France
The steady rise and rise of French star Cassandre Beaugrand began with a clutch of Junior European Cup and Championship medals between 2013 and 2014 and performances strong enough to see her drafted in to help the French Mixed Relay team grab silver in the 2014 World Championships in Hamburg. Beaugrand closed out that year with second place at the Junior World Championship in Edmonton before struggling through a difficult 2015 that slowed her progression onto the Elite circuit.
A relative lack of racing did little to blunt her edge, however. Beaugrand returned to her very best in 2018 displaying a powerful swim stroke and upright, efficient run style that blew away the competition on route to a first WTS gold in Hamburg. The next day she was part of the French Mixed Relay team that won the World title and then the European Championships a month later, and U23 bronze on the Gold Coast capped a strong year. In 2019 it was second and first respectively on her favourite course as the French team retained their world title, before going on to gold at the Tokyo Test Event in August.
The 2022 season saw a career-best 5th place finish on the overall season rankings, thanks to brilliant displays at WTCS Leeds and Montreal, finishing with gold and silver respectively. In 2023 she went even further, only missing out on the World Championship title at the Finals in Pontevedra to the woman she had battled all season long, Beth Potter.
Then, in 2024, Beaugrand arrived for a home Olympic Games at Paris 2024 in the form of her life after back-to-back wins in Cagliari and Hamburg. Shrugging off the pressure and rising to the occasion in grand style, Beaugrand brought home the gold to send the streets of Paris wild and score a famous win that would catapult her into the realms of the true greats of the sport.
