Lisa Tertsch storms to second place in Hamburg / Henry Graf 15th

Lisa Tertsch made a strong statement at the SUZUKI World Triathlon Hamburg powered by HAMBURG WASSER. At the fourth of six stops in the World Triathlon Championship Series, the Hessian took second place (55:30) behind France's Cassandre Beaugrand (55:19 minutes), repeating the result of the WTCS stop in Cagliari, Italy, which took place at the end of May.

Two years ago, the 25-year-old had also impressed with third place in the Free and Hanseatic City. In front of a frenetic crowd, the athlete from Darmstadt impressively followed up today and was accordingly delighted that her preparations for the season's highlight in Paris have worked so far without the need for an altitude training camp:

"I've been training at home in Darmstadt for the last few months because I've simply been offered an ideal environment. Everything around it just fits for me. I've seen more advantages for me in training at home. I'm happy the way it is, that's the top priority. I think that's why things are going so well at the moment, because I'm happy with everything."

In Hamburg itself, the 2023 European silver medallist was even able to fire up the turbo in the tough showdown with Beth Potter at the end and leave the strong Brit behind her in the final metres: "I didn't think much, I acted instinctively. The crowd gave me a lot of energy, especially in the last few metres. That motivated me tremendously to try everything I could again."

Also cheered on by the thousands of spectators along the course and in the finish area, two other athletes from the German Triathlon Union (DTU), Annika Koch and Marlene Gomez-Göggel, achieved top ten results.

Koch, who won the World Cup in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, last weekend, finished sixth (55:45), Gomez-Göggel tenth (56:17).

Lena Meißner finished 15th (56:30), Anabel Knoll 17th (56:34). In addition, Selina Klamt was 23rd (56:50) and Tanja Neubert 25th (57:01).

Graf best German in 15th place

In the men's race, which started early in the afternoon, a newcomer to the WTC series was particularly impressive. Henry Graf finished his first appearance in the concert of the world's best triathletes in 15th place (50:59) and was satisfied after his race:

"I had hoped to feel a bit better, I wasn't quite as happy with the swim, but of course I'm happy to have finished best German."

However, the 22-year-old also added: "I would have hoped that Lasse (Lührs) would have been a bit further forward. But I can definitely be very happy with my placing."

The aforementioned Paris starter Lührs had previously opened the elimination race over the 5km running distance together with Graf in a promising position in the leading group, but had to drop out on the first of two laps: "It was very difficult running. I didn't feel as good as I had hoped. I didn't really get into it. Then it's just a brutally high level when you're not at 100 per cent."

In the end, the 28-year-old finished 28th in his Olympic dress rehearsal (51:37): "Of course it's very bitter that it happened here, but it's also better than in Paris in a fortnight' time. So now I have to make sure that I turn it around and get the freshness back in my running."

The other German men placed as follows after the victory of Australian Matthew Hauser (50:03): Jan Diener was 30th (51:53) in his first WTCS race and his brother Eric, part of the U23 gold relay team at last year's World Championships at home in the Free and Hanseatic City, was 36th (52:24). Jannik Schaufler finished 37th (52:25).

After four of six races, Emma Lombardi, who finished fifth today, and Australia's Luke Willian, who finished eleventh today, lead the rankings in the battle for the World Championship title.

The results are available online:

• Women's results
• Men's results