The Bahrain Victorious 13 team scored precious gold, a slew of silvers and a bronze this weekend in races across Europe and North America.
Cassandre Beaugrand staged a grand comeback on the World Triathlon Championship Series, winning the Olympic-distance race in Alghero, Italy after crashing out of Yokohama two weeks ago.
The reigning Olympic champion swam against the slower current from the left side of the pontoon, battling back from being 15 seconds off from leaders Bianca Seregni and Olivia Mathias at the halfway mark. Capitalising on a fast transition she worked with Maya Kingma on the bike to bridge to the front, then upped the pace in the pack to separate the lead group of four from chasers by 2:30 minutes heading onto the run. Beaugrand quickly took the lead with the best legs in the top four to notch her first finish and win in the 2025 series.
She said post-race, “I’m very emotional; this morning I didn’t think I was going to be able to race… I called my coach and asked her if it was worth it. I could only train for two days in the last two weeks. I was coming back from the crash (in Yokohama) and then I got a virus, so I was in bed a few days. But this morning I thought ‘I love what I do, I will give it a chance’, so today means the world to me.”
Leo Bergere finished on the third podium step in the men’s race. After tagging onto the tail end of the lead swim pack, a good transition kept him in the front group of the bike where he set the pace for the nine-deep breakaway, then finished strong on the run.
Vasco Vilaca started from the slow side of the pontoon and got caught amongst the big group of chasers, finishing 31st.
Earlier that day at the Sierakow Triathlon in Poland, Kacper Stepniak overcame a bike crash to figure in a sprint to the finish in the long-distance category, just missing the top spot by 14 seconds.
Bahrain Victorious 13 then snatched up more silver medals at the T100 Triathlon in San Francisco, USA. Backing up from her silver at the Ironman Texas North American Championship, Taylor Knibb came out of the waters of San Francisco Bay just 10 seconds back in eighth place, then rode into the lead on the bike. Only Julie Derron would come past her on the run.
In the men’s race, nearly the entire field clustered into one swim pack, exiting the water on top of each other within 20 seconds. Marten Van Riel rallied into the lead early on the bike with teammate Jelle Geens also in the mix, but eventual champion Rico Bogen pulled away for a more than two-minute lead heading onto the run. Geens held steady for silver as Van Riel finished sixth, while Vincent Luis finished 11th.
On Sunday, India Lee dominated the Ironman 70.3 Tours Métropole in the Loire Valley, France. Not only did she take the win by a five-minute margin, but she also booked her berth at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Marbella later this year.
Kat Matthews capped off the Bahrain Victorious 13 racing for the weekend with a hard-fought silver at the Ironman European Championship in Hamburg, Germany. Matthews led Laura Philipp through the swim, bike, and most of the run before her opponent finally got the edge over her in the final eight kilometres. The head-to-head battle pushed both to go under the standard just set by Matthews in Texas last month for the fastest finish in an Ironman-branded race.
Next week Lauren Parker is set to race the World Triathlon Para Series in Taranto, Italy, backing up from her triumphant outing in Yokohama two weeks ago.
