Jeanne Lehair runs to supertri Boston victory
Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair has today stormed to victory at the opening leg of the 2024 supertri League, breaking clear of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown and Kate Waugh on the final run leg of the day in Boston, USA.
supertri’s debut race in the famous American city saw a stacked field of world- beating athletes take to the waters of DCR Carson Beach, with the Olympic Games gold medallist, Cassandre Beaugrand, racing for Crown Racing and bronze medallist Beth Potter leading the Brownlee Racing team.
Today’s supertri race format, formerly known as the Enduro, tasked athletes with a 300m swim, 4km bike, 1.6km run three times in a row without a break. Lehair was coming off the back of a huge Olympic Games’ disappointment, with the 28-year-old posting a DNF in Paris, but the French-born athlete who switched to racing for Luxembourg in 2023 started her multisport redemption on the day’s final run leg. After utilising her Short Chute card, Lehair joined Taylor-Brown at the front before pulling away with 800m to go. France’s Beaugrand would finish eight.
“I’m relieved and happy. I know the girls would attack on the bike as it’s not my strength, but I went full gas on the run and it worked,” said the 28-year-old at the finish. “I’m even happier that I could win after dropping off [the front] on the bike. I still had the form that I had in Paris and couldn’t use because of a mechanic problem on the bike
Lehair’s win saw a first victory for Tim Don’s new Podium Racing team in the 2024 season, with Taylor-Brown and Waugh scoring points for Chris McCormack’s Crown Racing squad. Lehair’s victory was tough on Taylor-Brown, who had largely dictated the race from the get-go.
“The first supertri race is always a shock, especially after the Olympic comedown, but I’m excited to get these races going and I’m getting fitter and fitter. I knew I had to go out hard, but Jeanne came back and I didn’t have enough to go with her.” Revenge could come at the next supertri League event for the Brit, which takes place in Chicago on 25 August.
STAGE BREAKDOWN
STAGE 1 Into the waters of DCR Carson Beach for the first 300m swim of the 2024 supertri League and Vittória Lopes of Podium Racing made the swiftest start to the first turn buoy, the Brazilian leaving a trail of top triathletes in her slipstream. The Short Chute prize would go to the Brazilian’s Podium Racing squad, with Jeanne Lehair and Kate Waugh just behind her into transition and out onto the bike course.
The first four-lap 4km bike leg, what the Crown Racing manager Chris McCormack labelled a ‘technical hot dog’ course due to the two dead turns at each end, and a lead group of 10 riders was soon led by Crown Racing’s Georgia Taylor-Brown. The Brit’s pace was soon shedding riders from the pack, with five remaining by the time of Transition 2, with Brownlee Racing’s Olivia Mathias taking the Short Chute by exiting T2 in the lead.
1.6km run The first 1.6km run of three saw Crown Racing’s Taylor-Brown and Waugh again leading the charge, with Luxembourg’s Lehair in their shadow. Taylor-Brown, after what she described as a disappointing sixth at the Olympics in Paris, cruised into the lead to take a 2sec lead into Stage 2, some 10secs ahead of Olympic gold medallist and Crown Racing teammate Cassandre Beaugrand.
STAGE 2 A leg-sapping sandy run on DCR Carson Beach started Stage 2, before the athletes returned to Boston’s Old Harbor for the second swim leg. Taylor-Brown continued to control the pace, exiting the water with Waugh narrowly ahead of Lehair. Beaugrand would be 8secs back, GB’s Olympic bronze medallist Beth Potter 29secs in arrears and the USA’s Katie Zafares nearly a minute back.
The lead pack of five – Taylor-Brown, Waugh, Lehair, Brownlee Racing’s Jess Fullagar and the Stars & Stripes’ Taylor Spivey – continued to dominate on the second 4km bike of the day, the relentless pace seeing an out-of-sorts Zafares eliminated in T2 for falling 90secs behind and Potter also in danger of getting the red flag.
After another slick transition, Waugh was the first onto the run course and soon had daylight between herself and Taylor-Brown and Lehair. Waugh was first into transition ahead of the final swim, 4secs ahead of the chasers. The day’s Short Chutes would be going to Fullagar, Beaugrand and Lehair, with major implications for the day’s final leg.
STAGE 3
The story of the final swim of the day was Spivey obliterating a 11sec gap between herself and the leaders, joining Taylor-Brown, Lehair and Waugh in the battle for the podium spots.
The day’s final bike leg began with Lehair running with her bike way beyond the mount line, but she’d recover to join the contenders by the end of lap one. The gap would be 26secs at the end of lap three (Beaugrand was 41secs back). With Lehair the only one holding a Short Chute up her sleeve, Taylor-Brown and Waugh attacked in an aim to create some daylight before the decisive run.
After a smooth transition, Spivey was first onto the final run course with Taylor-Brown and Waugh just behind. Lehair played her Short Chute to join the trio at the front and then made a break for the front, dropping Spivey and Waugh and seeing Taylor- Brown clinging onto her shadow. As at supertri London in 2023, Lehair’s run power would prove too much to handle, creating a 2sec advantage at the bell and doubling that lead to win 4secs ahead of Taylor-Brown, with Waugh finishing third, Spivey fourth and Léonie Périault taking fifth for Podium Racing. Beaugrand was eighth overall.
