World Triathlon

First out of the water, first out of the bike and first on the finish line. The day couldn’t have got any better for Lisa Tertsch at the Weihai WTCS. The German proved that she is on a mission to get her first World title next month in Torremolinos (Spain), although the battle won’t be easy. Tertsch was able to outrun the British duo of Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown, second and third respectively on the day.

It was a small field for the women’s race in Weihai this Friday, but full of talented athletes. With no less than five Olympic medallists lining up -Bet Potter, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Lisa Tertsch, Laura Lindemann and Gwen Jorgensen- the race was on fire from the horn, with Tertsch taking the reins of the race from the first meters of the swim, to lead the athletes on their run out of the water on the first lap of the 1500m swim.

But it was on the second and final swim lap when the German managed to open a small break, enough to give her a few meters ahead the rest of the field, all of them exiting the sea less than 8 seconds behind the leader.

By the time they all jumped on their bikes, it was a massive group with almost everyone on it negociating the first turns to head up the infamous Weihai climb for the first time, but not all of them made it together on top of it. Lap by lap, the large group started to lose individuals, Laura Lindemann (GER), Djenyfer Arnold (BRA) and Miriam Casillas (ESP) the first casualties.

Up in front, Tertsch, Potter, Kate Waugh (GBR), Taylor-Brown, Jeanne Lehair (LUX) and Alice Betto (ITA) took turns up front, with Gwen Jorgensen, Gina Sereno, Tanja Neubert (GER), Annika Koch (GER) and Xinyu Lin (CHN) managed to stay in the group, never loosing contact with the ones leading the pack.

Kirsten Kasper (USA), Anna Godoy Contreras (ESP) or Erika Ackerlund (USA) were amongst the ones not able to keep the pace and by the end of the 40km bike, they had lost almost three minutes with the leaders.

And it was also Tertsch who led the pack into the second transition and to the run, with a smooth transition that allowed the German to open a small gap with Potter, Neubert, Taylor-Brown and Lehair.

Tertsch looked as if the 8 laps on the bike didn’t hurt her legs at all, and go once again for the fastest run split, as she has done almost every time she has started a race this year.

Behind her, Potter and Taylor-Brown started the chase together, but with a little bit over one lap to go the Paris 2024 olympics bronze medallist decided that she was going on the chase solo, and left Taylor-Brown some meters behind. But Tertsch was determined to get as many points as she could here in Weihai, and the German added one extra gear in the last 500 meters to keep Potter out of sight and cross the finish line in first place. “I’ve been working hard on my swim and it has started to show (in the races). The bike was tough, but I thought it was tough for so I told myself everyone was suffering, we all had to get up that hill together,” she said.

“You always have to assess the situation and everyone tries to have a good second transition. Sometimes it works, like for me today, sometimes it doesn’t. You have to look at who is around you the first kilometre and when I saw nobody was around me I thought, ‘okay, I guess it is time to push!’ I was lucky I got some practice in Valencia running on my own… 10km on your own is tough mentally with no one to take turns and there was always wind on the back side and that was a first on my own… so this race was a lot of firsts, including my first time in China!”

“When you’re at the front you are the one who is hunted and you have no idea how the person behind is doing or feeling. I thought if there was ever a time to dig deep, that was it. We’ll see (about winning a world title). I focus on the process and not looking too far ahead and pressure and expectation can come easily and stop performing at your best. Today I had a free mind and wanted to show what I’m capable of and I’m glad I did that today.”

Potter claimed a valuable silver medal that puts her in second place of the Series rankings, still led by Cassandre Beaugrand, while Taylor-Brown claimed bronze showing that her excellent run form is back. “I actually really enjoyed that, probably the first time I enjoyed a triathlon since Pontevedra last year and that was my main goal today. It’s been hard, I’ve know it has been there in training and I haven’t quite found it in the race, but that was a really interesting course and good fun and played to some of my strengths.I believed (I could get to Lisa ) and backed myself and probably could have made a move a bit earlier on but I’m really happy with everything I executed today. It’s not over until it’s over (the world title challenge), so I’ll go to Malaga in a pretty strong position and fight for the title again,” said Potter.

“I said to myself I’d be so happy to just get back on that podium and prove to myself that I can still do it. It’s been a bit rough and I’ve been disappointed since the Olympics and not felt in my groove and rhythm, but super happy with that performance today,” explained Taylor-Brown.“It was such a big bike group and nobody wanted to pull turns so a gap would form on the uphill then on the flat section no one wanted to do anything so I had to sit with that and realise it was probably going to be a running race and try and find some legs. It has been a long road getting back to fitness and feeling like myself and im just happy to be racing not sat at home watching!”

Neubert managed an impressive fourth place, best result ever on the WTCS circuit for the German, while Kate Waugh had a fabulous sprint at the end to finish in fifth place.

She was followed on the finish line by an extremely happy Jorgensen, only 8 weeks after a broken collarbone that forced her to have surgery.