Laura Lindemann won a thrilling sprint finish to give Germany gold in the Olympic triathlon mixed relay on Monday, outkicking the United States and Britain after highly-fancied France was scuppered by a bike crash on the first of four legs.
There was a photo finish for second place, with officials initially announcing Britain as runner-up but minutes later they announced a switch, with the US getting the silver and Britain the bronze.
Alex Yee, winner of the individual race last week and who anchored Britain to relay gold in Tokyo, gave the defending champions an early lead with a scorching run, with France 40 seconds back in last place after Pierre le Corre was brought down on the bike leg.
Georgia Taylor-Brown, also part of the Tokyo gold-medal winning team, was caught by Germany’s Lisa Tertsch at the halfway point but Sam Dickinson handed individual bronze medallist Beth Potter a slight lead.
Potter, Lindemann and a charging Taylor Knibb came off the 7km bike leg together but the German found just enough at the end.
“I believed in myself and I just gave it my all. It’s amazing, I can’t describe it in words. The team did such a great job and we deserved it so well,” Lindemann said.
Tim Hellwig, who kicked off the relay for Germany and was also part of the country’s winning team in the world mixed relay championships in Hamburg last year, said his teammate’s finish was so exciting to watch.
“We know she has one of the strongest kicks in world triathlon, but you always have to pull it off on the biggest stage, it’s always one day and anything can happen but we trusted in her and she did the job in the end,” said Hellwig.
France, which had been hoping to upgrade its Tokyo bronze in the event, finished fourth after Le Corre crashed with New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde on the first bike lap and his teammates could not make up the lost time.
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