It was a race quite unlike any we have ever seen, and the result that rocked the streets of Paris, as French star Cassandre Beaugrand soared to Olympic gold on Wednesday morning on the Pont Alexandre III.
The swim had tested the field to the maximum, the current demanding huge reserves of energy on the route back to the pontoon as Flora Duffy spearheaded the field, before the lead bike pack whittled down to nine at the bell.
Early into the run it was Julie Derron leading the way with Beth Potter and Emma Lombardi alongside Beaugrand and slicing through the streets together as Georgia Taylor-Brown and Flora Duffy’s challenges faded, before Beaugrand detonated the final kilometre and pulled away to her nation’s first Olympic triathlon gold.
Behind her it was Switzerland’s Julie Derron with an outstanding silver, Britain’s Beth Potter with the bronze ahead of Lombardi.
“I just saw my whole family and they’re very emotional, so i’m in tears,” said Beaugrand. “If you would have asked me even this morning I wouldn’t have believed it. I threw up this morning right before the start. I was in a total panic. I kept telling myself, ‘Cass, you can’t repeat what happened in Tokyo’. But I told myself I’ve been doing triathlon for 15 years or more, it’s just another race and, finally, it’s nothing I don’t already know how to do. I took confidence in that and I just didn’t want to have any regrets at the end. I’m just happy to have got revenge on my past.”
“It’s magical, it’s the best route we’ve had in a long time and I know all the other athletes feel the same. To do it in front of our crowd was something that had to be done, and I still can’t believe it. If you had asked me straight after Tokyo I would have said that I’d never be able to do it, but I did it, and I’m happy that my mentality was on point today and, ultimately, my greatest strength.”
Flora Duffy sets the swim pace
From the start gun, it was defending champion Flora Duffy making a big statement of intent, and as the athletes drifted at the turn, the Bermudian began to attack the headlong current. As the pontoon ramp neared, even Duffy looked like she was struggling to make progress, but emerged with daylight to the chasing Bianca Seregni (ITA), Vittoria Lopes (BRA), and Potter was with Maya Kingma (NED). As a mark of the strength of current, it was 3m20s downstream, 9m12s upstream for Duffy on lap one.
Lap two saw Kingma move up the field, Beaugrand likewise as USA’s Kirsten Kasper was also going well as they hauled themselves back to shore and up the steps into transition.
Bike packs merge, problems form
Duffy stayed away for a lap before getting hoovered up by chasers Beaugrand, Potter, Lisa Tertsch and Emma Lombardi. A front ten now included Taylor Spivey (USA), Julie Derron, Laura Lindemann (GER) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), USA’s Taylor Knibb and GB’s Kate Waugh trying to bring themselves back into the race 70 seconds back.
Lindemann, Kasper and Tertsch were among those to come off as Duffy looked to push the pace with Kingma. All were able to continue but their medal challenges were effectively ended.
Jeanne Lehair, Manami Iijima, Lotte Miller and Ekaterina Shabalina all had their races ended prematurely as the slick conditions took their toll and it was full concentration for the final lap as the bell rang out and thoughts moved to the 10km run.
Derron delivers dream run
It was Switzerland’s Derron first out of T2 but with Kingma, Lombardi and Potter right on her shoulder, Taylor-Brown and Beaugrand having to close off a small gap, Spivey dropping to the back of the pack.
Quickly it boiled down to the four strongest on the day, Derron maintaining her role as pace-setter, Beaugrand, Potter and Lombardi all looking smooth right down to the bell lap, but it was the final 2.5km that was the home star’s time to shine.
Beaugrand belief builds
As the stride lengthened and the belief grew, it was Derron making the second spot her own as Potter couldn’t respond. Beaugrand’s final right turn onto the blue carpet was met with a roar from the grandstand and the moment was all hers, taking the tape in disbelief after rising to the occasion she had dreamed about for so long.
It was a 32’42” run to the title, Derron and Potter completing the podium just 6 seconds ahead of Lombardi. Duffy had pulled clear of Taylor-Brown to finish fifth, Kingma, Lindemann, Tertsch and Spivey rounding out the Paris 2024 Olympic top 10.
JULIE DERRON
“I’m so pleased with the silver medal today. I gave it my all. I pretty much had the best race I could have. It was a bit daunting to run at the front for the whole time. Running at the front, you have no idea what’s going on behind, but I feel more comfortable like this. I could run my own stride and run my own rhythm. I think that was just perfect for me to be there, to also dictate, to be in control. I’m so pleased it worked out to finish on the podium.”
BETH POTTER
“I’m so happy to come away with a medal and just over the moon.I knew I wanted a medal, so that was really driving me on. And I think that was the thing that was keeping me going. It was definitely some challenges, obviously with it being really wet. That obviously throws a spanner in the works. You have to be a bit more careful and just take good lines and be a bit cautious in the corners. And then with the swimming, obviously, we had a really strong current. I had the advantage of having a really good pontoon pick, so that was fine. And then on the way back, just choosing the best line in the current. So I think it was just about being smart today. I started to feel a bit unwell the other day. And I was just panicking that it was just really coming all back. I’m just glad that I can put the Olympics to bed now. I’ve had a good performance and I’m really happy with it.”
Full results can be found here.