NEWS

Team France earn brilliant 2018 U23-Junior Mixed Relay World title

By Doug Gray | 16 Sep, 2018
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Team France became the 2018 ITU Mixed Relay U23 and Junior World Champions on Sunday following a dramatic finale to a gripping race. Consisting of Sandra Dodet, Paul Georgenthum, Emilie Morier and Leo Bergere, the team executed a near-perfect collective performance that looked to have come down to a photo finish between France and New Zealand after Hayden Wilde pushed Bergere all the way down to the wire.

Team France became the 2018 ITU Mixed Relay U23 and Junior World Champions on Sunday following a dramatic finale to a gripping race. Consisting of Sandra Dodet, Paul Georgenthum, Emilie Morier and Leo Bergere, the team executed a near-perfect collective performance that looked to have come down to a photo finish between France and New Zealand after Hayden Wilde pushed Bergere all the way down to the wire.

A penalty for the New Zealanders after Wilde had stepped outside the course saw them disqualified, however, leaving Germany to pick up the silver and Great Britain the bronze.

“The atmosphere in the team is great right now,” said Bergere afterwards. “The competition for places makes it even better, and today I just went out to finish off for the team. At the line I was just picturing a dog chasing me down and threw everything I had at the line.”

The line-ups of the combined U23 and Junior teams were stacked with success stories from Friday’s U23 and Saturday’s Junior races on the spectacular Gold Coast course. That meant that the Mexican team led with the woman who put in an incredible run 24 hours earlier, Cecilia Alavez, while going out second for Hungary and New Zealand were newly crowned World Champions Csongor Lehmann and Tayler Reid.

From the first strokes of the swim, however, it was Hungary’s Dorka Putnoczki who took control, Germany’s Nina Eim also well placed as the first handover was made. Reid then took control of the first men’s leg, coming from behind to emerge out of T2 first and stamp his authority on the field, Germany’s Luhrs holding on to the leader for as long as he could on the run.

The third leg then saw France’s Emilie Morier deliver an unbelievable swim to catch New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay and Germany’s Laura Lindemann, and the three came out onto the bikes together and developed an 18-second lead over the likes of Portugal’s Gabriela Riveiro and Team GB’s Sophie Coldwell.

Lindemann pulled away over the last lap to give teammate Gabriel Allgayer a slender lead into the water, while Leo Bergere and Hayden Wilde battled it out together through the choppy water. After riding together for the entirety of the bike, Wilde and Bergere pulled away from the German at the start of the 1500m run, and the two then locked into a sprint finish that lasted well over a kilometre.

With nothing between them as they entered the chute, it was a desperate lunge for the line from Bergere that saw France take the photo finish and the U23-Junior Mixed Relay World title. 

After the race jury overturned the New Zealand appeal, Team Germany were awarded the silver and GB the bronze.

For the full results, click here.

Related Event: 2018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast
12 - Sep, 2018 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
DSQ. Russell White IRL DSQ
DSQ. Alistair Brownlee GBR DSQ
DNF. Felipe Barraza CHI DNF
DNF. Christophe De Keyser BEL DNF
DNF. Rodrigo Gonzalez Lopez MEX DNF
DNF. Makoto Odakura JPN DNF
DNF. Lukas Hollaus AUT DNF
DNF. Ryan Bailie AUS DNF
DNF. Yuichi Hosoda JPN DNF
DNF. Matthew McElroy USA DNF
Results: Elite Women
1. Ashleigh Gentle AUS 01:52:00
2. Vicky Holland GBR 01:52:02
3. Katie Zaferes USA 01:52:33
4. Laura Lindemann GER 01:52:53
5. Kirsten Kasper USA 01:53:15
LAP. Yi Zhang CHN LAP
LAP. Yiming Liu CHN LAP
DNF. Rebecca Spence NZL DNF
DNF. Anna Godoy Contreras ESP DNF
DNF. Alice Betto ITA DNF
Results: U23 Men
LAP. Rafael Domingos POR LAP
LAP. Tsz To Wong HKG LAP
LAP. Yu Hang Kok HKG LAP
LAP. Michael Lam HKG LAP
LAP. Darren Marquiss RSA LAP
LAP. James Tan HKG LAP
LAP. Matthew Greer RSA LAP
DNF. Simon Westermann SUI DNF
DNF. Kyle Smith NZL DNF
DNF. Ondrej Olsar CZE DNF
Results: U23 Women
1. Taylor Knibb USA 01:53:47
2. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA 01:55:22
LAP. Weiyao Guo CHN LAP
LAP. Andreia Ferrum POR LAP
LAP. Klaudia Sebők HUN LAP
LAP. Sara Guerrero Manso ESP LAP
LAP. Iveta Fairaislova CZE LAP
LAP. Gyuri Kim KOR LAP
DNF. Fuka Sega JPN DNF
DNF. Shanae Williams RSA DNF
Results: Junior Men
1. Csongor Lehmann HUN 00:52:49
2. Paul Georgenthum FRA 00:53:12
3. Philipp Wiewald GER 00:53:14
4. Boris Pierre FRA 00:53:20
DNS. Tim Hellwig GER DNS
LAP. Rhys Cheer FIJ LAP
LAP. Seth James PNG LAP
DNF. Levente Karai HUN DNF
DNF. Romaric Forques ESP DNF
DNF. Grigory Antipov RUS DNF
Results: Junior Women
1. Cecilia Sayuri Ramirez Alavez MEX 00:59:11
2. Erin Wallace GBR 00:59:23
3. Kate Waugh GBR 00:59:34
4. Pauline Landron FRA 00:59:46
5. Romy Wolstencroft AUS 00:59:51
6. Magdalena Früh AUT 01:00:03
7. Jessica Fullagar FRA 01:00:08
8. Desirae Ridenour CAN 01:00:10
9. Quinty Schoens NED 01:00:12
DNS. Selina Klamt GER DNS
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