Unique Indoor T1 World Cup Lievin Offers Another Day of Dynamic Racing

Offering a unique format that includes a 200 m swim in a temporary pool built into the middle of an indoor track, a 2.8 km bike on the outer lanes of that track before finishing with a 1 km sprint, T1 World Cup racing returned to Lievin today. Support from the Professional Triathletes Organisation once again allowed the race to feature live streaming coverage, which provided some pretty exciting viewing.

The race was a World Triathlon Cup last year, and for the two years before was a Europe Triathlon Cup race, so the format has been tested a few times and has obviously worked. In addition to the World Triathlon ranking points (500) up for grabs, the race offered a prize purse of US$60,000.

The lively crowd on hand at the track in Lievin were keen to see the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world champion, Cassandre Beaugrand, shine … and they certainly weren’t disappointed. Here’s how the day played out.

Men’s Semis

Olympic silver medalist Hayden Wilde was one of the marquee athletes competing in Lievin and, after taking his heat in the morning, repeated that feat with a solid win in his semi. Gjalt Panjer (NED) led the way out of the water and Wilde found himself chasing the lead group, but by the 10th of 14 laps around the track, Wilde was up with the leaders. Germany’s Henry Graf led the men onto the run course, but Wilde was only three seconds back. With a couple of laps to go Wilde moved to the front and put his stamp on the heat ahead of Henry Graf (GER), Nathan Grayel (FRA) and Genis Grau (ESP).

In the second semi France’s Pablo Isotton thrilled the crowd by leading out of the water and would be first out on to the run course, too. In the end, though, it was Ireland’s James Edgar who made a big push to move to the front and take the heat ahead of Great Britain’s Jack Willis, with France’s Leo Fernandez and Adrien Briffod crossing the line at virtually the same time as the Brit.

The third semi saw the Netherlands’ Mitch Kolkman blast through the swim, and then stay near the front through the rest of the bike and run, eventually crossing the line a second up on Antoine Duval (FRA), Shachar Sagiv (ISR), David Lang (LUX) and Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) – a photo finish would relegate the Austrian to the B final.

Women’s Semis

As with the men, the feature star of the event went in the first semi. Olympic and world champion Cassandre Beaugrand took off like a shot in the water and finished the swim in 2:10, almost 10 seconds up on the rest of the women in her heat. By the end of the fourth lap of the bike Beaugrand had started lapping athletes and eventually found herself riding behind the entire field as the chasers all regrouped. Hitting the second transition literally a lap ahead of the rest of the women, Beaugrand jogged through the one km run to easily take the heat. Annika Koch (GER), Sara Guerrero Manso and Nora Gmur hammered through the run to catch up to Beaugrand and nail their spots to the final.

Jolien Vermeylen led the swim in the second semi and found herself in a lead group of four that included Germans Nina Eim and Lena Meissner, along with Mexico’s Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal. With a huge lead over the chasers, those four were able to cruise through the first part of the run. France’s Sandra Dodet pushed hard to try and get up to the group, but Tapia Vidal was quick to respond to the Frenchwoman’s push and easily kept the lead group of four clear to make the A final.

In the third semi Slovakia’s Zuzana Michalickova dominated the swim and did her own version of the Beaugrand strategy, working up to the chase group and cruising behind them. Up ahead, though, was a group that included defending champ Laura Lindemann (GER), her countrywoman Julia Brocker and Switzerland’s Cathia Schar, who started the run within striking distance of the Slovak leader. By 500 m into the run Lindemann was out in front and leading the way towards the final. In the end it was Schar and Brocker who would lead Lindemann across the line, with Michalickova being forced to push hard in the final lap to hang on to the last spot to the final.

Men’s Final

Kolkman, Graf and Duval took things out in the men’s final, with the Dutch athlete managing to lead the way despite a poor lane position next to the wall, touching the wall in roughly 1:57, with Wilde 14 seconds behind as he ran to the transition.

Kolkman hammered out on to the bike and spread the field out as Wilde found himself in dead last as he started the bike. The Dutch athlete was able to work with Duval and Graf to open up some time on the chasers as Wilde worked his way to the tail end of the chase group.

The three leaders hit T2 with a lead of about six seconds on the chasers. Wilde had an uncharacteristically slow transition, which made his chances of a podium finish a long shot as Kolkman continued to drive the pace at the front with Duval with Graf staying close. As he heard the bell Graf sprinted past the other two and opened up a big gap, sprinting across the line to take the win. Duval would hang on for the silver, with Kolkman rounding out the podium. Fernandez (FRA) would win the group sprint over Wilde to take fourth.

“I talked to Mitch (Kolkman) before the race and the only way to beat Hayden is to get away in the swim and the bike,” Graf said after the race.

“I had to use everything I had in the swim to stay with the two guys in front,” Duval said, confirming the race strategy that proved successful to hold off the Kiwi.

You can see the full results here.

Women’s Final

Beaugrand and Michilackova were once again off like shots at the start of the swim, but Vermeylen was able to overcome the outside lane challenge to lead the way out of the water. A poor transition put Vermeylen out of the mix for the lead group as Beaugrand and Michilackova surged out to the front. Switzerland’s Gmur pushed early to join the two leaders, but the chase group was being driven by the Germans (there were five Germans in the final) to try and catch the leaders.

By the end of the bike the chasers were able to catch up, setting up a group of nine that hit T2 together. Beaugrand set herself up perfectly and was first out onto the run course as Vermeylen desperately tried to hang on to the Olympic gold medalist. Lindemann also surged out onto the track for the run, and was able to get past Vermeylen, but Beaugrand used her fluid stride to pull away and cruise through the run to easily take the win, thrilling the crowd as she took a bow just before crossing the line. Lindemann would end up second as countrywoman Koch rounded out the podium. Vermeylen would hang on for fourth, with Eim finishing fifth and Meissner making it four Germans in the top six.

“It was a crazy atmosphere,” Beaugrand said. “I loved it from the start to the finish. It is the type of format I really like – fast and furious – so I told myself to just go out and enjoy it.”

Enjoy it she did, as did the rest of crowd on hand to take in the event in France.

You can find the full results here.

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