Triathlon 2024 Paris Olympic Review

Men’s Event

After a one-day delay due to the pollution in the Seine, the race was run. Alessio Crociani (Italy) led the swim, overtaking fast starting Matthew Hauser (Australia). On the bike, a small group of six, including the two French favourites formed, but they were soon joined by a number of chasers, swelling the pack to 19 and then 32 as no one managed to escape. Alex Yee (Great Britain) launched an early attack on the run, initially only followed by Jonas Schomburg (Germany) but soon he was surpassed by Hayden Wilde (New Zealand) who joined Yee. By the end of lap one, they had a thirteen second gap back to the rest of the chasers. Wilde was able to push ahead of Yee with the trio of Leo Bergere (France), Pierre Le Corre (France) and Tyler Mislawchuk (Canada) chasing them down. Mislawchuk was first to drop and Bergere began to drop Le Corre on the final lap. It was an incredible final 400m as Yee would go flying past Wilde who suddenly faltered. 

🥇Alex Yee 🇬🇧

🥈Hayden Wilde 🇳🇿

🥉Leo Bergere 🇫🇷

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction 

Another event that didn’t feel like the British winner was going to do it for the majority of the race. But he timed it perfectly. Wilde has been the second best triathlete this cycle and any other country I would have predicted him to come in second. I gave too much credence to the French home advantage and picked the wrong athlete. Both of his teammates beat him at the test event which led to me ignoring the recent world champion. 

Women’s Event 

Flora Duffy (Bermuda) led the majority of the swim, in tricky currents, and was first onto her bike. Behind her, a group of eleven trailed by 20 seconds at the end of the first lap, with a few stragglers a few seconds further back. A wet track led to falls and slips. Duffy was caught on the second lap and the group was ten. She was joined in that group by Cassandre Beaugrand (France), Julie Derron (Switzerland), Maya Kingma (Netherlands), Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer (Hungary), Laura Lindemann (Germany), Emma Lombardi (France), Beth Potter (Great Britain), Taylor Spivey (United States) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (Great Britain). Lindemann crashed to reduce the group to nine, as it would remain until the run. Soon, a lead quarter emerged with Derron, Beaugrand, Lombardi and Porter. With a lap to go, the four were still together despite attacks from Derron. On the final lap, Beaugrand slowly attacked, getting a bit of distance from the rest of the group, with Lombardi finding herself distanced from the other two. Potter, despite arguably being the strongest runner looked increasingly weary but managed to hang onto third. 

🥇Cassandre Beaugrand 🇫🇷

🥈Julie Derron 🇨🇭

🥉Beth Potter 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct

I had hoped Georgia Taylor-Brown was back to 2022 form but it wasn’t to be. 2023 pointed me to Beaugrand vs Potter and I plumped for Potter given her generally superior run. It didn’t turn out the way as Beaugrand was roared on by a home crowd. Derron was a big surprise to me based on the form as nothing showed her able to compete at this level. 

Mixed Relay

Alex Yee (Great Britain) gave Great Britain the perfect start, handing over in the lead, while France and New Zealand tangled on the opening leg, causing both to lose time. An incredible run from Lisa Tertsch (Germany) put Germany into the halfway lead from Great Britain, with Switzerland a few seconds behind. By the end of leg three, Great Britain has gone back into the lead, five seconds ahead of Germany, while Portugal were battling Italy and the United States for bronze. Beth Potter (Great Britain) was first out of the river on the swim leg, extending the gap to Laura Lindemann (Germany), while Taylor Knibb (United States) had gone into third on the swim. Knibb cycled back to Lindemann and soon they were in a group with Potter. They begun to pull away on the run but Potter came back over the final stages. At the finish line, the three were separated by just 0.01 

🥇Germany 🇩🇪

🥈United States 🇺🇸

🥉Great Britain 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct

France were cruelly taken out of the running after a tangle on the first leg. I do believe without that, they would have won gold. Having Knibb with Lindemann on the cycle was key for them getting back up to Potter. I was surprised, as with the female race that she was not able to get the win on the run. Possibly not challenging in the individual races meant that Germany and United States were fresher