Olympic champion targets 5k test and says triathlon in February ‘makes no sense to me’

Olympic and World Triathlon champion Cassandre Beaugrand will kick off her 2025 season this Sunday with the Monaco 5k.

The 27-year-old, who enjoyed the best year of her career in 2024, has decided not to take part in the first round of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Abu Dhabi, on February 15 and 16.

Instead Beaugrand, who reached the pinnacle of the sport last year with Olympic gold at Paris 2024 and a first WTCS title, will sharpen up her run skills ahead of the campaign ahead.

“I can have fun with running races”

She told French outlet L’Equipe: “Racing (in triathlon) in February makes no sense to me. What can motivate me is to go and have fun with other objectives than the pure triathlon. If I can have fun with running races, that can be a cool intermediate objective. Testing myself with the athletes.”

Instead Beaugrand, who is currently training in Girona with Belgian coach Glenn Poleunis after leaving her previous base in Loughborough, is taking her talents back on the road.

She will line up for the 5 km road race in Monaco, an event which has often seen national and world records tumble.

French record in her sights?

Beaugrand, who teased her decision on her Instagram account, has never run the distance on the road in a dry race. But she finished in a time of 15:20 in the 4,900m of the Hamburg sprint triathlon last July. And back in 2021 she ran a 15:08 at the European Triathlon Cup in Melilla. The French record for 5km of 14:58 was set in 2022 by Sara Benfares, who was later suspended for doping.

Beaugrand admitted: “I don’t know at all if I can run at these paces”. But she will have one eye on coming as close as possible.

After Monaco, Beaugrand will compete in the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup in Liévin (March 22), before kicking off her 2025 WTCS campaign in Yokohama, Japan in May.

RELATED: What is a good 5km time? World records, parkrun records and the average times for amateur runners and triathletes