Already on Friday the women competed in their individual race in the triathlon. Germany was represented by six starters: Laura Lindemann, Nina Eim, Annika Koch, List Tertsch, Marlene Gomez-Göggel and Anabell Knoll. In summery temperatures and a filled stadium, the starting signal sounded for the women. The race started with the 1.5 kilometer swim course in the 23 degree warm Olympic Lake. After two laps through the water, the women switched to the bike. Lindemann started the bike leg in second place, Tretsch in ninth, Knoll in 23rd, Eim and Gomez-Göggel in 26th and 27th and Koch in 30th. After eight laps (40 kilometers) on the bike through the Olympic Park came the final discipline, running. In the meanwhile light rain, Lindemann ran in third position on the running course - closely followed by teammates Tretsch, Koch and Eim in sixth, ninth and tenth place. The women had to conquer the Olympic Hill four times (10 kilometers in total). Lindemann fought for victory at the top in the lead pack. But Eim broke away from the chasing group and started the chase to catch up with the leaders with only a few seconds gap. At the end of the ten kilometers, Britain's Nan Stanford ran ahead of everyone and secured the win, France's Cassandre Beaugrand kept losing ground and Lindemann was in a direct duel with France's Emma Lombardi for the silver medal. In the last meters Lindemann fought her way in front of Lombardi and became second. Eim was able to grab fourth place at the end.
On Saturday it continued for the men. They also started in the individual with the same race distances as the women (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run). For Germany Jonas Schomburg, Lasse Lührs, Tim Hellwig, Jannik Schaufler and Lasse Nygard-Priester were at the start. With warm temperatures, the triathlon stadium in the Olympic Park was once again full. The public viewing area directly at the Olympic lake was also well attended. While the broadcast ran on three large screens and was commented, the athletes in the respective discipline could be spotted in the background and followed live. But the pure goose bumps were only felt directly at the track. Several rows of spectators stood at the barriers and cheered loudly for the athletes from all over Europe. It was as if the athletes were carried through the competition by the applause. After the swim, Schomburg and Hellwig were in the top ten. They kept their performance constant and changed into their running shoes still in the top ten. In the end, Jonas Schomburg finished seventh as the best German, with Frenchmen Leo Bergere, Pierre Le Core and Dorian Coninx claiming the triple victory.
To conclude the triathlon weekend, the mixed relay was on the program on Sunday. In this event, two women and two men start together as a team. The German relay team started in the following order: Valentin Wernz, Nina Helm, Simon Henseleit and Laura Lindemann. Each athlete had to swim 300 meters, cycle 7.2 km and run 1.6 km. Also on the last triathlon day the athletes were cheered on by a full triathlon stadium, public viewing area and numerous course spectators. In addition, Jonas Schomburg, who finished seventh in the individual the day before, commented on the triathlon in the public viewing area. He said that he practiced the changes for up to an hour until his fingers bled. Because if the things are not in the equipment box, he said, there is a penalty time of ten seconds, which can be very decisive in such a short format as the relay. In addition, with regard to the relay, he emphasized, "It's important to be in the first group and try to keep the gaps small. Alone, you don't stand a chance against the group." Regarding cycling, he said, "Safety is probably the wrong tactic. You have to try to turn your head off, roll through the corners and go full throttle. It's a very fast descent, but also technical, so mistakes can certainly happen and it's relatively demanding. In any case, safety comes first. Maybe brake a little earlier, because the important thing is not to crash under any circumstances." Finally, Schomburg described the atmosphere on the course from his competition the day before: "It's madness here in Munich. Yesterday I was actually looking forward to running up the mountain. It really was a Tour de France feeling. After Corona, while the competitions were without spectators, to experience something like that was pure goose bumps."
In the relay, the German team had a neck-and-neck race with the Swiss. However, the German triathletes were able to prevail in the end and won the silver medal. Gold went to France and bronze to Switzerland.
Text: Luisa Peintner
Photos: Julian Brandt & Luisa Peintner