British Athletes enjoyed medal success this weekend across Olympic, IRONMAN and Challenge Events, with 11 medals being won in total.
Poland played host to a large contingent of British athletes as a team made up of nine triathletes took on the European Cup Rzeszów. In the elite women’s race, Hollie Elliott scored a spot on the podium with a strong performance to finish third. She was eighth coming out of the water behind teammates Ellie White and Iona Miller, who was first heading into the bike. Elliott managed to stay in contention on the bike as she managed the 16th fastest time. She made up places in the final part of the race and found herself in third place just nine seconds behind second placed French athlete Anouk Sterkers. Further back Miller finished seventh just one place ahead of White.
In the elite men’s race, the six British Athletes led by Jimmy Lund finished within 10 minutes each other. Lund was matched by fellow Brit’s Marcus Dey and Oliver Turner across the swim and bike, with less than 10 seconds separating the trio after T2. He would then kick on to finish over 30 seconds clear of his teammates in eighth, with Turner coming tenth and Dey 18th. Further back Dominic Coy finished in 01:51:37 to take 26th place ahead of James Chantler-Moy (31st) and Daniel Dixon(39th).
Brits also enjoyed success in various IRONMAN events. Lucy Buckingham was in fine form as she finished almost five minutes clear of the field to win the IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw. She was almost three minutes clear after a 25:51 swim before losing time on the bike. Her 01:26:32 run time was the quickest of anyone though to stretch out her lead and ensure she reached the top spot of the podium. The medal success continued abroad in Boulder, Colorado, as Holly Lawrence took second place behind America athlete Taylor Knibb, completing the race in 04:04:38. Back in the, UK James Teagle finished ahead of Joshua Lewis and Benjamin Goodfellow in an all-British podium at the IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire.
There were also British athletes competing in Challenge Events. Joe Skipper made his way onto the podium with a third-place finish in Belgium behind Dutch athlete Menno Koolhass and Serbia’s Ognjen Stojanovic. In France, Thomas Davies put in a strong finish to earn fifth place ahead of Frenchman Brice Hacquart. In the UK, 2023 Challenge Wales saw Lucy Byram finish ahead of Lizzie Rayner to claim a British 1-2, while Thomas Bishop won the men’s race thanks to a bike time that was six minutes quicker than the rest of the field. He was joined on the podium by Harry Palmer and Liam Lloyd.
Image - Michal Buczvnski
