The German city of Hamburg hosted the 2023 World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships this weekend, with elite senior, junior and Age-Group athletes all representing Great Britain.
Jump to sections in the elite report from 2023 World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships Hamburg
- Potter and Yee finish among the medals
- Not to be in the relay for Great Britain
- Junior and U23 action from the next generation
A round up of Age-Group racing from Hamburg will follow once all the action has concluded.
Senior racing in Hamburg
The elite senior races were competed across a multi-stage format over the Super Sprint distance in Hamburg, with the qualifier races taking place on Friday along with the repechage, and the finals on Saturday.
The format split athletes into two men’s and two women’s qualifiers on Friday, with the top ten from each going directly into Saturday’s finals. The next 20 athletes would then compete in one of two repechages later on Friday, with the top five from each repechage taking the final up to 30 athletes.
Beth Potter was the sole female representing Great Britain, and she lined up and won the first qualifier, racing alongside the likes of American Taylor Spivey and home athlete Lisa Tertsch to secure her place in Saturday’s final.
Alex Yee was the sole Brit in the men’s qualifier one, finishing fifth to head straight into the final. Meanwhile, Jack Willis and Connor Bentley raced in the second qualifier, finishing 14th and 30th respectively.
These finishes saw them head into the repechage, with both racing in the same one knowing only the top five would make it through. Unfortunately they both missed out, with Bentley finishing eighth and missing out on the final by five seconds. Willis crossed the line in 13th, a further nine seconds back.
Potter and Yee finish among the medals
Saturday’s finals would see eliminator-style racing across three stages of Super Sprint, with the bottom ten being eliminated in each of the first two stages to leave a top-ten shootout to become Super Sprint World Champion.
Potter was part of a mass finish in the first stage where she placed fifth to make it through to stage two. She finished sixth in stage two, again as part of a mass finish to secure her place in the final.
Into the final and Potter was out of the swim and through transition one with the leaders, knowing that so long as she was riding with the group she’d be well-placed for the run. Across the three-lap bike leg, the ten athletes stayed more or less together with the Brit having a clean transition two to set up a direct sprint to the finish.
Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) set off on a mission and made took an instant lead, with only Potter able to stay anywhere near the Frenchwoman, but still with a large gap across the first lap.
At the start of the second 850m lap, Beaugrand charged off into the distance to make the make the win inevitable with Potter running well to stay clear of the chasing group that was pioneered by home favourite Laura Lindemann to come home in second. Lindemann completed the podium.
Reflecting on the racing, Potter said: “Cassandre was always going to be hard to beat. I’m proud of how I stuck it out and got through the race. I enjoy the format, and enjoy that kind of racing, it was good fun. I got lucky today in the water and was back where I feel like I belong and didn’t have any trouble in the swim today.”
In the men’s final, Yee made it safely through to the second stage with a nineth-place finish, before backing this up by crossing the line in fourth to book his place in the top-ten shootout to become Super Sprint World Champion.
Out of the swim in the final and the Brit successfully navigated T1 to be in the front part of the group on the bike, knowing the importance of being well positioned for the run.
Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) was a man on a mission on the bike leg, setting a blistering pace but one which Yee and others were able to keep touch with.
Setting out ono the run in third, Yee and the whole pack were trying to chase down Hayden Wilde (NZL) who had built a crucial lead heading into T2.
Yee was battling with Blummenfelt and Vasco Vilaca (POR) for the podium spots. Across the second lap it was Vilaca and Yee who were in the podium positions, with the Portuguese just edging the sprint to take silver. Yee adding another medal to his collection in third.
Speaking post-race, Yee commented: “It’s crazy this racing. I really enjoy it but it’s carnage. Once you get to that last ten just racing against your mates it’s really enjoyable, Kristian doing a madness on the bike and my legs were in tatters, but it’s great racing. I’m very much preparing for Olympic distance at the moment so to come down to this was madness, but I loved it.”
Not to be in the relay for Great Britain
At a relay venue that’s been hit and miss for the Great Britain’s teams over the years, 2023 saw Bentley, Sophie Coldwell (who’d travelled especially for the relay), Willis and Potter compete.
After setting a surging pace through the water that saw him leading, Bentley exited the swim having picked up an injury that would severely hamper his bike and run stages. Riding and running solo for most of his leg, Bentley was able to battle on to hand over to Coldwell at the first change.
She was able to make immediate inroads, taking time out of the athletes directly in front of her on the swim. With no other athletes around her, Coldwell rode on her own to bridge up towards those immediately ahead of her and ran solidly having put so much into her swim and bike.
Willis was similarly able to make gains across his swim, bike, run both in time and position on the course as the Brits continued to battle back amongst the lower positions. Potter, having secured silver the day before would take the final leg seeking to make further gains.
Similarly to both Coldwell and Willis, Potter was able to push up in the final rankings to secure 14th for Great Britain.
Junior and U23 action from the next generation
In the elite junior races, Britain were represented by Brandon Pye, Oliver Mills and Solomon Okrafo-Smart in the men’s race and Isla Hedley, Beth Cook and Olivia Logan in the women’s.
The juniors competed across the sprint distance and it was Pye who would have the best result in Hamburg as he finished 13th and within striking distance of the top-ten. Mills also secured a place in the 20 fastest men as he crossed the line in 18th, with Okrafo-Smart finishing in 32nd.
Hedley swim, bike, ran to 26th to be the fastest Brit in the women’s race ahead of Cook who finished 30th. Logan recording a DNF.
There was more junior racing and junior and u23 athletes combined for relay teams. Pye and Hedley took the third and fourth legs respectively for Great Britain, with Hamish Reilly and Tilly Anema joining them to make up the GB quartet.
Lining up against 18 other nations, the four Brits combined to complete the course in 01:27:26 and come home in sixth place.
Anema took over from Reilly in 11th but handed onto Pye in fourth, with Pye and Hedley both battling it out against the teams from Hungary and France to secure sixth overall.
Photo credit: World Triathlon
