Cassandre Beaugrand and Matt Hauser both claimed a third win in this year’s World Triathlon Championship Series in London, where British hopes were hindered by crashes on the bike.
Tilly Anema was unable to continue after hitting a cone while part of a lead duo, while fellow Briton Alex Yee was a minute down on a 13-man lead group before he got tangled up in a crash shortly before the second transition.
Olympic champion Yee produced the quickest time for the run – his strongest discipline – but that gained only 17 seconds on Hauser and Vasco Vilaca, who put on a thrilling sprint finish in the men’s race.
World champion Hauser won in 50 minutes 28 seconds, with Portugal’s Vilaca three seconds behind the Australian on a course consisting of a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run.
Hungary’s Csongor Lehmann was third – eight seconds behind Hauser – while Yee was more than a minute back in 14th and compatriot Max Stapley 12th.
Olympic champion Beaugrand won the women’s race in 56mins 6secs, five seconds ahead of Germany’s Lisa Tertsch, with Sweden’s Tilda Mansson 15 seconds adrift.
Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown were the best-placed Britons in fourth and sixth respectively as London hosted the WTCS for the first time since 2015.
Beaugrand was 27th out of the water but stayed safe in the chase group on the bike before hitting the front on the run, holding off a late challenge from world champion Tertsch.
“I had one of my worst swims ever,” Beaugrand said. “I had to wake up on the bike and tried to save some energy for the run.”
With two more races before the grand final, Potter still leads the women’s rankings – Beaugrand is sixth – while Vilaca is the men’s leader with Hauser third.
Both Vilaca and Hauser were in the lead group throughout, before Hauser pulled clear around the final two corners.
“It was nice to have another battle with Vasco and see what we had left at the end,” said Hauser.
