London just hosted the first World Championship E-Tri: a world indoor triathlon championship. Despite many big names not being at the start, the win – and thus the world title – went to a strong racing Beth Potter. The battle was mostly between the British and the eventual runner-up, Cassandre Beaugrand.
In the finals, three heats were completed: in the first heat there was swimming (200 meters), biking (4 kilometers) and running (1 kilometer), only to reverse that order in the second heat and thus first run, then bike and finish with swimming. In the third and decisive heat, all athletes then started based on the time differences from the first heats, but returned to the usual order of swimming, biking and running.
Heat 1: Potter lays foundation
Cassandre Beaugrand took off as if her life depended on it – and in a way, of course, it does – and immediately grabbed a lead of a few seconds in the water. Beth Potter, Katie Zaferes and Lena Meissner followed four seconds out of the water. Still, it only took Potter just over a kilometer on the bike to close her gap and join Beaugrand, something Zaferes in turn failed to do.
Potter and Beaugrand began the final thousand-meter run at the same time and, as expected, it was Potter there with the highest pace. She won the first heat with a lead of four seconds over Beaugrand and fifteen over Zaferes.
Heat 2: Potter and Beaugrand equal
In the second heat, which thus began with the run, Beaugrand and Potter were equal during the run and so both women also headed for the bike together. Zaferes followed shortly behind and also on the bike it appeared that these three women were the strongest athletes of the day. However, Zaferes fell short of Potter and Beaugrand, who in turn finished the second heat at the same time. That did mean a good starting position for Potter, who got to start the third heat with a lead.
Heat 3: Beaugrand makes up for lost time swimming, Potter still wins World Title
In the water, Beaugrand immediately made up for her deficit, which allowed the French athlete and Potter to come out of the water at the same time. Potter then had a problem with a bad transition, which caused her to lose a few seconds when she got on the bike: she had to make up for that during the ride. She managed to do so within a kilometer, which was pretty impressive.
On the bike the two leaders, who were already more than half a minute ahead of Zaferes, stayed together and so they began the last thousand meters of the run at the same time. An ideal position for Potter, the stronger runner of the two, who thus decided the race in her favor. Potter crowned herself World Champion E-Tri with a lead of 28 seconds over Beaugrand, who finished second. Zaferes finished third at 1:02 minutes.
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