A perfect weekend of wins for Germany almost got foiled by a penatly, but an incredible final run by Tim Helwig was enough to make it three-for-three for Germany at the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Hamburg this weekend by taking today’s mixed team relay.
Helwig and Italy’s Gianluca Pozatti managed to break clear on the bike in the final leg of the race, but towards the end of the bike it was learned that Helwig would need to serve a 10-second penalty because of a helmet strap violation after the swim. Helwig blasted off from the start of the run and was able to open up enough of a gap on the Italian to serve the penalty just before the finish line with enough time to get back out ahead and still run across the line for a seven-second win over the Italians.
The battle for the bronze came down to New Zealand hitting the final transition with a seven second lead over the United States and Denmark. Oscar Gladney Rundqvist was able to run the Danes to their first podium finish at a World Triathlon mixed relay championship.
“It was a perfect race right from the beginning,” Laura Lindemann said after the race. She led the Germans off in the race and found herself in a big group after the swim and bike. Early in the run she got on Olivia Mathias’ shoulder, then pulled clear with Alberte Kjaer Pedersen to hand off to Lasse Nygaard-Priester in the lead.
Daniel Dixon put Great Britain back in the mix after a stellar swim and then took off on the bike, with Germany, New Zealand, Italy, Denmark and the United States forming the chase group behind. By the run though the group was all together and it was Denmark’s Emil Holm who charged to the front. By the end of the run Nygaard-Priester had got Germany back to one-second behind while Italy’s Alessio Crociani kept his team in the mix another second back in third.
Marlene Gomez-Islinger managed to stay with a lead group of four – keeping up with the fast-swimming Carlotta Missaglia out of the water. Those two were joined by Denmark’s Sif Bendix Madsen and New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe, but by the end of the run Gomez-Islinger was able to get her team to the lead again. Starting the final leg it was New Zealand in second, eight-seconds down with Italy in third at 11 seconds.
All of which set up the final showdown in the final leg. On the bike Helwig and Pozatti pulled clear to set up the exciting final run leg. In the end Germany was able to enjoy a perfect weekend of racing, taking the top spot on the podium in all three races.
