Relay, Mixed

For the first time, a mixed triathlon relay was held at the Olympics, although World Championships in mixed relay had been contested since 2009. France was the favorite, having won gold at the past three mixed relay world championships, but Great Britain, the USA, and Germany were also rated highly. Of the original 18 entered teams only 16 actually competed with South Africa withdrawing as Henri Schoeman had broken an ankle while running the individual race. Austria resigned shortly before the start due to an Achilles’ tendon injury to Lisa Perterer. The Tokyo individual champions Kristian Blummenfelt and Flora Duffy could not compete, as their nations did not qualify enough triathletes. The weather was fine in the early morning, but again very warm with air and water temperatures of 28 degrees each.

As expected, all of the top nations had their best female swimmers in the first starting position. Britain’s Jess Learmonth came out of the water first, but the field was close together. A top quartet formed on the bike, opening a gap of just under 30 seconds on the pursuers. Learmonth finished the run in first place, while the German Laura Lindemann handed over to Jonas Schomburg in second place who passed Britain’s Jonathan Brownlee in the transition area and was the first to dive into water.

The German swam in the lead, with Brownlee, American Kevin McDowell and Dutchman Marco van der Stel in tow. The four then went on the bike course together, while the first chasing group with France, Belgium, and Italy was still half a minute behind. Brownlee then picked up the pace in the run and quickly dropped his three associates and handed over the baton to Georgia Taylor-Brown as sole leader. Behind the top group the Frenchman Dorian Coninx was almost able to close up with a strong run and Belgium, with Marten Van Riel, was only a few seconds behind.

Taylor-Brown extended the lead in swimming ahead of the American Taylor Knibb. A group formed behind them in the battle for third place after the Frenchwoman Cassandre Beaugrand was able to completely close the small gap in swimming and advanced to second place. Taylor-Brown dominated cycling as the leader and finished the section with a gap of 11 seconds. At the last change, Taylor-Brown handed over to Alex Yee, who was 21 seconds ahead of the USA, and with France and Vincent Luis 33 seconds behind in third.

The preliminary decision about the medallists had now been made, and only the order of the medals remained uncertain. Luis tried everything to bring the victory to France. He closed the gap to the American Morgan Pearson and even distanced him near the end of the swim. He chased Britain but Yee was too strong. Leading on the run, Alex Yee brought the gold medal home for Great Britain, while behind him Luis had to pay for his attacks, as Pearson caught up with him again on the first running lap and secured the silver medal for the United States.