They always had the Olympic gold as their ultimate target, but the manner of Team Germany’s victory in Monday’s Triathlon Mixed Relay was nothing short of stunning, as the World Champions held off USA and Great Britain courtesy of an almighty Laura Lindemann sprint finish down the blue carpet of Pont Alexandre III bridge.
It was a nail-biting final lap on the run as the three teams came together and still too close to call for silver as Taylor Knibb and Beth Potter hit the line, the USA shown to edge the photo finish by the finest of margins to take a second successive Olympic silver, defending champions Great Britain the bronze.
Tim Hellwig had set the German squad on their way with a fiery opener with Alex Yee before Lisa Tertsch and Georgia Taylor-Brown locked into battle on leg two. Lasse Luhrs kept his team right in the hunt before tagging his final teammate into business and Lindemann once again showed her mettle to steer home the biggest win of them all.
LEG ONE: Spain make early charge
After his brilliant turn in the individual race, Alberto Gonzalez Garcia made the most of the start to put together another great swim and give Spain the early advantage, only to receive a penalty for swim behaviour that would nullify the advantage.
That eight-second gap was soon closed off by the likes of Alex Yee and Tim Hellwig on the early stages of their 7km bike, while Hayden Wilde and Max Studer had to dig in deep to get back into contention after poor swims.
As the athletes looked to come together, Pierre Le Corre and Hayden Wilde had a coming together that again set them back, this time decisively. Chain issues further derailed the French team’s ambitions, then Wilde smashed his face on his handlebars in T2 and ran the two laps with blood pouring down his face.
Yee and Hellwig found a gap by the bell of the run and pulled away from the chasers, Switzerland, Italy and Norway right in the hunt with Australia and Portugal on their heels, Seth Rider keeping USA bang in the race.
LEG TWO: Taylor-Brown vs Tertsch
As GB’s Georgia Taylor-Brown tagged into the action she had a precious four seconds over Lisa Tertsch and Germany, Netherlands and the chasers 15 seconds back, New Zealand now 30s off the front and Emma Lombardi solo +40s for France with a huge task ahead of her.
There was little to call between the 6 athletes chasing the two leaders, Julie Derron, Maya Kingma, Taylor Spivey taking up duties for Switzerland, Netherlands and USA 20 seconds back, Alice Betto flying for Italy.
It was Taylor-Brown out onto the bike for a solo 7km time trial session, Tertsch and Betto now together giving chase and, after one lap, the Brit had 15s over those two, Natalie Van Coevorden having bike issues that hampered Australian progress and she dropped back with Nicole Van Der Kaay 90s off the leaders.
Cue a remarkable run from Lisa Tertsch who reeled in Taylor-Brown in spectacular fashion and passed the Brit on the descent to the tag zone, only 20 seconds separating the top 11 athletes, Spivey and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal going well for USA and Mexico.
LEG THREE: Pearson on the rampage
Handing over at the halfway mark, it was Lasse Luhrs for Germany and Samuel Dickinson picking up duties for GB, but the Brit was soon past Luhrs after gunning the short run to pontoon, Sylvain Fridelance 6s back for the Swiss after struggling to get up the ramp.
Leo Bergere passed Richard Murray in T1 to start giving the French fans some new hope, the gap back under a minute but not shrinking fast enough.
That was in part because Vasco Vilaca was driving a fierce group of four now on the hunt of the lead pair, Norway and Kristian Blummenfelt, Manoel Messias and Brazil +40s, Bergere 55s, Matthew Hauser and Dylan McCullough 2m10 back and out of it.
Dickinson and Luhrs worked well together to carve out a healthy gap of 17s over Portugal, Swiss, USA and Italy, Crociani losing his shoe as he dismounted.
The gap was down to 13s at run bell as Pearson and Vilaca pushed but was back out to 20 seconds as Dickinson tagged Beth Potter with a lead into the final leg over Germany and Laura Lindemann.
LEG FOUR: Lindemann and Knibb reel in Potter
It was a great swim from Potter to gain two more seconds on Germany in the water for GB, before Taylor Knibb put on another incredible bike show to drag the USA right into the medal hunt.
First she pulled in the German, then that dup set their sights on Potter, and there was nothing the Brit could do as the three came together off the bikes for the final time. It was Potter onto the run first, but Knibb was in the mood for something special and soon hit the front.
Lindemann was far from finished, though, and built into the run, Potter dropping back into third but there was nothing to call between them as they made the final right turn and hit the blue carpet.
Then came another Lindemann surge and this time it was decisive, a roar at the tape as she knew what she had achieved, immediately to her left it was Knibb with the lunge to silver in a photo-finish and 0.005s triumph against Potter, a moment that will live long in the history of this fast and furious format. Cassandre Beaugrand brought France right back into it in fourth, Portugal taking fifth.
