With the first ever triathlon medals won for Team GB at London 2012, six athletes headed to Brazil four years later to add to that inaugural haul.
Having won gold and bronze in London, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee were joined by Gordon Benson in Rio. The twenty-two year old had staked his claim to complete the line up by winning the inaugural European Championships in 2015.
Helen Jenkins, who, with 5th place registered the highest Olympic finish by a British women in London, raced alongside Non Stanford and Vicky Holland. Stanford and Holland finished second and third respectively in the Rio test event in 2015 as part of their quest to qualify.
Above: A six-strong line up headed to Rio for the 2016 Olympics.
Mark England, Chief de Mission for Rio 2016, said at the time: “As Olympic medallists Alistair and Jonny bring an incredible pedigree to the team and Gordon’s European Games triumph means the men’s field is very strong.
“Non, Vicky and Helen have all tasted World Championships success and will go into the Games in fine form and full of confidence.”
The men’s race was the first to take place in Rio, with the athletes taking off from the Copacabana beach and into the south Atlantic for a 1500m swim.
As they exited the water and headed out on the bike, both Brownlee brothers were in the lead group of 10 alongside Richard Varga (SVK), Henri Schoeman (RSA) and Vincent Luis (FRA).
Above: Alistair Brownlee sought to retain his Olympic title in Rio, with Jonathan hoping to improve on his London bronze.
This group all stayed close together throughout the hilly and challenging bike course and into T2. As they headed out onto the 10km run that would see the Olympic champion crowned, the Brownlees really started to set the pace.
Frenchman Luis stayed with them during the first lap, but the two brothers soon left him behind. They ran together and away from those behind them until Alistair made his break to become the first person to defend an Olympic triathlon title.
Following behind him, Jonathan swapped third in London for second in Rio to secure a one-two for Team GB this time around having been denied four years earlier. Over 30 seconds behind Jonathan, Henri Schoeman completed the top three for South Africa.
Above: It was a Brownlee on-two for Team GB in 2016
Having defended his Olympic crown, Alistair Brownlee said: “I was pretty confident we were going to get first and second. I didn’t know which way it was going to go, he’s [Jonathan] killed me in training almost every day.
He added: “I got onto that blue carpet at the end and thought, I’ve won, and I had time to enjoy it.”
Having seen the British success in the men’s race three days earlier, Jenkins, Stanford and Holland lined up on the Copacabana hoping for more.
A large group arrived back on the beach following the swim, with some of the favourites, including Gwen Jorgensen (USA) and 2012 winner Nicola Spirig (SUI), near the front as they started the 40km bike leg.
Above: It was an all British battle for the final medal in Rio as USA's Jorgensen came out on top.
Throughout the bike just under twenty athletes, including Stanford and Holland, kept together and entered second transition within a couple of seconds of each other.
It was Jorgensen and Spirig who powered to the front to separate the group on the run, however. Next up were the two Brits, who by this stage knew they’d be racing each other for the final medal on offer.
On the penultimate lap, Jorgensen seized the initiative and broke away from Spirig and finished 40 seconds ahead of the Swiss athlete.
Above: Holland outsprinted Stanford to clinch the bronze in 2016
Just behind Spirig came the two British athletes, with Holland having enough in her legs to outsprint Stanford and secure third place.
After the race, Holland said: “I just had it at the end and I’m delighted to have bronze, I’m just a bit gutted for Non. We’ve done this whole process together, we train tougher, we live together but it’s not an excuse not to sprint for the bronze medal.”
You can the full coverage from both of these races on the ITU website.
Following the success at the Olympics, British paratriathletes headed out to Rio with triathlon included in the Paralympics for the first time. We’ll be recapping this in another of our Swim, Bike and Rerun series looking at the best British action from 2016.
