Germany’s Henry Graf continued his upward trajectory with an impressive victory in the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup Lievin as pre-race favourite Hayden Wilde was never a factor in northern France.
Still a U23 athlete, Graf was the anchor man that secured the gold medal for the German Team at the Abu Dhabi Mixed Relay Series in February, and at the Mixed Relay World Championships in 2024.
And he played it perfectly in this ultra short format indoor event – part of a three-man break on the bike before delivering an unstoppable kick on the last lap of the run to put the race to bed.
Local favourite Antoine Duval was second, with Mitch Kolkman (NED) third after shaping the whole race on the swim.
Wilde never gets going
The race format was a 200m swim in a purpose-built 25m pool, before a 2.8km bike and 1km run on the same 200m track.
Kolkman, the Paris Olympian and the fastest swimmer in the men’s final last year, repeated the trick here to blast the final wide open.
Paris silver medallist Wilde, the current number one short course athlete and winner of the opening WTCS race in Abu Dhabi, was the biggest casualty.
He emerged 14 seconds down on Kolkman and with 14 200m loops on the bike to come that proved too big a deficit, though it should be pointed out his current focus is on the middle-distance T100 series which starts early in April.
Up front Kolkman was joined by Duval and Graf and they were nearly three quarters of a lap ahead of what became a big pack behind.
At T2 Wilde was still 11 seconds behind and it was clear the front three had already done enough with just a 1km run to come.
And it was down the back straight on the fifth and final 200m that Graf simply powered clear to take the win, Duval chasing him home in second and Kolkman claiming a deserved podium spot in third. Wilde was fifth, seven seconds back.
2025 T1 Triathlon World Cup Lievin Results
Final, Men: Saturday March 22, 2025
- 1. Henry Graf (GER) – 9:36
- 2. Antoine Duval (FRA) +2s
- 3. Mitch Kolkman (NED) +4s
- 4. Leo Fernandez (FRA) +6s
- 5. Hayden Wilde (NZL) +7s
- 6. Jack Willis (GBR) +7s
- 7. Nathan Grayel (FRA) +8s
- 8. Adrien Brifford (SUI) +8s
- 9. James Edgar (IRL) +11s
- 10. Genis Grau (ESP) +13s
- 11. David Lang (LUX) +16s
- 12. Shachar Sagiv (ISR) +30s
