WTCS Abu Dhabi: Germans grab comeback win as Brits crash out

Germany’s Midas touch in the mixed team relay continued as its young team somehow pulled off victory in Abu Dhabi.

The Olympic and world champions’ hopes looked to be dashed early as they struggled at the rear of the field halfway through the second leg.

But a bike crash that took out Great Britain’s Max Stapley, along with Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca and Switzerland’s Simon Westermann, helped bring them back into contention before a stellar final leg from Henry Graf sealed the win.

Morgan Pearson brought the USA in for second place, and 20-year-old Euan De Nigro rounded out the podium for Italy.

It was an unfortunate end to British hopes after Beth Cook had put them in a strong position on the first leg, and then Stapley, alongside the powerful Vilaca, looked set to capitalise on the advantage.

Yet, when Westermann slid out on a corner, bringing down another three of the leading five, everything changed — including putting the Swiss, Portuguese and Brits out of the race.

There were already no French, Australians or New Zealanders competing, but following entertaining women’s and men’s races the previous day, 11 nations did line up, including all three Olympic medallists: Germany, USA and Great Britain.

With only one other mixed team relay competition taking place in this year’s World Triathlon Championship Series, in Hamburg in July, it provided a rare opportunity for athletes to show their mettle over the super-sprint format.

While the distances stayed the same, in a change to the ordering for the next four years, the men reverted to competing on the anchor leg, as was the case up to and including the Tokyo Olympics.

The Germans, who also defended their mixed team relay world title in 2024 and had won the Paris Olympics relay test event the year before, weren’t alone in fielding a novice quartet.

Portugal was one of the few to buck that trend, fielding three of the Paris Olympic team, including Vilaca and Ricardo Batista, who had already shown they were in good form, having finished third and sixth in the individual event.

Britain’s four were led off by Cook, followed by Stapley, with both Isobella Hayes and Hugo Milner unable to take part after Stapley crashed out.

What happened on Leg 1?

If any reminder was needed of how fast the racing is, Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen led out the opening 300m swim in a touch over four minutes.

Britain’s Cook, daughter of 1989 world championship runner-up Glenn Cook and multiple European champion Sarah Coope, was in close attendance in transition, and a leading group of five quickly formed for the 7km bike leg.

USA’s Taylor Spivey, who was 13th in the individual race in Abu Dhabi, took over the lead for the more technical sections, but with half the chasers catching on, it left the Dutch, Germans and Irish a few seconds adrift.

There was little to split the field as they headed out onto the 2km run, with the biggest surprise being that Germany’s Selina Klamt was dropping further and further behind.

Vermeylen and Spain’s Anna Godoy were first to hand over, with the top eight within 20sec, but the Germans 43sec back and, along with Ireland and Japan, looking almost out of contention.

What happened on Leg 2?

Stapley brought the Brits back into the lead with a typically strong swim and set off on the bike with the talented Vilaca, Netherlands’ Mitch Kolkmann, Switzerland’s Westermann and Spain’s David Cantero.

Just as the breakaway looked as if it might be race-defining, there was another twist as news filtered through of 10-second penalties for both the Portuguese and the Spanish.

Disaster then struck the lead group just before they hit the athletics track, as on a painted section of road, Westermann slid out at the front, bringing down three of the other front five, leaving only Cantero still riding.

Kolkmann remounted to haul in the Spaniard and fly past, but it was race over for Westermann, Stapley and Vilaca.

USA, Belgium and Italy all came into transition 30sec behind, with Germany, Japan and Ireland another 20 sec in arrears as the gaps started to close.

Cantero reeled Kolkmann in halfway through the run, tagging Miriam Casillas for the third leg with the Spanish in with a chance of a rare podium finish.

What happened on Leg 3?

There were 55sec covering the remaining eight nations as the relay passed its midpoint, with Netherlands’ Luna De Bruin bridging up to Casillas at the front of the swim.

The Italians had Bianca Seregni, who led out the previous day’s swim in the individual event, on the third leg, which helped close up the race once more as they headed out on the bikes.

USA’s Erika Ackerlund and Belgium’s Nele Dequae were working together in third and fourth to try to keep the front pair in sight, and there was a similar gap back to the four chasers: Italy, Germany, Japan and Ireland.

Irish triathlete Hollie Elliott, who had recently switched from GB, lost a chunk of time towards the end of the bike leg, which looked to have ended her nation’s chances.

Casillas was sharpest away on the run and decided to use her advantage to serve the outstanding 10sec penalty, rejoining the race in third place and leaving Germany’s Tanja Neubert in the lead.

What happened on Leg 4?

Henry Graf had a 9sec advantage over USA’s Morgan Pearson for the final leg, with Italy’s Euan De Nigro, Spain’s Roberto Sanchez Mantecon and Netherlands’ Gjalt Panjer in pursuit.

Graf extended the lead by another 4sec after the swim and had a decision to make — whether to go all-out on the bike or save his energy, knowing there was likely to be a chasing pack of four, including the fast-running Pearson.

The German had no intention of sitting up and continued to build a gap as he started the final bike lap. Unrest was setting in over sharing the workload to hunt Graf down, and as he headed onto the run, the lead looked unassailable.

While the gap came down over the final stage, Graf rarely looked in danger, and Pearson eased clear of De Nigro, with Sanchez Mantecon just missing out on the podium.

WTCS Abu Dhabi: Mixed team relay final standings

1. Germany – 1:32:05
2. USA +16
3. Italy +19
4. Spain +33
5. Netherlands +56
6. Belgium +2:02
7. Japan +2:16
8. Ireland +3:06
   
   DNF Switzerland
   DNF Great Britain
   DNF Portugal