Britain third as Cassandre Beaugrand takes impressive gold in women’s Olympic triathlon

Cassandre Beaugrand executed a perfectly-timed breakaway midway through the final run lap to take gold for France in the women’s Olympic triathlon event in Paris.

After a tough swim and precarious bike leg on wet roads, four women were left vying for victory at the front through much of the run.

That group included Brit Beth Potter and Frenchwoman Emma Lombardi, but it was Beaugrand who had the legs for the big finish…

What happened in the swim?

After weeks of speculation and uncertainty over the quality of the water in the Seine, 55 anxious female triathletes awoke to the news that the green light to race had been granted.

They also woke to the sound of heavy rain, the heatwave of Tuesday finally bursting overnight, bringing with it a light show over the skies of Paris not seen since Friday’s opening ceremony.

Regardless of troublesome water, it was down to business.… until the swim started in chaos, with several athletes beating the klaxon to the punch. Penalties would follow (five would be issued late into the bike, with none of the big names penalised).

Flora Duffy led after the first lap of two, the reigning Olympic champion seemingly taking the perfect line, even going wide in parts where others stayed straight to catch the faster water.

Close on her feet were the swim specialists Bianca Seregni (ITA) and Vittoria Lopes (BRA), before the crowd’s ear-splitting crescendo alerted everyone to Beaugrand and Lombardi’s presence in the front pack. Just ahead of the French deux, though – Potter.

At the end of the second lap and leading into T2 it was still Bermuda’s finest, Dame Duffy in 22:05mins, 9secs ahead of Seregni in second. Potter was fifth, Beaugrand sixth, Georgia Taylor-Brown 10th.

What happened on the bike?

Duffy didn’t hang about for company, taking to the wet cobbled streets of Paris for the first of seven laps. A chase pack of 11 included Potter, Taylor-Brown, Maya Kingma (NED), Beaugrand, Lombardi, the two Americans Taylor Spivey and Kirsten Kasper and the Germans Laura Lindemann and Lisa Tertsch.

Several athletes fell foul of the wet course, including Kasper, Tertsch, Leonie Periault (celebrating her 30th birthday today) and Lopes, one crash narrowly missing taking Potter down on the first lap. All were able to pick up and get going again but for Kasper, Periault and Tertsch they were particularly costly errors.

Bike supremo Taylor Knibb (USA), meanwhile, was almost 2mins down after the first lap, but in characteristic style was leading her small chase pack with gusto. Following a poor swim that saw her 1:47mins behind Duffy, GB’s Kate Waugh had done a great job to bring her small pack up to Knibb’s.

Lap two and Duffy had gained company, swallowed up by the chase pack and probably a welcome relief on her legs. By the end of lap four the gap to the chase group of Knibb, Waugh and co. was just over a minute.

Norway’s Lotte Miller having already slipped early on in the bike leg took a further and final spill on lap five, and was seen lying on her back by the side of the road.

With two laps to go, Lindemman was the next to come a cropper on the still soggy streets, picking herself up but quickly being left in the dust of the now-leading nine. On the bell lap, she was 38secs down riding in no man’s land.

As the final few kms of the bike were whittled down, the sun made a reappearance over Paris. But with the course still treacherous in parts, the athletes just had to stay upright until the dismount.

What happened on the run?

Job done, and onto the final four-lap 10k. Demonstrating how risky the course had been, the gap to the chase group was almost exactly the same as after the first lap, just 1min.

First to drop off the pace being set up front by Beaugrand was Spivey in her first Olympic appearance. Next was Kingma, and then Duffy and Taylor-Brown. Before the halfway mark a quartet of Beaugrand, Potter, Lombardi and the surprise appearance of Swiss athlete Julie Derron had taken the helm.

After lap one, the German trio and Waugh were sitting 1:27mins.

The bell lap and it was the same four out front, with Duffy sitting in fifth, Taylor-Brown sixth, Kingma seventh, Spivey eighth.

Who was going to kick first at the front? The answer came in emphatic fashion when Beaugrand kicked on midway through the final lap, with none of the chasing athletes able to respond.

The gap continued to grow right up to the finish line, with Beaugrand taking an emotional gold, Derron taking silver and Potter securing bronze.

Women’s Paris Olympic triathlon top 10 finishers

1. Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA); 1:54:55
2. Julie Derron (SUI); 1:55:01
3. Beth Potter (GBR); 1:55:10
4. Emma Lombardi (FRA); 1:55:16
5. Flora Duffy (BER); 1:56:12
6. Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR); 1:56:35
7. Maya Kingma (NED); 1:56:53
8. Laura Lindemann (GER); 1:57:01
9. Lisa Tertsch (GER); 1:57:03
10. Taylor Spivey (USA); 1:57:11

15. Kate Waugh (GBR); 1:57:48

Stay with us as the men’s race follows at 10:45am CEST (9:45am BST).