(Montreal) Emy Legault and Charles Paquet cut a good figure by running twice in front of their supporters on Saturday at the World Sprint Triathlon Championships presented in Montreal. Legault first placed 12e of the women’s event, then Paquet broke into the top-20 in turn by finishing 19e at men’s.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
The finals were divided into three heats and 10 athletes were cut after each of the first two races.
If the swimming portion had been deleted from the qualifying program on Friday due to the precipitation of the last few days, everything returned to normal on Saturday in super sprint format, including 300 meters of swimming, 7.2 kilometers of cycling and 2 kilometers of running at foot.
Embarrassed by blisters suffered last week at the Huatulco World Cup, where she was a silver medalist, Emy Legault still hung on in the first race to finish 18e and go to the second round.
Although she managed the heat well during the day, the athlete from Île-Perrot drew on her reserves to return to the starting line twenty minutes later.
“I didn’t want to spend too much time in the finish chute to reposition my transition. I grabbed a gel and headed for the start hoping to get in the water and cool off, but I didn’t have time! They had already closed the access, so I only had my jacket filled with ice, ”she said.
Taken 2
This time, Emy Legault was the 16e out of the water in the Alexandra basin, 18 seconds from the lead. She was at 17e rank in the second transition when she started her comeback. Gradually, she began to climb the rankings, carried by the Montreal crowd.
“After two laps (of running), I realized that the top-10 was not that far away and it was possible to do it. I worked really hard and with the crowd cheering a lot, it gave me some strength to try and catch up,” Legault said.
The maple leaf representative finally concluded in 12e place with a time of 24 min 22 s Mission accomplished for the 26-year-old athlete who was aiming for a second run and who set a personal record.
“It was possible, but I didn’t really expect that. I really had to execute perfectly and I still did well. There are little things I could have done better to make it to the last round, but I’m really happy. »
This performance is all the more satisfying for Emy Legault because of the success she experienced at the end of the course. What she once called her weakness is now one of her strengths.
“Finish 12e thanks to my running, at the highest level of triathlon, it shows that my running is made quite competitive. […] In training, we saw major progress, but I still had trouble transferring that to a triathlon race, after cycling,” she explained.
Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown won the gold medal with a time of 24 min 4 s in the grand final. The silver medalist from the Tokyo Olympics beat Frenchwoman Cassandre Beaugrand (+3 seconds) and Briton Beth Potter (+11 seconds) to win.
Taylor-Brown went clear in the individual event in Montreal. She had also won the previous two rounds of the day, as had her qualifying heat on Friday.
A similar scenario
Tenth in his qualifying wave the day before, Charles Paquet narrowly avoided the repechage to be in the finals on Saturday.
After a laborious swim, the triathlete from Port-Cartier came back in force on his bike to sneak into the outposts. He lost ground slightly on the run and gave it his all at the end of the race. Like his result in qualifying, his efforts earned him the last place giving access to the next round, 4 seconds from elimination.
Just entering the final, I had achieved my first goal of the weekend. Top-20, it feels good!
Charles Packet
Just as Legault had experienced it a little earlier, Paquet had to recover very quickly before diving back into the water.
“It’s quite stressful! You don’t know how much time is left and it went by pretty quickly. Nutrition and recovery are things we are testing for the next few years (in these situations). »
The peloton stayed together throughout the second race. Here too, Charles Paquet had some swimming difficulties. He picked himself up on his bike and sped towards a 19e place while greeting the many spectators present.
“It’s always fun to run at home. Everyone is here, I hear my name every 100 meters. I don’t always have the chance to see my family and my girlfriend (on site), so it always feels good, ”admitted the author of a time of 22 min 36 s
“I made a few mistakes which cost me a few positions, the top-10 was quite strong! […] My two transitions from bike to race were horrible and losing two seconds in this format is not forgiving. »
Britain’s Alex Yee took top honors in 21:55. New Zealander Hayden Wilde (+3 seconds) and Frenchman Léo Bergere (+4 seconds) completed the podium.
Jérémy Briand, of Sainte-Julie, was unable to make his way to the finals. He first ranked 17e of his qualifying group on Friday, then finished 8e in the repechage, where he had to finish in the top five to qualify.
On Sunday, Filip Mainville and Pavlos Antoniades will be in action for the under-23s. The relay events will round off the World Sprint and Relay Championships. The formations of each country remain to be confirmed.