Kate Waugh wins first Super League race in Toulouse
Rising GB star Kate Waugh puts in a dominant display to beat French athletes Léonie Périault and Emma Lombardi into second and third in the second round of the 2023 series
GB’s Kate Waugh won her first-ever Super League title today at the second round of the 2023 series in Toulouse.
The 24-year-old U23 world champion wowed the crowd by crossing the line with almost a full minute in hand over home heroes Léonie Périault and Emma Lombardi, in second and third, and both in their SLT debuts.
The Toulouse round was contested over the frenetic and furious format of the Triple Mix, which started with a 300m swim, 5km bike and a 1.6km run before a 2min rest. Then it was a run, bike, swim.
The accumulated times across Stages 1 and 2 set the timings for a pursuit start in Stage 3, which was a bike, swim, run after a 4min rest.
What happened in the race?
Waugh’s win saw Michelle Dillon’s Sharks secure further points in the team rankings, but if the Gateshead athlete’s sizeable margin of victory suggested otherwise, the race wasn’t without drama, with the winner of the series opener in London last week, Jeanne Lehair, disqualified for not securing her bike helmet in transition.
Elsewhere, major pre-race contender Taylor Spivey DNS’d with injury mid-race and Kiwi racer Nicole Van Der Kaay was wiped out after a crash involving her Scorpions’ teammate Alice Betto on the bike leg.
“Honestly I am absolutely over the moon,” said Waugh at the line. “That was so mad, it was so fun. I felt like I was railing around the corners to the point where I thought I was losing the back wheel a few times. My legs are gone. I was looking round frantically, is there someone I can’t see?!”
Waugh adds this result to fifth in London last weekend.
Top image credit: Super League Triathlon
Liz Barrett
220 Deputy Editor 
