Jeanne Lehair takes surprise win; Alex Yee edges fellow Brit Jonny Brownlee at Super League Triathlo
Super League Triathlon Photos
Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg surpassed all the British firepower, finishing 2 seconds ahead of Sophie Coldwell and 3 seconds ahead of third place finisher Taylor Spivey of the United States. Perhaps tired from her domination of the Paris Olympic Test Event a fortnight prior, pre-race favorite Beth Potter of Great Britain took 4th place, 11 seconds behind the winner.
Paris Olympic Test Event winner Alex Yee thrilled the home country crowd with a hard fought and narrow victory over three-time Olympic medalist Jonny Brownlee. While Yee’s vlctory was expected, Brownlee’s performance was heartfelt as he was recovering from a shocking 51st place finish in Paris.
Last year’s series winner Georgia Taylor-Brown of the UK was a non-starter due to lingering injury.
With Olympic medalist Hayden Wilde of New Zealand (last season’s SLT Champion) missed the London event due to injury and highly ranked Matt Hauser of Australia passed up this Sunday’s event, the 5th such Super League Triathlon Championship provided longshot surprises by 3rd through 5th places by Tayler Reid of New Zealand in his first SLT win), Roberto Sanchez of Spain and Max Stapley of Great Britain.
In the first of four late season SLT contests, which will include Toulouse, Malibu and the Grand Final in Neom, Saudi Arabia, the London event was contested in the slam-bang Enduro Format comprised of three back-to-back stages of a 300-meter swim, 4-kilometer bike and 1.6-kilometer run. Keyed to entice crowd interest, the Series includes teams made up of individuals – Sharks, Warriors, Eagles and Scorpions.
Women
Stage 1
Leading out of the swim, Coldwell appeared to have bounced back from a disappointing race at the Paris Olympic Test Event ten days ago, as Coldwell was joined in transition by training partner Olivia Mathias and fellow Brit Kate Waugh.
Coldwell led the bike, as British based Team Sharks earned the first short chute of the season, a ticket to cut the course at a designated area, all main contenders, including Spivey and Paris Test Event Beth Potter as well as main contenders Spivey and Britain’s Test Event winner Beth Potter and Kirsten Kasper of the U, S. made the front pack,
Spivey was first off the bike, chased closely by Potter, Waugh, Kasper, Mathias Coldwell, leaving a gap to the chasers. Spivey won the short chute pass for her Warriors Team, with Jeanne Lehair on the rebound after a disappointing outing in Pari 10 days ago. Led the chase pack out of T2 13 seconds arrears.
On the run, Potter built a half a dozen length lead on the lead pack, with Lehair joining the leaders. Filling out the top 10 were Summer Rappaport and Nicole Van Der Kaay.
Stage 2
Spivey and Potter took a small lead out of the water, with the chase group eight seconds down. With swift transitions, Spivey and Potter spirited away. Leading a group of eight to an ever-growing lead. Falling victim to rule that required racers more than 90- seconds behind to be eliminated, 15-year-old crowd favorite Fanni Salai of Hungary 15 was among the unlucky.
On the second run, Spivery and Potter nudged ahead followed closely by Coldwell, Waugh and Lehair to make a front pack of five with Fullagar, Kasper and Mathias dropping further back.
Stage 3
By reputation, Potter’s fearsome run prodded Spivey and Coldwell to open a short gap coming into transition. Thereupon the Spivey urged herself to distance herself over Coldwell, who was content to stick close to Potter. Working in conjunction with Potter to bridge up to Coldwell and Spivey. With admirable grit, Lehair clawed her way back from an early deficit to the lead pack.
Perhaps wearied by her Paris heroics, Potter drifted back from Coldwell, Spivey and Lehair, who displayed a surprising reserve of top end energy. Finally, Lehair surged away on the final 300 meters to claim top honors.
Coldwell proved to be the best Briton on the day, taking silver and out sprinting Spivey who earned the final spot on the podium. Potter took a respectable 4th, followed closely by Team Sharks teammate Waugh.
Super League Triathlon London
London, Great Britain
Sunday August 27, 2023
Enduro Format
3x 300-meter Swim in West India Quay / 3x 4k Bike (4x 1k loops) / 3x 1.6k Run (2 x 800m loops)
Elite Women
1 Jeanne Lehair LUX Total Time 49:51
2 Sophie Coldwell GBR 49:53
3 Taylor Spivey USA 49:54
4 Beth Potter GBR 50:02
5 Kate Waugh GBR 50:06
6 Olivia Mathias GBR 50:44
7 Jessica Fullagar GBR 50:50
8 Katie Zaferes USA 50:52
9 Nicole Van Der Kaay NZL 51:02
10 Summer Rappaport USA 51:06
The Men
Stage 1
Max Stapley of Great Britain and the RTP Sharks led the men’s Stage 1 swim, followed closely by Marcus Dery of the Eagles, a late alternate for teammate Matt Hauser, who missed the Paris Test Event due to Covid-19. By winning the short chute pass by arriving first after the bike-to-run transition, Stapley earned a late race short cut.
On the bike, Stapley and Dey went off the front, with Taylor Reid trailing 98 seconds behind, and massive favorite Alex Yee 20 seconds arrears. The duo did not last long at the front, as they were overrun by a pack including Yee and Jonny Brownlee. Heading into the second swim, Stapley, Yee, Brownlee, Reid, and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon held a small margin over the rest of the field.
Stage 2
Leaving the water, Stapley was unable to replicate his Stage 1 lead, and was wallowed into a pack of eight including Dan Dixon of Great Britain, South African Henri Schoeman Shachar Sagiv of Israel joining the front pack. Emerging from the water, Brownlee made a move to the front, joining Reid and Yee on the run.
Stage 3
Yee got some daylight heading into the water ahead of Reid and Brownlee, as Schoeman and Mantecon managed to reel in Dixon and Stapley as they dived in to create a pack of four at the front. Out of the water, Reid led Ye and Brownlee on to the bike and the trio pushed hard to widen the gap to hard charging Schoeman and Sanchez Mantecon.
Midway through the bike leg, Yee, Brownlee, and Reid opened a 15-seconds gap on chasers Dixon, Schoeman, Stapley and Sanchez Mantecon.
At the final transition, Yee put his thoroughbred running prowess into overdrive. By midway through the 1.6km run Yee led Brownlee by 5 seconds and 9 seconds over Reid, who outpaced all other contenders by 15 seconds.
Elite Men
1 Alex Yee GBR Total time 45:23
2 Jonny Brownlee GBR 45:25
3 Tayler Reid NZL 45:33
4 Roberto Sanchez Mantecon ESP 45:43
5 Max Stapley GBR 45:44
6 Dan Dixon GBR 45:50
7 Henri Schoeman RSA 45:53
8 Seth Rider USA 46:13
9 Chase McQueen USA 46:16
10. Emil Holm DEN 46:21
