Not the biggest favorite France, not Great Britain or any of the other contenders, but Germany has just become Olympic Champion Mixed Team Relay. In an epic race that was packed with spectacle from start to finish, it took a final sprint between Germany, Great Britain and America for the Olympic Champions to be known.
Heat 1 – Crash for France and New Zealand
All athletes swam 300 meters, cycled 7 kilometers and ran 1.8 kilometers, and Spain – after what looked like a false start by The Netherlands – quickly took the lead. Still, a large chasing group formed behind Spain, shortly before eventually all the countries came back together, creating a 15-man peloton. Just before entering T2, fate struck for big favorite France: Kiwi Hayden Wilde crashed in the final corner of the bike course, taking Pierre le Corre with him. As a result, both countries fell far behind and immediately lost out on a podium finish.
Differences arose at the run as well, as then it was Britain’s Alex Yee who grabbed a few seconds lead and then saw Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Australia and Portugal, among others, follow. Nevertheless, most of the countries were still close together.
Heat 2 – Great Britain long in the lead, Germany and Switzerland closing in
In the second heat, it was mainly Georgia Taylor-Brown who dictated the show; thanks to Yee’s lead, she remained in the lead during the swim, bike and run and it seemed that no one would come close. At least until the last lap of the run, when it was Swiss Julie Derron and German Lisa Tertsch who found the connection after all. This trio therefore started heat 3 at the same time, and halfway through the race it seemed the first battle for the podium had been struck.
Heat 3 – Great Britain and Germany leading, Switzerland lost connection
In the third heat the decision seemed to be made, when Germany and Great Britain saw that Switzerland could no longer keep up during the bike. Carried by the huge amount of spectators, the two leaders grabbed a lead of almost 15 seconds over Portugal, Italy and America. Entering the run that is, because during the run the differences got even bigger. Sam Dickinson made a small difference, grabbing a five-second lead over Germany, but also saw the other countries increase their deficit to more than twenty seconds.
Heat 4 – Great Britain looks to win, America takes over, Germany victorious
In the fourth heat all sorts of things happened, but in particular the battle between Germany, Great Britain and America was one to remember. Beth Potter solo led until T2, but was then caught just before the run by a very strong cycling Taylor Knibb (USA) and Laura Lindemann (Germany).
From then on the three went side by side during the run, which was not decided until the very last meters.
The tension grew as the three ladies ran side by side toward the finish line. Lindemann proved to have the strongest final shot and thus pulled off the final sprint. Potter came in second on behalf of Great Britain and Knibb came in third on behalf of America.
NOTE: After the race it was decided – based on the finish photo – that it was America who took home silver. Great Britain thus finished in third position. More info here.
