Hosts France have just announced their triathlon line-ups for next month’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Several countries have tricky discretionary choices to make following the qualifying period, none more so than the home nation who have an embarrassment of riches on both the male and female side.
For the women it appeared more straightforward, with Cagliari WTCS winner Cassandre Beaugrand already assured of her place and Emma Lombardi and Leonie Periault the obvious choices to join her.
That was duly confirmed by Wednesday’s announcement, with the trio making up the women’s team.
Beaugrand and Britain’s Beth Potter, the current world champion, look the standout favourites for gold on July 31, but both Lombardi and Periault are genuine medal contenders in their own right.
Bergere gets the nod
For the men, Pierre Le Corre was the only athlete to have cemented his spot for the Games, having ticked off the selection criteria with a top six finish at WTCS Cagliari.
And the other three outstanding contenders hold four world champion titles between them – Dorian Coninx (2023), Leo Bergere (2022) and Vincent Luis (2020 and 2019).
Coninx’s place seemed to have been put in jeopardy by a crash at WTCS Yokohama in early May but he was named in the team.
That left it as a shootout between Bergere and Luis, who has worked his way back towards top form this season with two WTCS top 10 finishes.
And it is Bergere, who has been incredibly consistent over the whole qualifying cycle, who will line up on July 30 – with Luis agonisingly missing out on a home Games, which provoked a swift and heartfelt reaction.
As well as the individual races, given the strength in depth France will inevitably also be leading contenders for the Mixed Team relay on August 5 following their bronze in Tokyo behind Great Britain and the USA.
More difficult calls to come
And those two are among the nations who also have / had tough discretionary picks.
For Team GB, world champion Potter has booked her spot.
But it’s then two from three from Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sophie Coldwell and Kate Waugh.
And the second and remaining place for the men looks a straight battle between Jonny Brownlee, who has won medals at each of the last three Olympics, and Sam Dickinson. Dickinson just got the better of a sprint battle between the pair in Poland last weekend and British Triathlon will reveal their decisions during the week commencing June 10.
For the USA it was all about which two women would join Taylor Knibb in Paris and not long after the French announcement, USA Triathlon confirmed it would be Taylor Spivey and Kirsten Kasper, with Katie Zaferes and 2016 Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen missing out.
Here’s our full guide to who we now know will be competing in the triathlon in the French capital.
Racing to keep up: Is social media making us train harder?
