178 WORLD TRIATHLON 2017 I MIXED RELAY & PARATRIATHLON
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
In Mixed Relay's first event since the official
announcement of its inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
Programme, the Australian team was able to conjure
a brilliant finish to come from behind and claim its first-
ever World Championship title with a team of Charlotte
McShane, Matthew Hauser, Ashleigh Gentle and Jacob
Birtwhistle.
Despite the less-than-perfect weather conditions,
thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer their
team in one of the most thrilling triathlon spectacles: the
Mixed Relay. The woman-man-woman-man team race,
sees each member complete a 300m swim, 7km bike
and 1.6km run, and it was anyone's title after the first
leg of the relay, that saw Spain, USA, Belgium and Japan
neck and neck as they tagged their teammates.
A swift solo ride and run from Katie Zaferes put USA
ahead of the pack and looking confident going into the
final tag, but it was the competitive spirit of Joanna
Brown (CAN), Rachel Klamer (NED), Gentle and Lucy Hall
(GBR) that made sure that the final leg of the race would
not be an easy one. While at first a breakaway from Matt
McElroy (USA) and Alexis Lepage (CAN) made it appear
that the gold and silver places were guaranteed, Lepage
suffered a slip on the bike that caused Canada to be
caught by the hungry pack. Birtwhistle then gunned it in
the final metres to slice through the field and snag the
finish line where he was welcomed by his teammates as
Australia collected the World Title for the very first time.
It was the USA who finished second to take the silver,
while the Netherlands crossed over for the bronze.
AUSTRALIA CROWNED FIRST-TIME
MIXED RELAY WORLD CHAMPIONS
