Potter beats Beaugrand for gold at the Paris Trials event

The two top female performers at the 2023 WTCS battled it out before Great Britain’s Beth Potter unleashed a best 32:57 10k run to top France’s Cassandre Beaugrand by six seconds to take gold in the Paris Olympics trial event .

Beaugrand emerged from a tight field of 24 women who arrived at T1 in traffic jams and then took off like a shot to lead the run by 10 meters. In the second lap of the run, Beth Potter reached Beaugrand’s elbow, the two leaders creating a small gap over chasers Emma Lombardi of France and Laura Lindemann of Germany. By the bell lap, Potter and Bogran led chasers Lindemann and Lombardi by 8 seconds and were pulling away together.

When they hit the blue carpet on a bridge over the Seine, Potter found the last few ounces of energy to give one last kick to reach the finish line in 1:51:40 with Beaugrand finally winning. In a relentless battle for bronze, Lindemann crossed the line 19 seconds behind the winner by one second over Lombardi. With a 3rd best run of 33:12, Taylor Knibb placed 5th and earned the first US Olympic qualifying spot.

Contrary to US qualifying protocol, Potter took a big step towards a British Olympic slot but needs to sew it up with further performances.
“I just really enjoyed this battle with Cassandre,” Potter told World Triathlon media after her first Olympic distance win in the WTCS series. “I just couldn’t get away with Cassandre from cycling to running. But I thought I would go back to her. It was really a lot of fun and I enjoyed every moment of it. That was my main goal for the season and I’m very happy to have achieved it.”

The swimming

While most of the top athletes took the center of the pontoon, Taylor Knibb took the far right and Hungary’s Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer the far left, but Italy’s Bianca Seregni lined up alongside the American and took the lead in the first lap of 900m on the Seine. By the end of the 1500m swim, Beregni finished in 19:42, 3 seconds ahead of Summer Rappaport of the US, 11 seconds ahead of Beaugrand, 13 seconds ahead of Brazil’s Vittorio Lopes, 15 seconds ahead of Lombardi, 16 seconds. over Lindemann and varied margins over top chasers including , 21 seconds ahead of USA’s Taylor Spivey, 29 seconds ahead of USA’s Katie Zaferes, 30 seconds ahead of Germany’s Nina Eim, 36 seconds ahead of Potter and 37 seconds ahead of Taylor Knibb.

The bicycle

Spivey flew out of T1, but Beaugrand quickly took the lead on the bike leg, while Knibb and Zaferes dropped back with bad transitions 14 seconds late. Potter dropped to 15th coming into the chase. Soon, however, Potter was quickly on Beaugrand’s wheel. Following closely, Lombardi, Lisa Tertsch and Lindemann stayed close to the leaders.

In the second lap, Taylor Knibb led Kate Waugh by 1 second. 2 seconds behind were Switzerland’s Taylor Spivey Julie Derron, Lena Messner, Vittorio Lopes, Emma Lombardi, Kirsten Kasper and Sophie Coldwell in 9th. From 11th to 15th were Laura Lindemann, Beth Potter, Casandre Beaugrand, Nine Eim and Lisa Tertsch from Germany.
On lap 6 of 7, Taylor Knibb held the lead, followed by Great Britain’s Kate Waugh, Lena Meissner, Taylor Spivey, Lindemann, Yuko Takahashi, Lisa Tertsch, Summer Rappaport, all within a second. Two seconds back were Lombardi, Nina Eim, Beth Potter, Vittorio Lopes of Brazil, Taylor Knibb, Lena Meissner and Julie Derron of Switzerland.

Running

Spivey flew through T2 but Beaugrand charged ahead, with Knibb and Zaferes losing ground with poor transitions 14 seconds down.

Returning to the front from 15th in T2, Potter landed on Beaugrand’s wheel. Leading the chase were Lombardi, Tertsch and Lindemann with Spivey trailing in line. Emerging from 23rd place at T2, Taylor Knibb soon passed Spivey for the race for the USA’s first Olympic slot. In the battle for bronze, Lombardo dueled with Lindemann for a sure Patis spot.

Near the blue carpet, Potter had enough in the tank for one last kick. and shook off Beaugrand and took the gold. Beaugrand’s silver booked her a start at Paris 2024, Lindemann’s place at the Olympics secured after she held off Lombardi to take bronze. Knibb’s fifth earns her the first Olympic berth for the USA. Sixth place for Nina Eim secured Germany’s second available position on the day.

“I’m not going to lie, it was tough,” Beaugrand told World Triathlon media. “I don’t know how I got to the end, I had cramps after the first round in my legs. I tried to keep motivating my mind “you want that podium so bad so keep pushing and running with Beth. I just couldn’t match the sprint finish at the end. “

“It means so much and it’s such a relief for me to get the (Olympic) qualification here,” Lindemann said. “I’m so happy. It’s great to have qualified and now I can focus on the Olympics.”

Results

1. Beth Potter GBR S 20:17 T1 00:51 B 57L07 T2 00:29 R 32:57 TOT 1:51:40
2. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA S 19:52 T1 00:56 B 57:25 T2 00:27 R 33:07 TOT 1:51:46
3. Laura Lindemann GER S 19:57 T1 00:58 B 57:18 T2 00:29 R 33:18 TOT 1:51:59
4. Emma Lombardi FROM S 19:56 T1 00:55 B 57:23 T2 00:29 R 33:18 TOT 1:52:00
5. Taylor Knibb USA S 20:18 T2 00:58 B 57:01 T2 00:37 R 33:12 TOT 1:52:04
6. Nina Eim GER S 20:11 T1 00:53 B 57:07 T2 00:28 R 33:35 TOT 1:52:13
7. Kate Waugh GBR S 20:27 T1 00:54 B 56:51 T2 00:32 R 33:40 TOT 1:52:23
8. Julie Derron SUI S 20:19 T1 00:56 B 56:56 T2 00:32 R 33:44 TOT 1:52:26
9. Lisa Tertsch GER S 20:18 T1 00:52 B 57:06 T2 00:31 R 33:52
10. Taylor Spivey USA S 20:02 T1 00:52 B 57:16 T2 00:29 R 34:08 TOT 1:52:46
12. Katie Zaferes USA S 20:10 T1 00:57 B 57:09 T2 00:34 R 34:10 TILL 1:52:57
15. Kirsten Kasper USA S 20:23 T1 00:54 B 56:54 T2 00:34 R 34:47 TOT 1:53:29
16. Summer Rappaport USA S 19:44 T1 00:57 B 57:35 T2 00:30 R 35:08 TOT 1:53:53