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Amid questions about the water quality in the Seine River, the women's triathlon went on as scheduled Wednesday in Paris, and France's Cassandre Beaugrand won a gold medal in front of her home fans at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Over the course of a 1.5-kilometer (0.93-mile) swim, 40-kilometer (25-mile) cycle and 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) run, Beaugrand outlasted Switzerland's Julie Derron and Great Britain's Beth Potter, who won silver and bronze, respectively.
Here is a rundown of the top 10 finishers out of the 55-woman field and their finishing times in hours, minutes and seconds, courtesy of Olympics.com:
Since the addition of the triathlon to the Olympic program in 2000, Beaugrand was the first French athlete to win a medal of any kind in the event, let alone gold.
Per ESPN, Beaugrand made it clear after the race that she had no concern about the water quality in the Seine River, saying: "I have no doubts about the quality of the Seine. We've swum in worse water."
The men's triathlon had originally been scheduled to take place Tuesday in Paris, but it was postponed until Wednesday after the women's triathlon. Per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), E. coli and other bacteria levels in the Seine had risen to potentially dangerous levels due to rainfall, resulting in the postponement.
Although it rained Tuesday night and into Wednesday in Paris, the water was deemed safe enough for the athletes, and the Olympics moved forward with the event.
Had the Seine's quality not improved, the event could have been changed to a duathlon without a swimming element as a last result, but Beaugrand said doing so would have been "shameful for our sport."
While Beaugrand put France on the Olympic podium for the first time in triathlon, Switzerland continued its long history of success in the event, winning its fifth medal in seven Olympics.
Meanwhile, Potter helped Great Britain medal in women's triathlon for a third consecutive Summer Games.
Three years ago in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bermuda's Flora Duffy and Great Britain's Georgia Taylor-Brown won gold and silver, but they finished off the podium in fifth and sixth, respectively this year.
As for Team USA, a streak of two consecutive Olympics with a medal in women's triathlon was broken, as Taylor Spivey finished 10th, Taylor Knibb came in 19th and Kirsten Kasper finished 49th.
Japanse triathlete Tsudoi Miyazaki died Wednesday after being hit by a car while training on her bicycle near Orleans, France, per Olalla Cernuda of World Triathlon.
The 25-year-old recently completed the Pontevedra World Cup in Spain and was at an individual training camp in France at the time of the crash.
"World Triathlon and the Japan Triathlon Union want to offer our deepest condolences to Ms. Miyazaki's family, friends, coaches and teammates," the organization said in a statement. "The thoughts of all the Triathlon Family are with you all in these terrible times."
Miyazaki finished 50th in her latest competition in Spain and posted pictures and video on Instagram on Tuesday.
"It was a good experience and I hope it doesn't end, and I'm going to use what I feel next," Miyazaki said in the caption, via TMZ Sports. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the challenge. Thank you for your support."
She won the Japan U23 Triathlon Championships in 2019 and was aiming to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
French authorities are reportedly investigating the crash.
Flora Duffy has won Bermuda's first-ever Olympic gold medal after she took first in the triathlon at the Tokyo Games with a time of 1:55.36.
Duffy persevered through rainy, wet and windy conditions to win gold at Tokyo's Odaiba Marine Park.
Great Britain's Georgia Taylor-Brown took second even though she suffered a flat tire during the bicycling portion of the race. She made up ground in the run, though, surpassing the United States' Katie Zaferes and ending second. Zaferes took the bronze.
You can find the full results on the Olympic website. The top 10 finishers are also below alongside race highlights.
Top-10 Finishers
1. Flora Duffy (Bermuda): 1:55.36
2. Georgia Taylor-Brown (Great Britain): 1:56.50
3. Katie Zaferes (United States): 1:57.03
4. Rachel Klamer (Netherlands): 1:57.48
5. Leonie Periault (France): 1:57.49
6. Nicola Spirig (Switzerland): 1:58.05
7. Alice Betto (Italy): 1:58.22
8. Laura Lindemann (Germany): 1:58.24
9. Jessica Learmonth (Great Britain): 1:58.28
10. Valerie Barthelemy (Belgium): 1:58.49
Thanks to Duffy, Bermuda is now the smallest nation to ever win Olympic gold, per Tom Lutz of the Guardian. Bermuda had a population of 63,903 in 2020, per The World Bank. The country is also 21 square miles.
Edward David Burt, the Premier of Bermuda, offered his congratulations.
Duffy outlasted 54 other competitors in the event, which consisted of a 1,500-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run in that order. A race map can be found on the Olympics' website.
Great Britain's Jessica Learmonth took the lead during the swim portion and was the first one out of the water.
She led a group of seven women that included Duffy, Taylor-Brown, Zaferes, Germany's Laura Lindemann, Brazil's Vittoria Lopes and the United States' Summer Rappaport.
Rapoport fell behind in the bike portion, leading to a group of six. The same soon went for Lopes. By the end of the stage, Taylor-Brown fell behind as well due the flat tire, leaving a leading pack of Duffy, Learmonth, Zaferes and Lindemann.
A strong charge from Duffy put her in first place during the run, although Zaferes initially hung with her. However, Duffy extended her lead and soon ran alone en route to Bermuda's first-ever gold medal.
Impressively, Taylor-Brown covered a ton of lost ground, moving into third before surpassing Zafares for second.
In the end, Duffy won Bermuda's second-ever Olympic medal, with the first occurring in 1976 when Clarence Hill won bronze at men's heavyweight boxing in Montreal.
The 33-year-old Duffy sported a fantastic resume even before she won gold. Her list of accomplishments includes two ITU triathlon, two ITU cross triathlon and five XTERRA triathlon world championships. She was a triple world champion in 2016.
Now she's an Olympic gold medalist after securing first by a 74-second margin over the field.
Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt won the gold medal in the men's triathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, coming in with an unofficial time of 1:45:04.
His late push in the final lap of the running portion of the event saw him pull away from Great Britain's Alex Yee (1:45:15).
New Zealand's Hayden Wilde (1:45:24) won the bronze medal by a comfortable margin over a group that included Belgium's Marten van Riel (1:45:52), Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee (1:45:53), the United States' Kevin McDowell (1:45:54) and Hungary's Bence Bicsak (1:45:56).
But the day belonged to Blummenfelt. He found himself with a big gap to make up after the swimming portion of the race, trailing France's Vincent Luis by 25 seconds. But he recovered nicely in the biking portion of the event, moving his way up to third place behind Switzerland's Andrea Salvisberg and Norway's Casper Stornes.
From there, he let his legs do the work, racing past the field to claim his first ever gold medal.
So exhausted was Blummenfelt that he vomited shortly after crossing the finish line.
The event started off in truly bizarre fashion, as it had to be restarted after a boat carrying media equipment floated into the path of the swimmers. That forced the buzzer to be sounded for a false alarm, the first time that's happened in Olympic triathlon history.
Many of the competitors didn't hear the buzzer, swimming nearly 200 meters before race organizers were able to stop them for the restart.
Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee defended his Olympic title in the triathlon on Thursday, dominating the 2016 race in Rio de Janeiro on his way to a second consecutive gold medal.
The 28-year-old and his brother Jonny Brownlee put together a flawless race and took the lead as a duo early in the running section, and the elder Brownlee finished the job in the final kilometers. Jonny Brownlee finished in second place, and the bronze went to South Africa's Henri Schoeman.
Here's a look at the medallists and their finishing times:
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alistair Brownlee (GBR) | Jonny Brownlee (GBR) | Henri Schoeman (RSA) | |
| Time | 1:45:01 | +0.06 | +0.42 |
The Brownlee brothers were once again among the favourites to take the gold, along with Spain's Mario Mola. With the swimming stage taking place in the ocean rather than a lake, early splits were expected.
Former Olympian Keri-anne Payne noticed it didn't take long for the first gaps to appear:
Slovakia's Richard Varga, one of the top swimmers in the bunch, set the early pace, and Mola quickly fell behind. By the time the first group left the water, their lead was already up to 16 seconds over Mola, with both Brownlee brothers sitting comfortably in the top six.
On the bike, the leaders quickly widened the gap even more. Paced by the Brownlee brothers and France's Vincent Luis, they pushed their lead to the one-minute mark, per Runner's World SA:
Great Britain's Gordon Benson played a crucial part in shielding the Brownlees during the swim, but he fell off the pace on the bike and suffered a crash as well, killing his chances of a high finish.
But all eyes were on the two leading groups, where Mola lost more than a minute on the bike. The Brownlee brothers and Luis were the quickest to change and started the running stage in the lead, while Mola saved his energy and started the chase down 80 seconds.
Luis was dropped after 2.5 kilometers, leaving Alistair and Jonny Brownlee as the two leaders, with Schoeman putting in a strong shift further back. Sean Ingle of the Guardian anticipated a battle for the gold between the siblings:
The two brothers showed they've been training together, alternating shifts beautifully, although Jonny's appeared to be a little longer. Schoeman trailed the duo by seven seconds halfway through the running section, with Mola still trailing the duo by a minute.
Alistair Brownlee made his move inside the final five kilometers, attacking with fury and quickly distancing his brother. The defending champion timed his attack to perfection, and before long, a second gold medal seemed certain.
He soon started doubling athletes and taking flags from fans. The Guardian's Daniel Harris was impressed:
His younger brother held on for second place, while Schoeman finished solo to take the bronze.
