A dominant win from start to finish saw the Great Britain Mixed Relay team win gold at the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham to further boost their qualification hopes for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Due to the persistent rainfall over the past week in the Nottingham area, the Accenture World Triathlon Nottingham Mixed Relay race was held as a duathlon in a run, bike, run format. The race consisted of a 1.5km run one, 7km cycle and a 1.5km for the second run. Since this was an Olympic Qualification race, the event will award 75% of the points for the Olympic Qualification ranking and the ITU Mixed Relay ranking in line with ITU rules.
Last weekend’s AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds female elite winner Georgia Taylor-Brown got into an early lead on the first run, which she was then able to maintain through to the bike section and the second run. As a result, Great Britain had a commanding lead over the rest of the field going into the second leg.
Ben Dijkstra took the reigns for Great Britain in the second leg and the Loughborough athlete was able to further build on Great Britain’s advantage. Leg three was taken on by Sophie Coldwell who put in another strong performance following on from AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds.
Alex Yee took the tape to secure a memorable win for Great Britain in front of the home crowd, winning by over 40 seconds ahead of second place Switzerland, with France taking bronze. Yee stopped the clock at 1:23:15.
On the victory, Taylor-Brown said: “The start was a little bit chaotic, but I managed to stay out of trouble. My main aim was to come into transition first before driving on, on the bike.”
Dijkstra added: “After the gap that Georgia had built I just wanted to get my head down and power on to maintain the lead for Sophie”
Coldwell said: “I just wanted to keep the lead safe before handing onto Alex. I knew that with him on the final leg, as long as I could get it to him, he’d be able to bring the win home. The crowd that came out was unreal. We weren’t sure if it would be quiet with the weather, but they were super loud come rain or shine this afternoon. The hometown brought it home for Notts.”
Yee concluded: “To be able to come down the blue carpet and lift the tape with the team was unreal. The lead that these guys was fantastic, I was so fortunate to have the lead that they’d already built.”
Mike Cavendish, Director of Performance at British Triathlon, said:
“It was great to see the team lead out from the front throughout the race here in Nottingham. After Georgia’s victory in Leeds last week, this has capped off a fantastic British double header in the World Series. This is a young team, showing that Britain has a strong present and future in triathlon on the world level.”
Andy Salmon, Chief Executive Officer of British Triathlon, said:
“Being able to host the world’s top athletes, alongside our own athletes has really put triathlon in the public eye over the last week. Huge congratulations to the Great Britain Mixed Relay team on winning gold in Nottingham. Holding inspirational international events is invaluable to our strategy to provide great experiences through swim, bike, run, and we hope that everyone across Britain is inspired to give triathlon and multisport a go.”
Julian Skan, Accenture Senior Marketing Director, said:
“A huge congratulations to Team Great Britain and everyone who’s taken part today. With age group races this morning and the elites this afternoon, it’s been a great day at the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham. We’re proud to be able to play a role in the growth of mixed team relay triathlon in Britain, as well as supporting Age-Group triathletes.
Mike Cavendish, Director of Performance at British Triathlon, said:
“It was great to see the team lead out from the front throughout the race here in Nottingham. After Georgia’s victory in Leeds last week, this has capped off a fantastic British double header in the World Series. This is a young team, showing that Britain has a strong present and future in triathlon on the world level.”
Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham – RESULTS
- Great Britain – 1:23:15
- Switzerland – 1:23:57
- France – 1:24:05
For full results, visit here.
