After Wednesday and Day 5 of the Games was renamed Triathlon Day at the Paris 2024 Olympics, on 5 August, 15 teams will be ready to throw down some high-octane swim-bike-run entertainment all over again, when only the second ever Olympic Mixed Relay gets underway at 8am.
It’s a short, sharp, scintillating course, with the men out first and the women taking it home. Each leg consists of a single 300m swim lap, transitioning to a 7km bike over two laps and concluding with a 1.8km run before tagging, with the winning time of the Test Event clocking in at just over 1h12m.
The hosts France and defending champions Great Britain will be among the favourites with two individual medals apiece, but much has changed in the three years since Tokyo 2020 and the medals look wide open this time around.
While many of the team members can be confirmed for those nations with the minimum 2 men and 2 women qualified, final line ups and the order of racing can be submitted by 5.45am on the morning of the race.
Hosts with the mosts
Where do you start with Team France? Dominant in the World Championships for nearly a decade with five world titles since 2015, on the women’s side they’ll be packing the newly minted Olympic Champion and last year’s Series bronze medallist in Cassandre Beaugrand and Emma Lombardi.
On the men’s side, Olympic bronze medallist and 2022 World Champion Leo Bergere and fourth-placed Pierre Le Corre provide plenty of firepower too. On paper, they look unstoppable. Lombardi took the anchor leg when the hosts claimed silver at the Test Event, but surely the prospect of Beaugrand coming over the Alexandre III bridge to take the tape and a second gold would be too delicious to deny.
New look line up for defending champions
Team GB have three women to call upon for the two spots, Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown the Paris 2024 bronze medallist and Tokyo 2020 silver medallists respectively. Kate Waugh took 15th on Wednesday in Paris and would love a shot at a medal of her own.
Olympic Champion Alex Yee and his Wednesday wingman Samuel Dickinson are the men on the GB mission. It was Yee who took home the gold in Tokyo with the anchor leg, Dickinson who helped GB take silver in the 2022 World Championships and secure their place in Paris. His key role as support for Yee in the individual saw him bow out on the run and he will undoubtedly be hungry and all in for his shot at an Olympic medal.
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World Champions Germany with point to prove
The only team other than France to qualify three men and three women, Germany will go into the Mixed Relay with a point to prove after leaving the individual races frustrated by crashes that stalled what looked set to be serious medal charges.
Laura Lindemann and Lisa Tertsch have been integral in helping bring home two Mixed Relay world titles in the last three years, Tim Hellwig, Jonas Schomburg and Lasse Luhrs will be vying to join them in the squad. Undoubtedly one of the favourites for gold.
Team USA ready to slay?
After a tough day in the individual races, the USA men and women will be out for glory in the relay. Seth Rider was going well in the front pack before fading on the run, Morgan Pearson blasted the run but was by then too far back to impact the race. Taylor Spivey’s top 10 was the bright spot after Kirsten Kasper came off twice and Taylor Knibb never recovered from a two-minute deficit out of the water. Does redemption await in the team format? Knibb and Pearson both starred in that Olympic silver in Tokyo and will need to do so again in Paris over the sharpest format going.
Team New Zealand will fancy their chances of a medal after back-to-back world championship podiums alongside Switzerland, and both pack individual silver medallists in their ranks in the form of kiwi Hayden Wilde and Swiss star Julie Derron.
Portugal’s chances of a medal are on the rise, with the ever-impressive Vasco VIlaca and Melanie Santos now bolstered by the rising stars of Ricardo Batista and Maria Tomé, both of whom impressed hugely on their Olympic debuts to finish 6th and 1th respectively.
Dutch team on a tear
The team that finished one place above them in that Japan classic three years ago was the Netherlands, who drafted in Richard Murray and the firing youngster Mitch Kolkman from opposite ends of the experience spectrum to great effect at the Olympic Qualification Event Huatulco to secure their team’s place here in Paris.
Team Italy can count on their young guns Alessio Crociani and Bianca Seregni to set the pace in the water, Spain will hope Alberto Gonzalez Garcia can repeat his fireworks to steer the team. Norway make their Olympic Relay debut with the prospect of a rare appearance in the format for Kristian Blummenfelt and Brazil could pack a punch with plenty of pace in the ranks.
Completing the 15-deep line up of teams will be Brazil, including young gun Miguel Hidalgo and Mexico, complete with their latest star Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal and the Austrians with plenty of experience on the biggest stage in Lisa Perterer and Julia Hauser.
