German mixed relay team wins bronze at World Championships

The German mixed relay team narrowly missed out on defending their title at the Mixed Relay World Championships in Hamburg, held as part of the SUZUKI World Triathlon Hamburg presented by HAMBURG WASSER, finishing in third place.

Lisa Tertsch, Lasse Nygaard Priester, Tanja Neubert, and Henry Graf had to concede defeat to the victorious Australians Sophie Linn, Luke Willian, Emma Jeffcoat, and Matthew Hauser, who had already won yesterday's individual race, by seven seconds (1:16:52) in an exciting race marked by numerous position changes after 1:16:69 hours.

The French team with Leonie Periault, Yanis Seguin, Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand, and Dorian Coninx fought hard to take silver in 1:16:55 hours – just ahead of the German quartet.

However, after the race, everyone seemed satisfied with the result, even though they had narrowly missed out on their third World Championship triumph in a row.

“It always depends on how you feel on the day. I gave it my best, the others also tried hard and train hard. So you just have to acknowledge when others are better,” said Lisa Tertsch after the award ceremony.

The Olympic mixed relay champion, who was also part of the gold medal-winning relay team in Hamburg last year, got her team off to a good start and handed over to Lasse Nygaard Priester, who put in a brilliant performance over 300 meters of swimming, 6.6 kilometers of cycling, and 1.6 kilometers of running.

"I was very happy to be able to start here. It was mega cool for me. I really enjoyed it," said the 29-year-old, who made an impressive comeback on the international stage after his personal struggles. The Quickborn-born triathlete also analyzed the new order in the mixed relay, in which women will start and men will finish in the Olympic cycle until Los Angeles 2028.

“That changes things. There will be new tactics. It's good that it's started so well. In the long term, we want to pick up where we left off in Paris. Today was a promising start,” said Nygaard Priester, who sent Tanja Neubert into the race in the lead.

She fought hard at the front but was ultimately unable to hold off the strong French runner Cassandre Beaugrand. Nevertheless, the 25-year-old drew a positive conclusion: “In the end, we can be satisfied. It was a super close race the whole time. It's great that we're coming home with a medal.”

Henry Graf saw it similarly. He initially closed the gap on Coninx, but then a slow rider on his rear wheel cost him valuable stability and time in the race against the competition from Australia, France, Switzerland, and Great Britain on his second lap.

"I lost a lot of air. That made the corners feel very spongy.

So I was a bit more cautious and lost a little bit on the way to the second transition zone, which is very annoying over this distance. But at least I got through."

Graf, who celebrated the World Championship title on Hamburg's Rathausmarkt last year alongside Tertsch, Lasse Lührs, and Annika Koch, added: “You can always be happy about a medal at a World Championships, especially when the field is as strong as it was today. Of course, you always want more at some point. And of course we've been very spoiled in the relay over the last few years, but bronze is also very nice.”

The complete results list is available online.