The French team did it again: be unstoppable, this time at the European Championship Mixed Relay in Munich, Germany. They managed to keep off the German and Swiss athletes, who ended up finishing in third and fourth place respectively.
From the first leg on, France was right in the front. After the first swim, it seemed like the field had already fallen apart, with Portugal, Italy, and Hungary taking the lead. France wasn’t far back, and as everything – or at least the first eleven countries – merged during the bike part, the team was soon back in the mix again. Just before T2, France and Portugal pushed some athletes to drop off the group, which saw these two countries, but also Swiss and Norway, enjoy a little buffer when heading onto the run.
Thanks to a strong run by Max Studer, Swiss was first to dive back into the water for the second leg. Portugal followed in second place (+0:03), France in third (+0:14) and Norway in fourth (+0:16). Spain – in fifth – was already a minute behind.
Thanks to an impressive swim part, Portugal was first to reach T1 in the second leg. France followed in second place with a nine-second deficit. Norway and Swiss reached their bikes in a respective third and fourth place. On the bike, France pushed the pace, while Portugal, Norway, and Spain suffered the consequences and lost touch. With a 36-second buffer to the Swiss, Portugal was lonely at the front when entering the third leg. Germany worked their way back to the front and dove into the water in third place (+0:51).
From there on, it was clear that France was unstoppable and would end up celebrating the gold. While France continued to extend their lead during the third and fourth leg, behind them a battle emerged between Germany and Swiss. That battled was decided only during the fourth leg’s run, when Germany ended up running to the silver medal. While France won, Germany took second (+0:33) and Swiss rounded the podium (+0:49).
