It was great start to the Super League Triathlon Championship Series for the all-British Sharks team as Alex Yee finally clinched an SLT win in front of his home crowd in the capital <\/p>
Alex Yee<\/a> finally tasted Super League success in his home city as he claimed the first round of the SLT Championship Series in London ahead of Sharks\u2019 team-mate Jonny Brownlee<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist from Brockley, who\u2019d been vocal in his disappointment after missing the win in both 2021 and 2022, made no mistakes this time around as he exerted his superior run speed on the final leg of the Enduro format to take the tape.<\/span><\/p>\n The impressive Brownlee \u2013 who disappointed in last week\u2019s Paris test event<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 <\/span>looked back to his form of old, pushing the pace throughout to finish second ahead of New Zealand\u2019s Tayler Reid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Luxembourg\u2019s Jeanne Lehair was the surprise winner of the women\u2019s race thanks to a series of blistering run legs that first dragged her back into contention and eventually on to take the tape.<\/span><\/p>\n Behind her, Sharks\u2019 Sophie Coldwell<\/a><\/strong> finished second, USA\u2019s Taylor Spivey<\/a><\/strong> placed third for RTS Warriors with last week\u2019s Paris test event winner Beth Potter<\/a><\/strong> in fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n It also proved a bumper weekend on the teams front for team captain\u00a0<\/span>Michelle Dillon\u2019s Sharks as they had a one-two in the men\u2019s race and took five of the first seven places in the women\u2019s event to build up an early 73pt lead over the Warriors and make them the clear favourites to take the $125k team prize.<\/span><\/p>\n It was the third year running that Super League had kicked off the series in London\u2019s West India Quay and the women kicked off the action in the swim, bike, run \u2013 swim, bike, run \u2013 swim, bike, run Enduro format. Here\u2019s how it played out.<\/span><\/p>\n It was last year\u2019s runners up Sharks who seized the initiative from the gun with three blue jerseys headed by Coldwell leading out the opening 300m swim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It also meant the all-British Sharks grabbed the first \u2018short chute\u2019, a handy short-cut that could be taken by a designated team member on the final run leg.<\/span><\/p>\n A front group of seven, including all five Sharks along with Warriors\u2019 American duo Spivey and Kirsten Kasper opened a 10sec gap by the end of the four-lap bike leg \u2013 with Spivey dashing on to the run first to grab the second short chute.<\/span><\/p>\n As expected, Potter took off over the two-lap run, pulling her swim cap back on in the final yards ready to dive straight back into the water. With no break afforded in the non-stop Enduro format, Lehair put in a phenomenal effort to make the front group as the lone Eagle.<\/span><\/p>\n The speed of the opening stage meant that many of the field were in danger of elimination for being more than 90sec behind after just one-third of the contest.<\/span><\/p>\n The gap continued to widen as Potter led out the swim and then Spivey took charge on the bike to drive the pace. Hungary\u2019s Fanni Szalai was one of those \u2018yellow flagged\u2019 during the second bike leg \u2013 the 15-year-old\u2019s cause not being helped by a spill on a corner in the previous stage.<\/span><\/p>\n Coldwell and Lehair joined Spivey and Potter at the front for the 1.6km run as news filtered through that Coldwell and Spivey were awarded the short chutes by their respective team captains for the final round.<\/span><\/p>\n The tough going finally told for Jess Fullagar, Olivia Mathias and Kasper, who\u00a0 were cut adrift by the time they made it to the final swim, with just 14 of the 20 triathletes still on the course and the rest eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n Coldwell fought through to lead the swim and a sharp transition alongside Spivey gave the pair a slight break over Potter, Lehair and reigning Under-23 world champion Kate Waugh<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\nSUPER LEAGUE TRIATHLON, LONDON: WOMEN\u2019S RACE\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
What happened in the first stage of the women\u2019s Enduro?<\/b><\/h2>\n
What happened in the second stage of the women\u2019s Enduro?<\/b><\/h2>\n
What happened in\u00a0<\/b>the third stage of the women\u2019s Enduro?<\/b><\/h2>\n