French tri star Cassandre Beaugrand and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde delivered Super League Triathlon masterclasses at the 2022 Super League Triathlon Championship Series debut in London today.
The women’s event witnessed the 25-year-old Beaugrand make the decisive move with 200m of the final run leg to go, edging America’s Taylor Spivey and a trio of British stars to the crown in front of thousands of spectators at West India Quay.
“Racing here in London was amazing and it was like the crowd was on fire. I gave it everything I could and I was able to run my best today,” said Beaugrand. That best saw Spivey come home second, and the home hopefuls of Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sophie Coldwell and Beth Potter finish third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the men’s event, meanwhile, New Zealand’s Wilde overcame a formidable field on the final run leg of the unique Triple Mix format ahead of Australia’s Matt Hauser and the UK’s Alex Yee.
The dramatic men’s race involved false starts and penalties, eliminations and crashes, and would see Wilde gain revenge over Yee after he was beaten to gold at the Commonwealth Games in July by the British star. Jonny Brownlee would come home in fifth in his continued return to racing after a serious crash in June.
“It’s been a hard few weeks, so it’s awesome to retain the title here,” said the 24-year-old Widle, from Taupo in the North Island of New Zealand. “I know I had to work for it after seeing Matt Hauser take the Short Chute on the run.”
Today’s event saw Super League Triathlon return to London after it hosted a Super League Arena Games leg in April 2022. West India Quay was the location this time for the frenetic Triple Mix format, with the tight and technical course with cobblestones on the bike and run legs proving a tough opener for the athletes.
That Triple Mix saw Stage 1 consist of a 300m swim, 4km bike and 1.6km run, with Stage 2 being run-bike-swim, and the final Stage 3 hosting a bike-swim-run decider after a Pursuit-style start.
The victories establish Beaugrand and Wilde (today recipients of the $20,000 winner’s cheque) as major contenders for the overall Super League Championship Series titles, which will be decided over the following four events in Munich, Malibu, Toulouse, and NEOM in Saudi Arabia on 29 October.
Also at play today was the return of the SLT Teams format, with athletes balancing their individual efforts with that of being part of a Super League squad, with Cheetahs, Eagles, Rhinos, Bahrain Victorious Scorpions, and Sharks all collecting points and vying for Short Chute honour on the final run leg.
Bahrain Victorious lead the way for the $320,000 SLT Teams prize pool, after the first event and produced a masterstroke in the women’s field, using their Short Chute on Cathia Schär to elevate her into the top ten rather giving an advantage to either Taylor-Brown or Beaugrand.
