We Noticed: Another Supertri in Jersey, Celebrity and Gold Medalist Marathon News and More
Georgia Taylor-Brown, Jeanne Lehair and Léonie Périault. Photo: Supertri
It was the fifth time Supertri has held an event in Jersey, but the first time the race has returned to the challenging course in St. Helier since 2021. The day ended up being a huge one for Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair, who both took the win (her second in a row after taking the Chicago race in August) and put herself in the driver’s seat to take the overall series title heading into the series finale on Oct. 5 in Toulouse. Thanks to the runner-up finish from fellow Podium Racing athlete Léonie Périault (FRA), the top-two finishers also managed to put their team well ahead of Crown Racing (263 points to 225) in the hunt for the overall team title.
It all came down to the third and final stage of the three mini-triathlon race, as Lehair led the way out of the final swim alongside Périault, with Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) close behind. The three would be close together heading into the final transition, with Lehair managing to erase the Brit’s slight lead finishing the bike thanks to a blazing-fast transition. She opened up some space on the other two women and managed to overcome Périault’s short-chute advantage to cross the line eight seconds up on her teammate and another eight seconds ahead of Taylor-Brown.
The series is decided by the best two scores from the first two rounds of the Supertri League Series added to the athletes’ scores from the final round in Toulouse. That means that Lehair will head into Toulouse in first with 30 points, Périault sits at 28, while Taylor-Brown and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) both have 27 points. That leaves the overall standing wide open still – the winner earns 20 points, second 18, third 16 and fourth 14 in Toulouse. If Périault wins in Toulouse and Lehair takes second, the Frenchwoman will win the series because “in the case of a tie … the athlete or team with the best result in the final race of the League will finish ahead.”
The men’s race featured some high-profile crashes (British three-time Olympic medalist Jonathan Brownlee and Kiwi Tayler Reid) and a final-leg penalty (five seconds for “goggle infringement) to Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca. Hungary’s Csongor Lehmann (representing Stars and Stripes Racing) managed to hold off Vilaca to take the win and put himself at the top of the standings heading into Toulouse (29 points to 27 for Vilaca and Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez Garcia). Rounding out the podium was 20-year-old Oliver Conway from Brownlee Racing.
Oliver Conway, Csongor Lehmann and Vasco Vilaca. Photo: Supertri
Gravel, Anyone?
Despite her “low-key post-Olympic” year, Taylor-Brown has been racing almost every weekend since she started her season at WTCS Hamburg, where she finished 14th. She was at Supertri Toronto (sixth) and followed that up with T100 London (12th) a couple of weeks later. After finishing second at Supertri Chicago, she was off to T100 French Riviera (ninth), then won the Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series race in Quiberon for the Lievin team. She followed that up with a valiant effort at the British Gravel Championships last weekend. After blasting away on a solo breakaway for roughly 90 km of the 120 km event, the three-time Olympic triathlon medalist was caught with three km to go by eventual champion Elizabeth Hermolle and would take second.
Taylor-Brown remains in the mix for the overall title in the Supertri standings heading into Toulouse, and has qualified (we assume she’ll race, too) for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain. That’s quite the schedule for a “down year.”
Another Marathon for Alex Yee
Speaking of “post-Olympic down years,” last year’s Paris gold medalist Alex Yee (GBR) has announced that he’ll be heading to Valencia to compete in his second marathon of the year in December.
Yee made his 26.2-mile debut in London last April, running 2:11:08 and finishing 14th. He made the announcement on the “Runna Podcast” (embedded below).
While we won’t see Yee racing any more triathlons this year (he won Supetri Toronto and took ninth at WTCS French Riviera), he will compete at the Valencia Half Marathon in October as a tune up for the marathon.
Speaking of Marathons (and Celebrities)
Did anyone else notice that Harry Styles finished a marathon on the weekend – and in under three hours, no less? In his second marathon of the year (he ran the Tokyo Marathon in March), Styles ran the Berlin Marathon in 2:59:13 under the pseudonym “Sted Sarandos.”
World Triathlon Announces Pontevedra Dates
The 2026 World Triathlon Championship Finals will be held in Pontevedra, Spain next year from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, according to a release from World Triathlon. The worlds were held in Spain last year (Torremolinos) and will take place in Wollongong, Australia this Oct. 16 to 20.
Here’s the detailed schedule for next year’s races:
- Thursday 24 September – JUNIOR WOMEN
- Thursday 24 September – JUNIOR MEN
- Thursday 24 September – AG SPRINT
- Friday 25 September – PARATRIATHLON
- Friday 25 September – U23 WOMEN
- Friday 25 September – U23 MEN
- Saturday 26 September – AG STANDARD
- Saturday 26 September – AQUABIKE
- Saturday 26 September – ELITE WOMEN
- Sunday 27 September – JUNIOR/U23 MIXED RELAY
- Sunday 27 September – PARA TRIATHLON MIXED RELAY
- Sunday 27 September – AG MIXED RELAY
- Sunday 27 September – ELITE MEN
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Alex YeeBerlin MarathonCsongor LehmannGeorgia Taylor-BrownJeanne LehairsupertriSupertri JerseyWorld TriathlonNotable Replies
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GTB’s ride was epic - video available and if people think commentating on an IM is hard, the two guys did really well, adding insights, assessments, observations on possible tactical options and excitement as the winner gradually hauled her in (GTB slowing after three hard laps in three hours).
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