The cycling leg of the women’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics descended into a flury of bicycle crashes on Wednesday as competitors slipped across wet cobblestone.
The conditions for the event featured rainstorms, heat and humidity. It resulted in several competitors being unable to control their bicycles around various turns on the cobblestone roads of Paris, as several athletes crashed and fell onto the ground.
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Guam’s Manami Iijima was the first athlete to crash, and her tumble was soon followed by Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes, Germany’s Lisa Tertsch and Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen.
“I don’t really have any words for the last two hours that we just experienced,” Australian triathlete Sophie Linn told reporters, via the Sydney Morning Herald. “That was every single possible adverse weather condition, you know, a high current, rain, heat, humidity like it was just everything and the crowds.”
Some athletes even withdrew from the competition due to the constant crashing, including Norwegian athlete Lotte Miller, who withdrew from the event after crashing and falling off her bicycle twice.
For the competitors who stayed in to finish the event, the constant crashing had an inevitable impact on the final results.
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Germany’s Laura Lindemann fell off her bike with three laps remaining after being part of the 10-rider leading group. After the crash, she never regained her pace.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown were a few of the lucky athletes who avoided crashing, and thus, entered the run in the leading group. Potter eventually won bronze. France’s Cassandre Beaugrand won gold while Switzerland’s Julie Derron won silver.
Prior to the event, the bigger concern about the safety of the triathlon was whether the River Seine would be clean enough for swimming. The event was even postponed a day due to concerns over water pollution. Paris spent $1.4 billion to clean the river in preparation for the event, but the pollution levels were badly impacted by the heavy rains.
“It was like it was a really weird video game I just played,” Linn added. “I think we got more dirty on the bike [than in the water], to be honest, from all the water coming up off the road. I tried to really ensure that the position within the pack was always near the front to avoid any crashes.”
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