Lindemann and Hellwig Ranking Leaders after Wins in Hamburg World Triathlon Series
Laura Lindemann and Tim Hellwig from Germany take the wins at Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon Championship Series this week-end and are awarded the first ranking points of the 2022 season and are now the Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Series Ranking Leaders.
With many of the top World Triathlons short-course elite athletes gaining an increasing profile following the Olympics, many of the top contenders were not entering this race cashing in on their success by entering one of the many big prize pot races this week-end such as Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Utah, USA and the Super League Triathlon Championships in Jersey.
This allowed the next generation of talent to enter the world stage and make their mark in a World Triathlon Championship race plus the opportunity to lay claim to their respective nation’s selectors for a place in the Paris Olympics 2024.
The 20th edition of the Hamburg Wasser sprint distance course had a familiar feel with a 750m swim in the Binnenalster lake that finished with a 6m wide, 40m long stretch in the dark bridge tunnel, followed by 6 laps of a tight technical bike course with had two 180-degree turns and finished with a 5km run that ended in front of the iconic Rathaus town hall.
Womens Race
It was three Olympians who took the podium spots in the women’s race.
German triathlete Laura Lindemann on home turf took her first World Triathlon Series win to add to her illustrious career which aside from two World Triathlon bronze and a silver medal includes being a Junior and U23 World Champion and an Olympian having come 8th in the Tokyo Olympics.
Second place went to New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay who is establishing herself on the elite circuit having recently gained much experience in the Olympic Games and also the Canadian Montreal Eliminator race and Edmonton World Championship.
Third spot went to USA Olympian Summer Rapport who was looking to make amends for her disappointing Tokyo Olympics.
It was Rapport who was out of the water first with Mathias (GB) Lindemann and Kasper (USA) all in close pursuit. Out onto the bike and a front pack of formed with Mathias, Lindemann, Kasper pushing the pace along with Germans Anabel Knoll, Marlene Gomez-Islinger and Lena Meissner, and Australian Natalie Van Coevorden making a gap of around 40 seconds on the chase group.
Out of T2 and onto the run Knoll set the pace with Lindemann, Mathias and Kasper in hot pursuit. Lindemann, was on a mission but was not having it all her own way with Nicole Van Der Kaay, Rappaport and Hungary’s Zsanett Bragmayer pushing her hard which led to the four of them breaking away from the chasing group with an eight second lead.
Bragmayer, could not maintain the pace which now left Lindemann, Van Der Kaay and Rappaport to battle it out for the medals. Each held their own and it was building towards a sprint finish. As the blue carpet appear it was down to who could sprint the fastest and with her home crowd spurring her on it was Lindemann who took the tape closely followed by Van Der Kaay and Rappaport taking third spot.
Bragmayer hung on to fourth place with Great Britain’s Sian Rainsley who made her first WTCS start in Leeds back in June, running through to round off the top five.
Men’s Race
A dramatic finish to the men’s race saw a photo finish as it was down to the line as the athletes crossed the winning tape. Tim Hellwig of Germany earned gold with Paul Georgenthum (FRA) taking silver a whisker away from taking gold with Leo Bergere (FRA) taking the bronze medal.
Rising star German Lasse Nygaard-Priester who won his first World Triathlon Cup in Karlovy Vary at the weekend with an outstanding run continued his from with the fastest run of the day to take fourth spot with another young talent Spain’s Antonio Serrat Seoane rounding off the top five.
A hot favourite for the win and wearing number one was Frenchman Leo Bergere looking for his first Series gold. But it was the strong swimmers of Takumi Hojo (JPm) and Mark Devay (HUN) who exited the water first closely followed by Tim Hellwig, Leo Bergere and array of other athletes with the Frenchman Paul Georgenthum at this point some some 30 seconds behind the leaders as he exited the swim.
But it was a role reversal on the bike where Georgenthum (FRA) made up that lost 30 second tagging onto a strong chasing group who powered there way forward to catch the front pack of Chase McQueen (USA), Jona Schomburg (GER), Dylan McCullough (NZL), Mark Devay, Leo Bergere, Tim Hellwig, Sylvain Fridelance (SUI) ad Takumi Hojo. By the end of the bike leg, the chase pack had caught the front pack and it turned into a pure 5 km run for the title.
At least 30 athletes could taste victory by the half-way stage and none were giving an inch with only approx 30 seconds between them all. As the headed towards the blue carpet it was unclear out of Hellwig, Georgenthum, Bergere, Nygaard-Priester and Seoane who would have the fastest sprint finish to take the title
In the end it was Hellwig and Georgenthum who appeared to hit the tape together with identical run times of (14:33) Following a photo finish the win was awarded to the German Tim Hellwig over France’s Paul Georgenthum with Leo Bergere – less than a second behind.
