending champion Frenchwoman Melanie Lafenetre. Peruvian Itzel Delgado took the silver, while Spaniard Antonio Morillo won the bronze.

After her performance, she admitted, "This wasn't really in my plans; I came here more focused on the distance race. But this morning, I decided to give it my all. This is my last race of the season. I did well with the temperature and wind, so I just pushed myself. In the previous race, I made all the mistakes I had to make, so I decided not to make too many mistakes in this one." Frenchwoman Lafenetre finished second, ahead of Argentina's Juliette Duhaime.

In the men's category, Frenchman Noic Garioud aimed for the triple crown but was thwarted by Connor Baxter, who flawlessly defended his technical medal, preventing the Frenchman from taking the top spot as he had in the sprint category. After his victory, the American acknowledged, "When Noic passed me and I barely made it to second place, it was a bit bittersweet, but it really motivated me." 

He further explained his strategy on the beaches south of Bangkok, "We know how to go straight, yes, but we also know how to turn, how to run with our boards, start from the beach; that's what it's about, and defending that in an elegant way and maintaining that advantage from start to finish was my goal, and I achieved it."

In other technical finals, Italian Claudia Postiglione secured her second junior title of the week by winning the junior women's race, while Spaniard Sergio Cantoral successfully defended his junior men's crown.

In the 40-plus category, Dutch representative Petronella Van Malsen claimed her second gold of the week in the women's division, while Japan's Ryohei Yoshida won the men's category for those over 40.

Among those over 50, British athlete Marie Buchanan ended her week in Southeast Asia with two golds, while Spaniard Daniel Parresle denied German Peter Weidert the chance for a triple gold, successfully defending the technical gold he won in Poland last year.

RESULTS - TECHNICAL RACES

MEN

Connor  Baxter (United States) 5:57.82

Itzel Delgado (Peru) 6:01.11

Antonio Morillo (Spain) 6:02.05

WOMEN

Esperanza Barreras (Spain) 6:45.96

Melanie Lefenetre (France) 6:49.11

Juliette Duhaime (Argentina) 6:49.38

JUNIOR MEN

Sergio Cantoral (Spain) 6:21.04

Vaic Garioud (France) 6:29.28

Shimazu Nariakira (Japan) 6:32.68

JUNIOR WOMEN

Claudia Postiglione (Italy) 7:08.36

Csillag Kocsis (Hungary) 7:16.84

Rosara David (New Zealand) 7:23.93

MEN 40-PLUS

Ryohei Yoshida (Japan) 6:24.06

Georgios Fragkos (Greece) 6:28.96

Christian Taucher (Austria) 6:32.83

WOMEN 40-PLUS

Petronella Van Malsen (Netherlands) 7:29.65

Susanne Lier (Germany) 7:46.23

Verity Thomas (Great Britain) 8:00.10

MEN 50-PLUS

Daniel Parres (Spain) 6:28.89

Peter Weidert (Germany) 6:33.55

Marc Foraster (Spain) 6:40.59

WOMEN 50-PLUS

Marie Buchanan (Great Britain) 7:40.66

Marlene Bergh (New Zealand) 7:55.31

Katerina Trdlova (Czech Republic) 8:16.15