Bahrain Victorious 13 members Georgia Taylor-Brown and Hayden Wilde made it back-to-back victories at supertri London on Sunday, while Henri Schoeman took home a bronze at the inaugural Challenge Beijing.
Taylor-Brown and Wilde topped their podiums in a repeat of their feat at supertri Chicago two weeks ago racing over the supertri format of three nonstop rounds of a 300m swim, four-kilometre bike, and 1.6-kilometre run. Their wins would help propel Crown Racing, which Bahrain Victorious 13 is the principal sponsor, to the top of the team leaderboard for the first time in the series.
Scoring a Short Chute by finishing fastest in the first swim-bike-run, Taylor-Brown stayed at the pointy end in the second round to go for the win in the final leg. Racing shoulder-to-shoulder with Bahrain Victorious 13 and Crown Racing teammate Cassandre Beaugrand, Taylor-Brown took an early lead in the last run leg, but Beaugrand made up the ground to come runner-up by just one second. Kate Waugh and U23 athlete Barbara de Koning came in 8th and 12th respectively.
Taylor-Brown said: “That was really hard. It gets to a point in the middle of a race when you don’t think you can push it anymore, but somehow you found something a bit extra. I needed that Short Chute today. I could feel Cassandre [closing in] at the end and I heard the crowd get louder so I knew something was happening, so I looked back and she was right there. I knew I had to get a sprint on.”
In the men’s race, Wilde pursued similar tactics in the first round to put a Short Chute in his back pocket. Vincent Luis helped push the swim and bike pace in the second and last rounds to keep Crown Racing in contention, with Wilde using the Short Chute and then putting the hammer down on the final run to surge to victory. Luis finished in sixth, U23 athlete Vetle Bergsvik Thorn seventh, and Max Stapley 11th.
“It’s the toughest course,” said Wilde at the finish. “If you’re on the front, you’re going hard. If you’re on the second wheel, you’re going hard. Matt [Hauser] and the [Podium Racing] guys applied the pressure on the last ride and made me work today – I thought like I was running in mud and had to push until the end. But I am stoked to get my third run here in London.”
Over 8,000 kilometres away racing the non-drafting Olympic distance at Challenge Beijing, Henri Schoeman emerged from the 1.5-kilometre river swim in first, rode in the top three for most of the 40-kilometre bike, and ran strong over 10 kilometres to finish third by 15 seconds.
