2021 hasn’t been that great for Belgium’s Jelle Geens. After testing positive on COVID-19 a few weeks ago and missing the individual race, he now broke his hand during the World Triathlon Championship Series in Montreal due to a crash on the run. It happened yesterday during the second of three heats, which were all good for 300 meters of swimming, 7.2 km of cycling and 2000 meters of running each time. The first ten finishers out of 20 participants in the second heat would make it to the finals, but Geens wasn’t one of them due to the incident.
After qualifying for the finals during the qualifier races on Friday, Geens made it through the first of three final heats. In the second heat, five leaders escaped, while getting chased down by a second group. Geens was in this group, as one of the favorites for the remaining five qualifying slots. However, in one of the sharp turns, Geens was hindered by a German triathlete, resulting in him falling over and injuring his wrist. He still continued his race and crossed the line in fourteenth place, just outside the top ten. It’s probably good thing that he didn’t make it to the final heat, because he would have then soon noticed something was off. Geens left for the hospital straight after the finish, where he heard his wrist is broken. It means this is the end of a strange season for the Belgian athlete, who won’t be able to join next week’s Grand Final in Edmonton.
