The French team celebrates. Photos: Kevin Mackinnon
The first Olympic qualifying slots for the LA Games were up for grabs today at the World Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships in Hamburg, and France took full advantage, guaranteeing themselves at least two men and two women on the start line for the first medal sport at the ’28 Games. As is the norm both for any mixed relay, but especially one in Hamburg, which has been a regular host of this world championship, the day was full of both excitement and drama.
Here’s a photo recap of the day’s action:
American Morgan Pearson was happy to help get the crowd fired up before the start of the race.
The women got things rolling, starting the first 300 m swim. The last quadrennial leading to Paris had the men go first - we're back to the women leading the way until 2028.
Italy's Bianca Seregni and Brazil's Vittoria Lopes led the way out of the water ...
... But the main group, led by GB's Beth Potter, wasn't far behind.
There wasn't much separating the group at the end of the bike, but ...
... then France's Leonie Periault and Germany's Lisa Tertsch started to separate themselves.
The big news on the drama front came in the first leg of the race when Australia’s Richelle Hill pulled out on the bike, leaving one of the major favourites for the win suddenly out of the picture. (Hill reportedly felt sick and had to pull out early on in the bike – it’s unclear at this point of something happened during the swim.)
It was Germany's Valentin Wernz who thrilled the crowd with the first dive into the water to start the second leg ...
... but American Seth Rider wasn't far behind and put on an equally impressive air show.
Once on the bike it was Great Britain's Max Stapley who really put the hammer down, creating a group of five up at the front.
Stapley kept the pressure up on the run.
Heading into the third leg there were five teams in the mix – France, Hungary, Great Britain, United States and Germany. It was here that more drama ensued – during the ride it was rumoured that Germany’s Franka Rust had a flat tire, but it turns out she had just pushed too hard to try and catch the group heading into the water and simply couldn’t stay with the first four.
Emma Lombardi was second to start the leg behind Britain's Jess Fullager ...
... But an aggressive ride and run by Taylor Spivey got the Americans right back in the mix.
Fullagar managed to pip Spivey to the hand off area, so it was Conway who started in front with Pearson on his heels, Lehmann (Hungary) close behind and Conninx trailing by a few seconds to start the final leg.
Lehmann opened up some space after the swim ...
... Then Conninx powered clear on the bike.
And, while Lehmann would put up a fight on the run, there was no touching Conninx on the final lap as he cruised clear to give France the win.
A slow bike to run transition put Pearson out of the picture, which meant the Americans had to settle for fourth.
| Pos | Team | Total Time | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 1:18:37 | 20:12 | 18:39 | 20:36 | 19:10 |
| 2 | Hungary | 1:18:41 | 20:24 | 18:41 | 20:21 | 19:15 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 1:18:50 | 20:14 | 18:36 | 20:35 | 19:25 |
| 4 | United States | 1:19:03 | 20:21 | 18:32 | 20:33 | 19:37 |
| 5 | Germany | 1:19:55 | 20:11 | 18:48 | 21:05 | 19:51 |
| 6 | Portugal | 1:20:19 | 20:35 | 18:43 | 21:29 | 19:32 |
| 7 | Spain | 1:20:51 | 20:34 | 18:45 | 21:29 | 20:03 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 1:20:57 | 21:07 | 19:10 | 21:29 | 19:11 |
| 9 | Canada | 1:21:10 | 20:52 | 19:16 | 21:38 | 19:24 |
| 10 | Poland | 1:21:28 | 20:22 | 19:13 | 22:30 | 19:23 |
| 11 | Italy | 1:21:32 | 20:41 | 19:30 | 21:43 | 19:38 |
| 12 | Luxembourg | 1:21:34 | 20:22 | 19:08 | 21:59 | 20:05 |
| 13 | Switzerland | 1:21:56 | 20:33 | 19:40 | 21:32 | 20:11 |
| 14 | Brazil | 1:22:43 | 21:05 | 19:11 | 21:55 | 20:32 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 1:24:13 | 21:09 | 19:31 | 22:18 | 21:15 |
| DNF | Australia | — | — | — | — | — |
| LAP | Netherlands | — | 23:01 | 19:04 | 22:08 | — |
| LAP | Belgium | — | 22:21 | 19:37 | 22:13 | — |
| LAP | Japan | — | 22:03 | 19:56 | 22:11 | — |
| LAP | South Africa | — | 22:31 | 19:47 | 23:07 | — |