Taylor-Brown, who trains at the Leeds Triathlon Center, entered the race as the reigning world champion and one of the favorites for the title, but had to catch up on the 10-kilometer race after hitting a tire in the last lap. of the section of the bicycle.
She quickly caught her teammate Jess Learmonth, who finished ninth, and German Laura Lindemann and then staggered off American Katie Zaferes to match fellow rookie Alex Yee’s achievement in the men’s race and win the seventh triathlon medal in Great Britain in the last three Games.
But she couldn’t catch Duffy as the 33-year-old, who received an OBE in 2018, proved herself the class of the field with a historic victory for Bermuda, whose only previous Olympic medal was a bronze to boxer Clarence. Hill in Montreal in 1976.
Learmonth divided the field early on with a passionate 1.5km swim, establishing a leading group that dwindled from seven to five, but never seemed to have been caught.
Tropical Storm Nepartak had been threatening the coast of Japan for several days and Tuesday morning brought wind and heavy rain.
The start was delayed 15 minutes to allow the athletes more time to prepare, but when they got underway, this time thankfully without interference from the boats, Learmonth’s intention was clear.
The Leeds athlete went directly to the front of the group and set a fearsome pace. The field soon stretched across Tokyo Bay and by the end of two laps, seven women had a gap of more than 30 seconds.
Those seven contained several of the medal favorites, and by the third lap the seven became six as American Summer Rappaport slowed down.
The leaders held an advantage of more than a minute, while behind them several athletes got off their bikes in the treacherous conditions.
Brazilian Vittoria Lopes lost contact with the leading group on lap six and the only blessing for Taylor-Brown was that her puncture came with just a few hundred meters to go.
She started the 10km race 22 seconds down, with Duffy and Zaferes already on the road, but Taylor-Brown is a talented runner and soon surpassed Learmonth and Lindemann to move up to medal places.
The 27-year-old from Manchester was tantalizingly close to Zaferes for two laps, but had her move just before the bell rang to climb into second and clasp her hands to her face in disbelief as she made her way down the home stretch.
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-07-27 00:05:30
