Lindemann thrills the home crowd with brilliant win at WTCS Hamburg

The 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series officially kicked off today in Hamburg with a sprint-distance race in one of the sport’s most popular triathlon venues. The German crowd were thrilled to see one of their own, Laura Lindemann, take her first WTCS title thanks to a brilliant sprint onto the blue carpet.

American Summer Rappaport led the women out of the water, but with 22 women coming out of the water within 22 seconds it was quickly apparent that a large group would form on the bike. The lead group quickly whittled down to 18, and that group was able to open up a gap of 40 seconds on the chase group.

Hitting T2 Germany’s Anabel Knoll led the way, but it was her countrywoman who quickly set the tempo at the start of the run, setting up a breakaway group of four that included Rappaport, New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay and Hungary’s Zanett Bragmayer. Eventually the other three were able to drop the Hungarian, setting up a showdown of three to compete for the three medals.

Lindemann timed her sprint perfectly, pulling clear of the other two women a few hundred metres away from the blue carpet and sprinting to her first WTCS win in 58:17. Van Der Kaay would pull away from Rappaport to take the silver medal. Bragmayer would hang on for fourth with Great Britain’s Sian Rainsley rounding out the top five.

Canadians Emy Legault (1:01:10) and Dominika Jamnicky (1:01:15) finished 35th and 37th respectively.

You can find full results here.