For triathlon, the party has come to an end. Across three titanic races in Paris, there were a myriad of moments that will be remembered for years to come and no shortage of memories that athletes and fans alike will carry with them. Before we move on from the drama of this Olympic Games, we will recount ten of the best triathlon moments in Paris. Each was memorable in its own way; from the funny to the inspirational to the downright jaw-dropping, the triathlon moments of Paris had a bit of everything.
10) The Goggles
This was the last thing he wanted to happen. At the first buoy in the swim, Csongor Lehmann lost his goggles and had to take on the rest of the first discipline in a state of near-blindness. Whereas the rest of the field swam with their hat and goggles affixed to their head, Lehmann stood out in the water and led some onlookers to wonder first whether a spectator had jumped into the river with the athletes and second how this person was keeping up with the field.
Lehmann nonetheless battled back from the worst possible start to his Olympic debut. After a tumultuous afternoon that included comebacks and setbacks, fast splits and a penalty, the Hungarian athlete ended up in 11th place at the finish line. After winning a maiden WTCS medal in Cagliari and then claiming gold at the Tiszaujvaros World Cup, he may have hoped for more in Paris. Nevertheless, his goggle-less challenge made for an unorthodox morning.
9) The Viral Moment
Tyler Mislawchuk may have imagined himself going viral in Paris in several ways. Foremost among them would have been with a starring role and a high finish in the men’s race and during the early stages of the run he found himself in a fight for the bronze medal with home favourites Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre. After years of injury-driven hardship, the Canadian athlete looked to have hit his stride perfectly.
In the end Mislawchuk settled for 9th place. However, it was the sight of him losing his breakfast at the finish line that set him apart from his peers. Across the articles and memes that have followed, he has certainly become one of the faces – albeit a slightly worse for wear one – of the sport. It might not have been quite how he expected to catch the eyes of the media, but Mislawchuk certainly demonstrated the simple brutality of an Olympic triathlon in one crisp moment.
8) The Camaraderie
Emotions run high at the Olympic Games. Years of preparation have gone into qualifying, the event itself is overwhelming and the pressure of the competition is the most intense of the athletes’ careers. It is therefore no surprise that the finish line provides a moment of pure release (and not just in the Tyler Mislawchuk fashion).
One such moment that caught the eye was at the conclusion of the women’s race. Emma Lombardi had crossed the line in 4th place, a remarkable achievement for an athlete so young. Soon after, Georgia Taylor-Brown made it home in 6th place. Although she did not defend her silver medal from Tokyo, Taylor-Brown’s result capped a remarkable comeback from an extremely challenging 2023. Whatever her own feelings, she moved to comfort Lombardi who had come through the vortex of pressure and hope and expectation that accompanied her own race to narrowly miss a medal. Such selfless and uplifting instances of camaraderie could be found across the races and the exchange between Taylor-Brown and Lombardi was a moment of one world champion of recent times offering support to someone that may perhaps inherit the mantle in years to come.
7) The Happy Couple
Some sporting history goes beyond the pure numbers of the race. In the Mixed Team Relay, Rachel Klamer and Richard Murray created a unique moment as they became the first married couple to compete in the same Olympic relay. In the absence of any similar power couple triathlon marriages in the near future, it could be some time until the feat is repeated.
The Dutch team qualified for Paris at the last-minute after Klamer delivered a stupendous anchor leg at the qualifier in Huatulco. In Paris, the pair followed the same order as in Huatulco with Murray handing over from the third leg to Klamer on the final leg which saw the team finish 10th. As it happened, Klamer also overhauled Solveig Løvseth, handing her team a dose of revenge after the Norwegian quartet won the Huatulco qualifier.
6) The Big Ol’ Head
I never knew I needed to see a giant cut-out of Pierre Le Corre’s head until I saw it. And it was magnificent. As the athletes zipped around the streets of Paris, there was the head of Pierre watching over them like some smiling, benevolent deity. This, though, was merely one example of the fantastic support provided by the immense home crowds.
Paris turned out in droves to support the French teams across the three triathlon events and their cheers chased the athletes like a wave that refused to break. Fans from across the world also made sure to urge on their stars and a special shout out also must go to the Chile fans – who also had their own cut-outs of Diego Moya – as they transformed their small corner of the course into little Santiago. Across the board, the fans in Paris were brilliant and played a huge role in making the Games so special.
5) The Return
Luisa Baptista harboured dreams of going to Paris. Based on the Olympic rankings at the end of 2023, the 2022 Americas champion and South American Games gold medallist had a great shot of qualifying for the Games. Then came the crash.
In late December of last year, Baptista was struck by a motorcyclist while cycling in Sao Paulo. The individual involved fled the scene. Baptista was rushed to hospital and treated for multiple fractures and injuries to her lungs and, in that moment, more was on the line than her triathlon career. Seven months later, while the Olympic women’s race took place, Baptista was there to watch. Although she did not take to the start line herself, she made it to Paris and her recovery has proven every bit as inspirational as any of the action at the Olympic Games.
4) The Dream
There were some nervous twitches on Tuesday morning when the men’s race was postponed. If I quote some of the comment sections from social media this article won’t be quite so family-friendly and I imagine the same would be true were we to take some snippets from the Olympic organisers’ emails. Nevertheless, it all came together and the racing took place as planned.
Some things are bigger than sport and the efforts to regenerate the Seine transcend triathlon and the Games itself. Indeed, the aspiration of cleaning a river of which we have already heard plenty was perhaps more ambitious than any single dream at the Games. As much as we love triathlon, over a billion euros was not spent so a couple of races could take place. Rather, triathlon simply provided the stage upon which Paris showed that, in life as in sport, we can dare to take on the impossible if we only allow ourselves to dream big enough.
3) The Photo
Has there ever been a finish quite like it in triathlon? Three teams could have won gold in the Mixed Team Relay as the race came down to less than a second. The women’s race at London 2012 had a similarly fraught finish but only two women contended for the gold. The WTCS Final in Pontevedra last year had a three-way sprint for the win but it did not carry the same weight of each athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Moreover, two of the three medallists in Pontevedra were not in contention for the world title. The relay in Paris stood apart.
Each of the medallists had stories to tell too. The world champions Germany stormed to gold and handed a degree of justice to Lisa Tertsch and Laura Lindemann after they crashed out of medal contention in the women’s race. Taylor Knibb earned a second silver medal in the relay after a barnstorming anchor leg while Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown completed the Olympics with their bronze, giving them a full set of medals. Only their compatriot Jonathan Brownlee had accomplished the same feat hitherto. The biggest story of them all, though, was the photo finish. Triathlon has never seen anything like it and a strong case can be made for it being the best triathlon finish ever.
2) The Comeback
Between the gasps as Alex Yee reeled in Hayden Wilde from a seemingly hopeless position in the men’s race, there was a faint but discernible collective groan from journalists around the world. Wilde looked so assured of the win with a kilometre to go that the headlines and introductions acclaiming him as the Olympic champion were already written. And then Yee made them delete the whole thing.
A 14 second gap with one lap of the run remaining should have been too much to overcome. Wilde looked better than he ever has before and seemed invincible. With his watch in hand, the New Zealander seemed to have architected the grandest of Olympic triumphs. Even the camera crew had decided the action was elsewhere and had cut away. The moment in which Yee closed in on Wilde and then passed his rival will thus go down in Olympic history as one of the most unforgettable climaxes to a race.
1) The Roar
It was volcanic. After the delay of the men’s race, the treacherous slick conditions of the road, the whittling down of the lead group on the run, and then the utter tension of the final 5km on the run, Cassandre Beaugrand handed the French crowd the moment of the release they did not simply want but rather craved.
Julie Derron had set the pace for most of the run while the reigning world champion Beth Potter lurked ominously. However Beaugrand struck for home and the roar that followed could only be suitably measured on the Richter scale. It was the collective realisation that France was about to win its first ever individual Olympic medal in triathlon and that its colour would be gold. It was the collective realisation that they were seeing greatness unfold. It was everything France hoped it would be and more. Sometimes, the moment you win is not when you cross the finish line and no one showed that more than Cassandre Beaugrand in Paris.
