French triathlon superstar Vincent Luis races in iconic 49ers tri suit in San Francisco

French superstar Vincent Luis made a great pitch for local support when he raced the San Francisco T100 Triathlon in an incredible San Francisco 49ers tri suit, complete with the team’s iconic golden shorts and helmet.

Luis is new to the T100 Triathlon World Tour this season, having stepped up from short distance racing where he was a two-time World Champion as well as winning an Olympic bronze medal in the mixed relay in Tokyo.

He’s already won three times at middle-distance but this is the first year he hasn’t combined it with WTCS racing – and he will also take in his first full-distance race at Challenge Roth in early July.

‘Something crazy’

Explaining how the stunning custom tri suit came about, Luis said: “The idea is to make seven or eight custom suits for the T100 races. And coming to San Francisco we thought it’s such an iconic city, between the bridge and the football fans, we thought we could do something really cool.

“I had to pick the San Francisco 49ers. I just thought the 49ers are really cool. I am also sponsored by Nike as well, so it worked from that point of view as well, given the 49ers are too.

“The trickiest part was to replicate the shorts, because they play with the golden shorts. And on a tri suit, it’s really hard to do.  But I’m working with great companies, including Specialized who made the helmet, and combined with the painter they can do amazing stuff, so we managed to pull out something crazy.”

You can see the result below – complete with a Golden Gate Bridge backdrop!

From gridiron to soccer

But after racing in San Francisco, it’s football – or soccer – rather than American Football which will be at the forefront of Luis’ mind.

For he’s a big Paris Saint-Germain fan so will have more than half an eye on their UEFA Champions League Final against Inter Milan which kicks off lunchtime in San Francisco.

“I do have to make sure I’m back at the hotel for midday,” said Luis. “Because at 9pm French time, Paris Saint-Germain is playing the final of the Champions League. So yeah, that’s something special too. I’m going to swap my 49ers tri suit for the PSG shirt and watch the game.”

He should have got back in decent time having finished in 11th, just under 10 minutes behind winner Rico Bogen.