Lievin indoor racing excites triathlon fans
The 2022 Europe Triathlon Cup Lievin was back for the first time since 2019 and produced exciting racing on Saturday as some of the best athletes in Europe raced over extremely short distances indoors and in front on 5,000 spectators. There was no virtual racing here, just technical and real hard core racing.
Athletes races over a format of 150 meters swimming, 3 kilometers cycling and 1 kilometer of running in the Stadium Arena Couvert Liévin, which had a purpose build pool in the middle of the track arena just for this spectacle.
Female Race
In the women’s race places for the final were battled out earlier on in heat and semi-finals and it would come down to twelve athletes in the final showdown to battle it out for victory.
Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen would lead out the 150m swim in a time of 1.47.00 and headed into transition with a stream of athletes right on her heels. In a packed transition there were no real gaps forming as athletes jumped onto their bikes with the full field athletes coming together pacing their way around the short 200m track.
Onto the 5 lap run Germany’s Nina Eim, who won the race back in 2019, moved to the front quickly showing good early season form. Fellow German Lisa Tersch was also moving through and onto the heels of Vermeylen who was sitting in second. In the end it was to be a victory for Eim who took in the roaring crowed as she ran strongly through the finish line tape. Tersch outsprinted Vermeylen for 2nd to make a it a German 1-2.
Britain’s Iona Miller produced a strong run passing multiple athletes, however would just be edged out of a podium spot in 4th place.
Male Race
In the men’s race, grand final places had also been battled out earlier on and there were no unexpected misses in the final.
The race started with speed, and it was another belgium, Joris Bassle, who would lead out the swim section of the race, albeit with a small lead.
Following speedy transitions, which were crucial in this format of racing, frenchman Vincent Luis gave the crowd something to shout about hitting the front immediatly and putting the pace down causing athletes to string right out. He would be tactiacally using his strong bike skills to hurt other athletes run legs. By the end of the bike leg though it did eventually all come together again and it would be down to who had the fastest run.
Another frenchman Nathan Grayal was out onto the track first with Luis biding his time behind. Under 23 World Champion Csongor Lehmann would now come into the mix and was one to watch right until the end. Grayal would fade as Luis hit the front and Lehmann went with him. Spain’s Genis Grau put in a shift to surge away with Luis and Lehmann and it was boiling down to a 3-way sprint finish. Excitment built as the three athletes hit the home straight but Luis was the man who put down his renowned sprint finish to take a magnificent victory in front of home crowd. Grau pushed hard for 2nd and Lehmann crossed in 3rd.
Britain’s Harry Leleu was the only Brit in the final and also produced a mirror performance to Miller earlier on to take 4th.
Full results can be found HERE
