The British quartet of Barclay Izzard, Sian Rainsley, Sam Dickinson and Kate Waugh, who teamed up for the first time, showed the depth of talent in Great Britain by claiming gold in the mixed relay at the World Triathlon Championship Series in Hamburg.
Fresh from his 13th place finish in the individual, Izzard led the team out and he executed a good swim to head into transition one in 12th place. The Brit showed his strength on the bike to pull himself back up through the pack to head toward transition two within the lead pack.
Heading on to the run he was in third place and although he was caught by the main chase pack he fought back to sprint to the handover and tagged Rainsley in fourth place.
Rainsley looked dominant in the swim to take the lead and head into transition one with a four-second lead. She headed out on to the bike with four athletes including the team from Hungary and Germany to create a strong lead pack.
The lead pack were caught and created a group of nine athletes in the lead with the chase group just eight seconds behind. It was during the bike leg that the teams were told of the penalty for Germany which was for an infringement during the swim.
Rainsley headed into transition in seventh place ready for the run but managed to fight her way up to third place in the first leg. She showed her strength in the second lap to hand over to Dickinson in first place.
Dickinson found himself quickly caught by the Hungarian and German teams before heading into transition one. He made a break in the first lap of the bike leg but found himself in a pack of five athletes.
Coming into transition two, Dickinson was in third place before getting on to the run in second place. Matthew Hauser (AUS) extended his lead to 12 seconds over the field with an excellent run, but Dickinson secured second place for Waugh.
Waugh brought back two seconds in the swim and left transition one with the Australian and German teams after hearing that the German team had another penalty.
Halfway through the bike leg Waugh and Laura Lindemann (GER) caught Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) before the three left transition two together.
Lindemann and Waugh pushed on in the run and dropped Van Coevorden and the Brit knew that the German athlete had to serve a 20-second penalty.
Waugh stayed on Lindemann’s heel and kicked on when she went in for her penalty and took the tape in the first win for the quartet.
“I just tried to do my best,” Izzard said. “I tried to put Sian into a good position so she could do what she does and everyone else was amazing too.”
Rainsley said: “I love non-wetsuit swims so I thought I’ve just got to make the most of this and just head and make it as hard as possible for everyone else.”
“I am so happy that we could get across the line in first place today” Dickinson said. “It was a textbook relay really. I thought we could do well. We are a young team, and we might not be the A Team, but the future is looking good for British Triathlon”
“I was aware that Laura had a penalty to serve so I thought just stick with her because I knew she’d have to pull off at some point,” Waugh said. “I felt really good today and I am so excited for us all.”
