Germany flies to Olympic gold in mixed relay
Heartbreak for France as Pierre Le Corre crashes in the first leg

After all the controversy over delaying the men’s race by 24 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon kept things simple for the teams in today’s mixed relay this time around – the decision to race was made at 7 pm the night before the race, which meant everyone could hit the sack and not worry about a 4 am wake up call to see if they were racing or not. All that despite the news that Belgium was out of the race because Claire Michel was sick – reportedly with an E. coli infection.
Chaos continues around Olympic triathlon as Belgian team pulls out of mixed relay due to sickness
There haven’t been any practice swims – both were cancelled due to poor water quality, but the word is that the current has been strong and a couple of days without rain meant that the water readings were good enough for the race to happen.
First leg
Spain’s Alberto Garcia Gonzalez mastered the current the best of the group, hitting T1 with a bit of a gap on the rest of the group. The French and British were in good shape, with both Pierre Le Corre and Alex Yee in the lead chase group. Wilde was in the second chase group, but shortly into the second of two bike loops the Kiwi had ridden his way back to the front group, bringing everyone together.
Then disaster struck for France as Le Corre and Wilde went down on the final 180 degree turnaround of the bike course. Wilde was back up on his bike in a flash, but Le Corre’s chain had come off, leaving him well behind.
Yee would take control of the run through the second half of the run, tagging off to Georgia Taylor-Brown with a 3 second lead over Germany, with Switzerland in third fives seconds down. The US would start the second leg 16 seconds back in 10th. Le Corre would run his heart out to try and get back into the mix, but would hand off to Emma Lombardi 40 seconds back.
Second Leg
Taylor-Brown, the silver medalist from Tokyo, was rock solid through the swim and early in the bike, hitting her T1 with a lead of seven seconds on Germany’s Lisa Tertsch, with Italy another five seconds back. Taylor Spivey moved the US up a few spots, but were still over 20 seconds back as she jumped on her bike.
By the end of the first loop of the bike Taylor Brown remained well ahead, while Lombardi was leaving a lung on the side of the road as she gave it all too try and catch the chase group, but actually lost time to Taylor-Brown. The chase group, led by silver medalist Julie Derron, was hauling the chase pack towards the front of the race. By the time they got to the second transition the lead was still 12 seconds over the chase group that saw Switzerland (Derron) in second with Taylor Spivey starting the run in third. Derron and Tertsch flew through the run and were 9 seconds back. Tertsch would find another gear through the second lap and run her way to the front, managing to catch Taylor-Brown to put the Germans in first place. Derron and Switzerland were in third, with Spain in fourth and the US in third. Spain, though, had a penalty to serve from the swim.
Third Leg
Great Britain’s Sam Dickinson had a great swim to get to transition ahead of Germany’s Lasse Luehrs, with  Switzerland seven seconds down. Morgan Pearson from the US lost a bit of time to the leaders in the water, hitting the transition in sixth place, 20 seconds behind the Brits. Now it was Leo Bergere’s turn to push to the limit — the 2022 world champion and bronze medalist from last Wednesday, hit the transition 55 seconds behind the leaders.
Luehrs and Dickinson worked together through the bike leg to solidify their position out front, a smart move as it was becoming clearer and clearer that the French weren’t going to be able to get back into the medal picture barring another crash with the leaders out front.
Heading out onto the run Dickinson and Luehrs continued to lead the way, but behind them Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca and Pearson from the US were pushing hard to try and make up ground. Dickinson made a push in the final part of the run to open up some space on the Germans, tagging off to Beth Potter, the bronze medalist from the individual race, with a five second lead over the Germans. The Portuguese remained in third, now 20 seconds down, with Italy and the US in fourth and fifth just a second behind.
Bergere would hand off to Beaugrand 59 seconds down.
The final triathlon at the Paris Olympics is the mixed relay. Sadly Canada won’t be there.
Final leg
Potter continued to keep the Brits out in front thanks to a solid swim, with Germany’s Laura Lindemann pushing hard to try and keep the British star close. By the end of the swim Potter’s lead was seven seconds, but the big mover in the race now was American Taylor Knibb, who moved the US into third all alone, 18 seconds down.
Knibb would fly through the bike, catching up to Lindemann first, then putting Potter in her sights. The Brit would hang tough, but Knibb would continue to push towards the front. Beaugrand would continue to push, but the French were out of things, in seventh place through the first loop of the bike.
By the end of the bike Knibb had done it – she had caught Potter and brought Lindemann up front, too, setting up a three-way race for the medals.
Knibb had a bit of a scramble in transition, while Potter was perfect and led the way onto the run course. By the end of the bike Beaugrand had pulled France back to the front of the chase group, virtually guaranteeing them fourth, but the were still 71 seconds down.
Out on the run Knibb and Lindemann quickly opened up some space on Potter and then, coming into the chute, it was Lindemann who was able to open some space to bring the German’s to gold. Potter managed to bridge the gap into the finishing chute, but in the end would be outleaned by Knibb, who gave the US its second consecutive silver medal in the mixed relay. France would, as predicted, finish fourth, 67 seconds behind the winners.
Stay tuned for more coverage from today’s thrilling race.