The rain poured down last night and everyone was aware that the roads and pathways would be slippery for the early races. It was Junior Women first and then the Elite Men.

Water temperatures meant that for both races it was a wetsuit swim. For the women it was a Britain’s Elisabeth Hood who led out of that water. A run of about 100m took her inside the massive Meo Arena for T1. She was followed closely by a steady stream of athletes, with Germany looking strong. Lena Meißner, who took bronze for Germany in Geneva last year and France’s Cassandre Beaugrand upped the pace through transition and soon were in the leading group. Beaugrand comes to this race full of confidence after her gold in Quarteira. Could she make it two visits to Portugal and two golds? Well, there was a slippery bike course and then the 5k run to finish.

A crash early on in the bike, as the athletes came back into the arena split up a small group of athletes but the leading pack was well into double figures and pulling away from the chasers. With only 5k on the run, it looked as if the medals would be decided in this group. Tucked into this group and staying out of trouble was another German athlete, Lisa Tertsch. With the ETU Duathlon title still fresh in her mind after a great race in Kalkar, the other athletes on the bike must have been aware that she was a threat to any medal.

A blisteringly fast T2 saw Beaugrand and Tertsch push to the front. Meißner was running strong and suddenly it looked possible for Germany to get two athletes onto the podium. The French junior, however, was running with the wind and put metre after metre into her lead. She crossed the finish line comfortably ahead to the delight of the French supporters. Tertsch hung on for silver and once again Meißner secured bronze.