Live Coverage of Triathlon Decision at Olympics 2024 as Beth Potter and Alex Yee Compete for Gold

Back today’s action, with the news that the women’s triathlon (7am BST) and men’s triathlon (9.45am BST) will go ahead.

“Following the disappointing news that water quality results were not within the permitted levels to hold the swim segment of the men’s individual event as planned on 30 July, the race has been postponed and will now take place at 10.45am on Wednesday 31 July,” World Triathlon said in a statement.

“There has been no impact upon the schedule of the women’s race, with the athletes still set to go out at 8am on Wednesday, however both of the medal ceremonies will now be held after the conclusion of the men’s event.”

Team GB finally have a moment and a gold in the pool. It’s back-to-back Olympic titles for what so many defined as the dream team and this wonderful quartet, all returning from Tokyo, delivered a supreme win in the men’s 4x200m freestyle. They led after each leg, defying any lingering doubts from so many close calls in individual swimming events at Paris 2024 so far.

The ever-dependable James Guy did his job leading off, Tom Dean followed and Matt Richards brushed off any disappointment from the 100m freestyle earlier in the evening. Then Duncan Scott, who now has a seventh Olympic medal to sit third on the all-time rankings, did what he does best and broke 1min 44secs to bring it home for an overall time of 6mins 59.43secs.

After the yelling and the leaping, the hugging and the sheer disbelief, Andy Murray returned to his seat and acted as if he had found a moment of silence amid the bedlam. Head in his hands, he tried to process the previous minute where his career teetered on the brink and then came roaring back once more, before the tears began. He can’t believe this. Can we? Not a chance. His Olympics show with Dan Evans goes on and the last dance gets another turn. As thrilling as the last time, as fraught with tension, two more match points saved to extend a career by at least two more days.

The all-around team final is a wild circus of a night with flips and spins and falls in all directions, and you need four eyes to watch. But at 8.20pm there was only one routine left to perform, and for 90 seconds the room belonged to Simone Biles.

She performed with spring and extraordinary height, the highlight of which was a triple twisting double-back somersault which is hard enough to write, let alone deliver in an Olympic final. The routine contained some flaws on landing but it is a measure of her otherworldly skill that her score of 14.666 was still the best all night by a distance. She sealed gold with a kiss and the Bercy Arena erupted.

“I wouldn’t say the baton has passed on to me, but I feel a responsibility now that sadly, Jonny isn’t here,” said the 26-year-old Yee.

“We’ve got to keep their legacy living on. We’ve got such a rich heritage in British triathlon, and I’d love to keep that going. For me, watching the Olympics and then being able to be on a team with some of those guys, I hope I can do a similar thing with somebody in a few years’ time. That’s how the cycle goes and I’m really looking forward to the next few years with that enjoyment of people supporting me.”

Alex Yee is determined to burnish the Brownlee brothers’ triathlon legacy and keep the good times rolling for Team GB.

Paris 2024 will be the first Olympics without a Brownlee since Athens 2004 after Alistair’s Olympic distance retirement and Jonny’s narrow failure to earn selection for the Games.

Yee heads to the French capital as the man to beat having won last year’s Test Event and fully aware that he is now GB’s undisputed main man in the swim, bike and run.

Jostling for podium positions will be Cassandre Beaugrand, carrying the torch for France, Britain’s world champion Beth Potter, Tokyo gold medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown and bolter Kate Waugh, plus defending champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda.

“We know that there’s going to be some E coli exposure, so I just try to increase my E coli threshold by exposing myself to a bit of E coli in day-to-day life,” American triathlete Seth Rider said this



Source link