It was another WTCS Yokohama for the ages on Saturday morning, a race where the weather played its part, the athletes had to dig in, and Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair found the run form she has threatened to deliver for so long, pulling clear out of T2 to run 10km solo to the tape. 

Britain’s Beth Potter and Germany’s Lisa Tertsch were the two that were able to stay closest after Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand had come off on the bike in the relentless rain to end her challenge early, the pair threatening to reel in Lehair over the closing stages. It was Potter who was able to edge out Tertsch, however, and get her season rolling as Tertsch assumed the Series lead after two races. 

'I feel really emotional now. I had an almost perfect race. I felt really good on the bike. We were only two at the beginning, it was pretty dangerous, so I thought that I needed to stay up front to avoid crashes. And in the run I just felt great,' said a thrilled Lehair.

'I went to the front and realised that I was solo. I couldn’t really enjoy the race because I was thinking that this might be the only opportunity of my life to win a race, don’t mess up. To be fair, my legs were OK but my stomach was killing me. When I saw that Beth (Potter) was coming, together with Lisa (Terstch) I thought 'oh my God, they might catch me'... but my legs were enough today!'

Lehair tears up the swim

It was right from the early stages of the swim that Lehair and race number one Tertsch took the race to their rivals, both able to get straight onto the feet of Austrian dart Therese Feuersinger and power into clear water. Rosa Tapia Vidal (MEX) was also flying through the water, Cassandre Beaugrand followed out and back into Yokohama Bay by Beth Potter after the first lap of two. 

By the time they hot land a second time and up the ramp into transition, Feuersinger, Lehair and Tertsch had themselves a useful 15-second breakaway, the German once again fluid out and onto the bike. 

The first chase pack was soon just 6 seconds back, though, featuring Taylor Spivey pressing hard to catch on, Potter, Tilda Mansson and Vidal tucked in, Beaugrand still 15 seconds back and clearly playing safe presuming the packs could merge. 

Beaugrand crashes out on bike

By the end of lap three the three groups had indeed come together, Beaugrand still cautious off the back but would come off on lap four coming out of a turn and landed hard, ending her Series return early. 

The rest of the field pressed on safely for the final four laps, Annika Koch and Tanja Neubert out front for much of it with their teammate Tertsch. Feuersinger would roll the dice late on but it was Lehair, Tertsch, Yuko Takahashi (JPN) and Vidal leading the masses out onto the 4-lap run. 

Luxembourg’s number one was feeling it and pressed forward, leaving Koch, Diana Isakova (AIN) and Tertsch in her wake, the gap 5 seconds after one lap, Potter moving up into fifth place 12 seconds back followed by Mansson and Spivey. 

Golden run seals debut Series win

At halfway, Lehair had extended her lead, Potter closed in on the chasers and, behind them, Jorgensen moved up into sixth. 

Then it was Potter leading Tertsch away from their rivals and starting to close in on the leader, but by then it was too late, Lehair had the finish chute in her sights and time for a last surge, Potter with a fist-pump as she realised she had the silver over Tertsch, Jorgensen flying up into fourth just 12 seconds off the German, Koch in fifth, Isakova, Tapia Vidal, Mansson, Spivey and Maria Tomé rounding out the top 10.

Beth Potter - 'It was a hard day out there today. I was quite cold and I struggle when I’m cold, I’m a small person. The water was borderline for me and the air temperature was not super warm so it took me quite a few laps on the bike to feel my legs. But I'm happy with my result today. last year was such a big year and it’s been hard to find the groove again. but to come here and still be competitive, nearly wining a race, is not a bad opener. I think I paced myself almost perfectly, I just would have needed another extra 5 seconds.'

Lisa Tertsch - 'I’ve worked really hard on my swim lately and it has worked, I’m glad that when I work on something, it works. I was very aware of the conditions and I tried to stay safe, I learned from my Paris mistakes and I am glad that I did and were able to perform on these conditions. It is really cool to see that we have many different (German) athletes and today I had to fight for my position with another one (Anika Koch). It is really fun.'

Full results available here