With just two weeks to go until the Paris Olympics, Germany showed on home soil that they may be the biggest favorite for the Olympic Mixed Team Relay title: the German team just rushed to a victory at the WTCS Hamburg.
In a race that went in all directions, a number of countries stood out positively. In any case, a lot happened right from the start. Yet in the first heat many countries stayed together – ten to be exact – and the first really important differences were made in the second heat.
This was mainly due to Dutch Maya Kingma, who broke up the leading group during the swim and therefore found herself riding alone with Great Britain and also Germany on the bike. Not much later, Switzerland and New Zealand also joined in, but it was clear by then that these were the countries that would battle for victory.
During the third heat it was the Netherlands that lost the connection to the leading group, leaving four countries in the lead, although Great Britain was a few seconds behind. Nevertheless, the British did not give up and constantly fought their way back into the race.
In the fourth and decisive heat it was Germany who proved to be the strongest, although the decision was made during the run. There nobody could stand up to an unleashed Annika Koch, who immediately ran away from her competitors in the first meters and eventually secured victory.
Germany won the race in 1:19:53, followed only a few seconds later by Switzerland and New Zealand in second and third place. Great Britain finished fourth at forty seconds. Belgium and the Netherlands – both of whom had to stand still for ten seconds just a hundred meters before the finish because of a penalty – finished fifth and sixth, nearly two minutes behind Germany. Italy followed one second later in seventh position.
