Germany claimed a famous victory in the Mixed Relay at the Olympic Games Triathlon Paris Test Event with Laura Lindemann outpointing Beth Potter in a thrilling dash for the line in the French capital.
Hot favourites France fell away in the closing stages to miss out on a medal in a race which was full of surprises early on Sunday.
This came after the big pre-race news which saw the format again changed to Duathlon on the back of the swim also being cancelled for Saturday’s Para races. The water quality in the Seine must be already causing some sleepless nights a year out from the main event.
Leg 1 – Big guns bunch up
The opening run and then the bike leg were nip and tuck with the majority of the 22-team field all bunched in a pack.
That started to change just a little on the closing run as we finally got to see a little separation at the front. It was Brazil with Miguel Hidalgo just leading the way into the changeover as he edged home favourite Dorian Coninx for France.
Behind that the rest of the big guns were all in close order, including Germany, Great Britain, Australia and Portugal. The top 10 were separated by just 14 seconds.
Leg 2 – Beaugrand takes control
Coninx handed over to Cassandre Beaugrand – second in Thursday’s individual race and a real specialist over sprint distances. She wasted no time in putting some distance between herself and the rest of the field with a terrific opening run.
When the athletes moved onto two wheels though the gap quickly disappeared with Britain’s Kate Waugh leading the chasers as they got to Beaugrand. Pretty soon we had a front pack of six led by Great Britain, with Germany (Lisa Tertsch), France (Beaugrand), Hungary (Zsanett Bragmayer), Brazil (Djenyfer Arnold) and Belgium (Jolien Vermeylen) all bunched together.
Back onto the second run and Beaugrand again set about restoring French authority to proceedings and she took over at the front to grab a six-second advantage after Lap 1. Belgium came next with Germany at 00:10, Great Britain at 00:16 and Brazil at 00:17.
Beaugrand continued to wind the pace up on Lap 2 of the run, extending the gap to now Germany in second place to 13 seconds with Belgium at 00:17 and Great Britain at 00:28. The French, as expected were now looking hot favourites for another Mixed Relay win.
France held a nine-second leg over Belgium as Beaugrand handed over to Léo Bergere, chased by Jelle Geens. Germany and Great Britain came next with those four looking likely to fight out the podium places. Could individual star Alex Yee close the gap in the bid for a medal position?
Leg 3 – Bergere pedals clear
Bergere continued to pad France’s lead as he gradually pulled a little further clear of the field with the bike the real catalyst for that gap growing. By the end of it, the home team were 20 seconds clear of Belgium, with Jonas Schomburg (Germany) 29 seconds away. Yee was down to sixth after transition – now 48 seconds away from the lead and 19 seconds away from a potential podium.
Geens chopped a few seconds out of the gap to the leader with an excellent transition and he was now 14 seconds away. Germany had a nice advantage in the battle for third over Portugal and Hungary. Yee meanwhile was seventh but he had closed the gap at little to France – now 42 seconds off the pace.
As Bergere tagged Emma Lombardi, France had just 8 seconds over Belgium following a terrific final run from Geens. We then have five teams leading the race for third place, all within seven seconds of each other. They were Portugal, Hungary, Australia, Germany and Great Britain.
Leg 4 – Germany win, France fall away
Claire Michel held the gap very steady on the opening run and she headed into transition still just 10 seconds adrift of Lombardi. Potter – so brilliant in Thursday’s individual race – had moved into the final podium spot for Great Britain but she had Portugal, Germany and Hungary in very close attendance. It was very much game on for third place. The United States meanwhile were almost 90 seconds off the pace in 16th position.
The first bike lap showed Lombardi inching clear to a lead of 15 seconds over Michel with that pack of four – Germany, Great Britain, Hungary and Portugal – neck and neck in the battle for third.
Emma led Belgium by just 10 seconds heading into transition for the closing run, with the chasers now threatening the Belgians for second. Portugal, Germany, Hungary and Great Britain were all still bracketed together heading to the business end of the race.
Michel was swallowed up early on that final run and now the tantalising question was could those chasers even threaten Lombardi at the front? It was looking more likely by the second with Lombardi’s lead over Potter (Great Britain) and Lindemann (Germany) just 4 seconds at the bell.
Potter went immediately to the front on the final leg in an astonishing twist to this thrilling tale. Lindemann was not letting Beth get away easily, but Lombardi was dropped and struggling in third. It was now Britain or Germany for the gold.
Potter and Lindemann were literally together heading onto the blue carpet and it was the German who had the final sprint to claim a famous victory. Behind them there was more big news with Michel for Belgium coming back to beat Lombardi and France in the race for bronze. The United States ended the day down in ninth, some 47 seconds back.
Paris Test Event Mixed Relay Results
Sunday August 20, 2023
900m Run/5.8km Bike/1.8km Run (Duathlon format)
- Germany – 1:12:18
- Great Britain – 1:12:19
- Belgium – 1:12:36
- France – 1:12:40
- Portugal – 1:12:41
Racing to keep up: Is social media making us train harder?
