Olympic triathlon champion Cassandre Beaugrand has shattered the French 5,000m record on the track, a mark which had stood for over 20 years.
She has obviously covered the distance plenty of times in triathlons but Wednesday night’s event in Nice was her first official 5km race since 2016.
And she stopped the clock in 14:40:77, well under the previous best of 14:43.90, set by Margaret Maury back in 2004.
‘I couldn’t let them down’
She had three pacemakers to help in her record bid and told L’Equipe afterwards: “I really surprised myself. I was very focused on the lighting and the pacemakers because I’m not used to running like that; I had to adapt my stride.
“But there were so many people cheering me on. I couldn’t let them down.”
Regarded as the fastest female runner in triathlon, Beaugrand has now collected three national records in not much more than a year – a 14:53 on the road in Monaco in February 2025 giving her the 5km one while in April this year she became the first Frenchwoman to go sub-31 minutes for 10km on the road with a 30:52 in Lille.
Triathlon return incoming
She’s yet to race a triathlon in 2026, having travelled to the season opening WTCS race in Samarkand only for illness to prevent her starting.
But she’s is set to return to swim, bike and run at WTCS Alghero at the end of the month, with that race the first counter for the next Olympic qualifying window.
