Beth Potter, Jess Learmonth and Alex Yee were all on the podium at a record-breaking Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift World Championship Series event in London.
Potter, Learmonth and Yee were three of eight British finalists, who were roared on by a sell-out home crowd watching this unique swim, bike, run event in-person for the first time at the London Aquatics Centre.
Women's Final
Dominant performances by Potter – last year’s Arena Games London winner – and Learmonth – the inaugural Arena Games champion – saw the pair win their respective heats, including what was then an Arena Games run record by Potter, to set-up a women's final with plenty of British interest with Great Britain totalling half of the 10 finalists.
Joining Potter and Learmonth in the final were Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sian Rainsley and Kate Waugh, but it was Cassandre Beaugrand of France who produced a dominant performance, setting Arena Games records, to hold off the challenge from the British triathletes across the three stages of the final.
In stage one, Beaugrand was first to exit the 200m swim, but Learmonth and Potter soon established themselves as the front two on the bike, with drafting disabled on Zwift for the London event.
With only a couple of seconds separating the pair after the 4km bike, Potter had the better of transitions, taking the lead onto the early stages of the 1km run but it was Beaugrand who ended stage one on top, recording what was then an Arena Games women’s record for the run.
Potter was three seconds behind Beaugrand at the end of stage one, with Learmonth third and Taylor-Brown fourth. Rainsley was five seconds behind Taylor-Brown in sixth and Waugh was eighth.
Onto stage two and it was Beaugrand who once again asserted her dominance on the run, going even quicker than the record she had set just minutes before. Behind Beaugrand, the chase was led by Potter with Taylor-Brown and Learmonth following and in the battle for the podium places.
Twenty-one seconds was Beaugrand’s advantage over Potter at the start of the final stage – a pursuit – with the combined times from stage one and stage two creating the time split when each athlete starts the final swim, bike, run.
(Images: Super League Triathlon)
First off was Beaugrand, followed by Potter, who was 12 seconds ahead of Learmonth, with Taylor-Brown only a couple of seconds further back as they entered the water for the final time.
The British athletes were battling for the podium places, with Potter remaining the closest challenger to Beaugrand, but the difference between the pair was 23 seconds heading onto the final 1km run, with Learmonth only a few seconds behind Potter.
Continuing the trend of quick runs, Beaugrand ended the final with the three quickest run times over the three stages, winning by 32 seconds ahead of Potter. The result means Potter will head to the finale of the 2022 Arena Games World Championship Series powered by Zwift level on points with Beaugrand.
Speaking after following-up her win in Munich with silver in London, Potter said:
“I was really digging deep, just having the crowd back here was really good and gave me that extra little push. Everyone said it was going to be Jess being a threat, Georgia being a threat which they were, but I think they hadn’t quite considered Cassandre as well, but I had her in the back of my head that she was going to give it some today. I couldn’t match that run speed on the treadmill, she [Beaugrand] was solid across all three today and the deserving winner.”
Learmonth rounded-off the podium in third, 11 seconds behind Potter, and, with 1,700 spectators in attendance at the London Aquatics Centre, the bronze medallist appreciated the home support:
“I needed that [the crowd] today because it was so, so hard, it really was. It’s good because you can’t hear yourself think, it takes your mind off it. It was a brilliant spectacle but I’m very glad it’s over. Cassandre and Beth were unreal, they were unbelievable. It’s good fun and I hope people enjoyed it because it was good in here.”
Taylor-Brown was fourth, her highest finish at an Arena Games event, with Rainsley sixth and Waugh eighth.
(Image: Super League Triathlon)
Men's Final
The crowd was already at fever pitch after the women’s race, a noise that got even louder through the men’s final, with Yee, who set a new Arena Games run record to win his heat, Gordon Benson and Harry Leleu all taking on the men’s final.
A huge roar erupted in the early stages of the 1km run on stage one when Yee passed Italy’s Nicolo Strada, who was the leader after the opening 200m swim and 4km bike. Yee ended stage one with a three second advantage, with Leleu 23 seconds behind in seventh and Benson in tenth, 28 seconds behind Yee.
Germany's Justus Nieschlag came to the fore on stage two, running into the stage lead on Zwift, but Yee was close behind Nieschlag, stepping off the Zwift treadmill and onto the Zwift bike just a couple of seconds behind.
A quick bike leg from Nieschlag did see the German extend his lead over the bike and swim legs, and, when the times from stage one and stage two were combined, it was enough to give the 2020 Arena Games champion a 16 second lead over Yee at the start of stage three. Leleu and Benson started the final stage eighth and 10th, respectively, with just two seconds separating the British pair.
Nieschlag extended his lead by a handful of seconds on the swim, a gap that was around 30 seconds by the end of the bike.
With the support of the crowd willing Yee on, the Olympic gold and silver medallist gave it his all on the final 1km run to try and close the gap, but there was no sign of Nieschlag slowing down, with the German claiming the victory by 29 seconds ahead of Yee.
(Image: Super League Triathlon)
Reflecting on his second-place finish and his third Arena Games medal, Yee said:
“I’m really pleased. I’m just happy we got to race in front of a home crowd. There was a lot of energy in the stadium which is really cool. I put together the best race I could on the day and I’m really happy to have come away with second.”
Benson finished ninth, while Leleu was 10th on his Arena Games debut.
There were also debuts earlier in the day for Hollie Elliott and Iona Miller who finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the heat won by Potter. In the same heat, Sophia Green finished sixth on her return to London following her appearance at the same event last year.
Images courtesy of Super League Triathlon
