In an astonishing finish and down to the line, it was Tim Hellwig (GER) who was crowned champion in the 2021 Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon Championship Series on a photo finish battle with Frenchman Paul Georgenthum, who claimed silver on his debut at the Series, while his teammate Leo Bergere crossed the finish line in third.
It what ended being a magnificent
race day for Germany, it was another local athlete, Jonas Schomburg, who led
the field of 51 athletes out of the water after the 750m swim, leading a small
group of six that managed to get away with 50 meters to go. Along with Jonas
were Takumi Hojo (JPN), Mark Devay (HUN), Tim Hellwig (GER), Chase Mcqueen
(USA) and Dylan McCullough (NZL), who headed the stairs out the water with ten
seconds over the rest of the field.
Leo Bergere was by then 15 seconds
behind. Two of the other favourites, next to him was Antonio Serrat Seoane
(ESP) but Casper Stornes (NOR) lost over 30 seconds, which proved to be too
much for the Norwegian to catch up.
On their bikes, it was just a matter
of two laps for Bergere to catch the leaders and put himself in front of the
group, while Serrat charged hard to make up the difference and also joined the
large train of athletes, which by the time they all hit the second transition
was formed by over 25 athletes.
And with such a large group hitting
transition together, it was not easy for some of them to get on their shoes.
Leo Bergere managed to leave in the first place, followed closely by Emil Holm
(DEN), and immediately two other Frenchmen were on Bergere’s shoes: Paul
Georgenthum and Tom Richard.
They push the pace and only Lasse
Nygaard-Priester (GER), Charles Pacquet (CAN) and Antonio Serrat were able to
follow. And together they run until for 5km, looking to each other, no one
wanting to start too early.
By the time they hit the blue carpet,
the six of them were sprinting in pure Hy-Vee style to the point that a photo
finish was needed to declare the winner of the 2021 Hamburg Wasser World
Triathlon Championship Series. And it was Hellwig the one who crossed the line
first, on a career-best for the young German, putting the perfect ending to a
wonderful day for the host country. “There’s no better place in the world to
win your first WTCS race than here at home, it’s a special feeling. I raced
here last year on a difference course. This one here is very special, when you
have so much spectator support, cheering you on, they are just flying over the
course, it feels so great.I watched the replay from 2019 and I saw the sprint
finish between Jake Birtwhistle and Vincent Luis and I thought, don’t go too early.
I think I timed it perfect. It was so very close in the end but I am super
happy that I won,” he said.
Georgenthum was happy enough to claim
the silver medal on his debut on the Series. “I am really happy. It was my
first WTCS race and before the race, I couldn’t imagine this result. I am very
happy”, he explained.
A bit more disappointed was Bergere,
that got in Hamburg his third consecutive bronze medal on the World Triathlon
Championship Series after finishing third in Montreal and Edmonton. “I will take
that but to be completely honest, I am quite disappointed. Three bronze medals
in a row is quite good but in the same time, I really want more. I am
disappointed that the breakaway didn’t pay off today so next time I will have
the same motivation to attack.The younger guys had something more in the tank,
for the sprint finish and I can say that I am so happy for my teammate and
training mate Paul (Georgenthum), for his first-ever WTCS race and second
today, I am just delighted for him”, he said.
It was another German,
Nygaard-Priester, who rounded his victory last week at the Karlovy Vary World
Cup with the fastest running split in Hamburg, which took him to the fourth
place, while Antonio Serrat closed the top 5.
Results: Elite Men
1.Tim HellwigGER 00:53:08
2.Paul GeorgenthumFRA 00:53:08
3.Léo BergereFRA 00:53:09
4.Lasse Nygaard-PriesterGER 00:53:09
5.Antonio Serrat SeoaneESP 00:53:12
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
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