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5 super-fast run times posted by triathletes

Proof that there are some outstanding runners in the sport!

Photo by: World Triathlon/ Tommy Zaferes

Last weekend, Cassandre Beaugrand, a member of France’s bronze-medal relay team at the Tokyo Olympics last year, returned to her running roots at the Meeting Elite de Miramas. It was the 24-year-old’s first indoor elite race and her first elite track meet since 2017, where she’d set her personal best of 9:08:54. A five-time junior national cross country champion, Beaugrand will be one of France’s big hopes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and based on her impressive run this weekend, she appears to be on track to give the French crowd what they want.

That run got us thinking about some other fast run times posted by triathletes:

Beth Potter: 14:41 – 5 km

Beth Potter competes at the ITU Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2019.

Remember the race that sent a message to the world that the Asics Metaspeed shoes would provide some competition to the Nike dominance in the world of carbon-plate shoes? Great Britain’s Beth Potter, a former national team runner, blasted to what would have been a new world record for 5 km on the road had the course been certified. It was hardly a surprise to see Potter running so fast – she represented Team GB at the Rio Games in the 10,000, and was at the 2018 Commonwealth Games for Scotland in both track and triathlon.

Cassandre Beaugrand: 9:02.97 – 3,000 m indoors

Beaugrand finished fourth in her return to track racing last weekend and was the top French athlete in the field.

To give you an idea of just how fast that is, until Canada’s Gabriela Stafford shattered the Canadian record over the distance last weekend with her 8:33:92, the Canadian record for the event was 8:46:50. And Stafford doesn’t have to worry about any bike or run training.

Alex Yee: 27:51.94 – 10,000 m

The world junior duathlon champion from 2016 was balancing life as a triathlete and elite runner in 2018 when he set a PB for 10,000 m with his 27:51, just under five-seconds slower than the British U23 record of 27:47.0 set by Dave Bedford in 1971. (Bedford would go on to set the world record for the distance in 1973 when he ran 27:30.80.) Yee also ran a 5 km Parkrun time that year of 13:57, which at the time was the fastest ever run at a Parkrun event.

Gwen Jorgensen: 32:12, 10,000 m

Gwen Jorgensen won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Photo: Nils Nilsen

The 2016 Olympic gold medalist was a track runner at the University of Wisconsin, so it comes as no surprise that she could post some speedy times on the track. She set her sights on making it to Tokyo as a runner after her Olympic win, and set some excellent times including 8:48:48 for 3,000 m, 15:08:28 for 5,000 m, 31:55.68 for 10,000 m on the track, 1:10:58 for a half marathon and 2:36:13 for a marathon. In May, 2015, when she was still very much a triathlete, Jorgensen ran a 32:12 10 km at the Sydney 10 in Australia.

Richard Murray: 28:04 – 10 km

Richard Murray. Photo: World Triathlon

Before his heart problems dealt a cruel blow to his Olympic preparations, South Africa’s Richard Murray put together some incredible run splits in training in the fall of 2020 as he was preparing for the games. Amongst those was a solo 10 km time trial run in 28:04. It was the 13th fastest time of 2020, but also the third-fastest in South African history. It was unofficial, of course, but certainly served notice that he was amongst the country’s best runners.