Before the race, Cassandre Beaugrand made no secret of it: “The ultimate goal this year and even in recent years was the Olympics. This is just an added bonus. » The « bonus » still worth the detour. Saturday October 19, in Torremolinos, near Malaga, in the south of Spain, she became the first French woman crowned triathlon world champion, after her victory in the grand final of the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS). The epilogue of an exceptional year 2024 where the Francilienne will also – above all – win the gold medal during the Paris 2024 Games.
Presented for ten years as an exceptional talent, the tall blonde, one of the figures of her discipline, had always narrowly missed this title of world champion. Among the juniors (2014), the Espoirs (2018) or the adults (2023), Cassandre Beaugrand was ranked second each time. And once again, on Saturday, she almost missed the coronation on the wire.
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But this year, the 26-year-old Frenchwoman proved that nothing could disturb her anymore. And this when she could have lost everything straight away, then after the ordeal. After getting seriously lost during the swim at the start of the race – a rare situation in triathlon – Cassandre Beaugrand managed to come out not far from the front runners during the swimming-cycling transition, thanks to a very fast swim. This unusual episode – a jet-ski with race marshals on board seems to have come to warn the Frenchwoman that she was not at all on the right trajectory – caused the British clan to react, which lodged a reservation: second Saturday , defending champion Beth Potter could be crowned in the event of disqualification. After an hour of discussions, the claim for “external assistance” was unsuccessful and the Frenchwoman was able to enjoy her podium, even belatedly.
How has the French athlete managed to dominate her sport like this for months? The answer to this question surely lies in his choice, in 2022, to leave the Montpellier sun for the permanent autumn of Loughborough, a small town in the Midlands renowned for the athletics section of its university – its president, Sebastian Coe, is not other than the president of the International Athletics Federation. There she joined her partner, Hector Pardoe, British open water swimming champion, and resumed her studies in order to benefit from a student visa and the university’s facilities. “She found there a balance of life that she needed at that time, said the national technical director of the triathlon, Benjamin Maze. That the athletes are happy is really what will make the difference between those who are subject to a performance system and those who are enlightened, fulfilled citizens who have the keys to their sporting project. »
Frenchwoman Emma Lombardi also on the podium
For Cassandre Beaugrand, the equation was simple. First in the general classification of the world championship before the start of the race, thanks to his victories during the last two WTCS in Cagliari (Italy) and Hamburg (Germany), a first place on Saturday in Spain assured him the title.
And once her fear of swimming passed, the Frenchwoman left little suspense for the Andalusian spectators who came in large numbers to support the triathletes. While we could expect a final sprint to choose the winner of the day, Cassandre Beaugrand decided otherwise.
From the fourth kilometer of running (out of ten), the Frenchwoman accelerated and none of her two main opponents of the day – the British Beth Potter and the French Emma Lombardi – were able to follow her. Cassandre Beaugrand arrived with a lead of 37 seconds over Potter and 49 seconds over her compatriot and friend, whom she rushed to embrace at the finish line.
For Lombardi, this third place in Spain is a satisfaction after his frustrating “chocolate medal” in Paris this summer. It even allowed her to climb onto the podium in the general classification, alongside Cassandre Beaugrand, now the undisputed queen of the discipline.
