British triathletes came away with five medals from racing taking place in three different countries. Sian Rainsley, Hugo Milner, Georgia Tayor-Brown, Deri Mccluskey and Tom Bishop all made the podium.
At World Triathlon Cup Hong Kong, Rainsley returned to racing for the first time since June last year to stand on the top step of the podium. She exited the water in seventh with Sophie Alden and Olivia Mathias leading the way in a British 1-2 heading into T1.
The trio remained at the front end of the field during the 20km bike leg with fellow Brit Vicky Holland further back. On the 5km run Rainsley was faster than all her podium rivals to claim the top step and gold medal.
Mathias had dropped away from the front pack but was still inside the top-ten as she crossed the line in seventh. Holland, who was the fastest of anyone on the run, was the next Brit over the line in 11th . She narrowly missed out on a place in the top-ten with just three seconds separating Holland, American Erika Ackerland (10th) and Slovakia’s Zuzana Michalickova (ninth). Alden crossed the line in 19th.
In the men’s race, Max Stapley was the lead Brit finishing sixth. He exited the water amongst the leaders with Dan Dixon just behind. On the 20km bike leg he remained at the front of the field with Dixon dropping back, while Ben Dijkstra climbed up the standings.
Stapley’s 12th fastest run time of the race was enough to see him hold onto his place in the top ten. Further back, Dijkstra finished 21st narrowly missing out on a place in the top-twenty. Dixon’s race came to an end when he crossed the line in 47th.
In Portugal, Hugo Milner won Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira, while teammate Connor Bentley narrowly missed out on making it two Brits on the podium as he came fourth.
Marcus Dey was the lead Brit out of the water with Bentley and Jack Willis amongst the front pack in T1. As Dey dropped back on the bike leg, Willis and Bentley remained at the front end of the field while Milner was closing the gap.
Milner then ran his way to victory as he was the only triathlete to finish the 10km course in under 30 minutes. Bentley was the next Brit over the line in fourth, while Willis came 14th. James Chantler-Mayne was 20th with Dey finishing 21st . Joe Sherman was the sixth Brit to cross the line as he came 29th. Christopher Perham recorded a DNF, dropping out in T2.
In the women’s race, Georgia Taylor-Brown returned from injury to win a bronze medal. The two-time Olympic medallist was at the front of the field from the off and was joined by teammate Jessica Fullagar across the 1500m swim and 40km bike legs.
While Fullagar dropped back on the run to finish ninth, Taylor-Brown battled it out with France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and Germany’s Lisa Tertsch for the win. The Brit eventually crossed the line in third, 12 seconds behind winner Tertsch. Annabel Morton finished her race in 02:02:37 to come 24th while Iona Miller was 30th.
Quarteira also hosted junior racing with six Brits making the top-ten in the junior men’s race. Deri Mccluskey was the lead Brit winning a bronze medal with Johnny James just behind him in fifth.
Christo Chilton then crossed the line in sixth with Daniel Van Aardt (seventh), Luke Holmes (eighth), and Harry Maxwell (ninth) just behind. Rory Bryant finished 12th while Joshua Cumberland came 28th with Zak Clemens and Arthur Ballard in 36th and 39th respectively.
In the junior women’s race, Isla Hedley outsprinted Switzerland’s Anouk Danna to finish fourth. Millie Breese was the next Brit to cross the line in 11th with Lauren Mitchell in 14th.
Antonia Jubb missed out on a place in the top-twenty coming 23rd, while Patience Lamb was just under a minute back in 27th. Isabelle Price rounded off the British interest in the race as she came 29th.
At IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong, Tom Bishop finished second behind New Zealand’s Sam Osborne. Bishop exited the water in fourth with Osborne four seconds clear. He then lost time in T1 before closing the gap on the bike leg. Bishop put in the fastest run time of the race to again close the gap, finishing 12 seconds behind Osborne with Finland’s Henrik Goesch almost a minute back in third.
