On Monday morning, 29 July, the Pontoon Draw for the women’s individual Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon took place at the Grand Palais on the edge of the Seine River, to decide the starting spots for the 55 women going for gold at the Olympic Games on 31 July.

First to pick was Great Britain’s Beth Potter and then the remaining nine in the Olympic Ranking top ten selected their positions - in secret - in ascending order. All ten opted for spots between numbers 20 and 29 on the pontoon, aiming for the straightest line and strongest current, and taking the bridge arches into account. The remaining athletes then chose in order, each position shown, before the top 10 were finally revealed. 

Defending champion Flora Duffy selected number 16 and the French trio of Cassandre Beaugrand, Emma Lombardi and Leonie Periault chose 26, 28 and 33. Other names likely to be leading the way in the water include Maya Kingma in spot 35 and Kate Waugh in position 19.

Italy’s Bianca Seregni took the number one spot on the far right of the pontoon with Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer, on the opposite side to the start position that the Hungarian powerhouse struggled from in the Test Event.

“I just chose, for me, the straightest line and just went where Alex (Yee) went, kept it simple.” - Beth Potter (GBR)

“I had not many numbers to chose from with the current… I’d have chosen 27 first, but Emma said she wanted that so I said I’ll take 26!” - Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA)

“It’s strange… I want to make the difference and to be free, and I didn’t have a big number to choose from for the best ones so I will do my job.” - Bianca Seregni (ITA)

The women go out at 8am on Wednesday 31 July. Check local listings for how to watch live.