Laura Lindemann won a thrilling sprint finish to give Germany gold in the Olympic triathlon mixed relay on Monday, outkicking the United States and Britain after highly-fancied France were scuppered by a bike crash on the first of four legs.
There was a photo finish for second place, with officials initially announcing that Beth Potter had taken it for defending champions Britain, only for Taylor Knibb and the U.S. to upgraded – though neither team were aware of the switch until they were lining up in the wrong places for the medal presentation.
It was a redemptive race for Lindemann, who had suffered a bike crash in the individual event and finished eighth, as well as for Germany, who finished sixth in Tokyo but came to Paris as back to back world champions.
“I believed in myself and I just gave it my all. It’s amazing. The team did such a great job and we deserved it,” Lindemann said.
Lead athlete Tim Hellwig said his teammate’s finish was “so exciting” to watch. “We know she has one of the strongest kicks in world triathlon, but you always have to pull it off on the biggest stage, it’s always one day and anything can happen but we trusted in her and she did the job in the end,” said Hellwig.
