KALMAR, SWEDEN – 131 student-athletes from 33 countries competed in the city that loves Triathlon to crown their World University Champions in Individual Sprints and Team Relay on Saturday and Sunday. The races stretched throughout the historical town of Kalmar, offering plenty of challenges to the athletes and a great way for the spectators to get close to the competitors.
Familiar faces met on the podium on Sunday, as Saturday’s dominant athletes from France and Germany once again demonstrated their top form during the Team Relay. After winning gold on Saturday with a time of 0:57:11, Jeanne Leahair from France led her team to victory once again. In the Individual Sprint, Leahair was followed by Avery Evenson from the United States of America (0:57:17) and Germany’s Nina Eim (0:57:22).
During the men’s Individual Sprint, it was again Germany and France leading the bunch, finishing in reverse order. Lars Pfeifer from Germany passed the finish line with a time of 0:51:40, just three seconds ahead of his countryman Gabriel Allgayer (0:51:43). French triathlete Nathan Guerbeur completed the podium (0:51:52).
Hence, it was no surprise to see the same exact countries in the medal rankings again on Sunday at the Mixed Team Relay, which will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Athletes must complete a super-sprint triathlon – 300m swim, 6.6km bike and 1km run – before tagging off to a teammate, always in the order female-male-female-male.
French athletes made the podium a third out of three times, winning in 01:15:34. They were followed by the first-time medalists from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (01:15:54) and Germany (01:15:57) which had already collected a set of medals the day before.
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