Heading into the third and final lap of the run in both the elite men’s and elite women’s races at the European Championships in Vichy, it was almost impossible to call the victor. Both races saw one of the leading lights of the 2024 WTCS season hold the lead while glancing over their shoulders as a British rival hacked away at the distance between them. Whereas the two races offered similar denouements, their outcomes were completely different as Vicky Holland (GBR) and Csongor Lehmann (HUN) each earned the European crown for the first time.

For Holland, a former world champion, Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games medallist, the European title remained as one of the few achievements left to accomplish in a glittering career. She had claimed the silver medal in Alanya eleven years prior. Now, a little shy of a year after making her post-pregnancy return to elite racing, she grabbed the gold with both hands. Meanwhile, Lehmann’s win comes in a year in which he has also claimed a maiden WTCS medal and won another World Cup gold, highlighting how the former World U23 champion is maturing into one of the preeminent racers of men’s triathlon.

Holland overhauls Periault

Last year’s World U23 champion, Selina Klamt (GER), proved the fastest woman in the water as she led the 1500m river swim in a time of 19:30. Home favourite Leonie Periault (FRA) emerged on her heels and a pack of six women in total came together in a small breakaway on the bike. Jolien Vermeylen (BEL), Holland, Alice Betto (ITA) and Jessica Fullagar (GBR) comprised the rest of the escape pack and together worked well to consign the chasers to a deficit of a minute of the 40km bike.

In light of Periault’s superlative win at WTCS Yokohama earlier in the year, she appeared to be the favourite heading into the 10km run. As such, it was no surprise to see her seize an early lead. Holland and Vermeylen took up the initial challenge of keeping Periault in their sights. The French athlete, however, appeared untroubled as she slowly developed her lead.

Betto and Klamt would later vie with Vermeylen for the bronze medal but attention was taken up the road. After the first half of the run had been Periault’s game, Holland made her move. The gap dwindled as the British athlete honed in on her title rival. The exhortations of the home crowd lifted Periault once again but, as she made the final dead-turn for home, momentum decisively swung Holland’s way. With Periault receiving a 15s penalty for a course violation into T1 and waiting until the last moment to serve it, the Brit was perfectly placed to seize the initiative, powering past to seal the gold medal. A frustrated Periault settled for silver and Betto hung on for bronze ahead of the flying Petra Kurikova (CZE), who logged the fastest run split of the day (32:54).

Lehmann breaks rivals

When the men took their places before the race, it would have been fair for Csongor Lehmann’s attention to have been on what would come over an hour later when the run began. After David Cantero del Campo (ESP) had showcased his running speed by winning the Valencia World Cup a week earlier and with the presence of Hugo Milner (GBR), there were obvious threats to Lehmann’s hopes of victory in the third discipline. As it happened, the first discipline proved to be the more pressing danger.

The Portuguese pair of Miguel Tiago Silva and Joao Nuno Batista enjoyed near-perfect swims and built a lead of 16 seconds over their nearest rival heading into T1. A chase pack headed by Simon Westermann (SUI) and Yanis Seguin (FRA) tried to close the gap but Silva and Batista were in control.

In the end, the danger did not hold for too long. Lehmann was one of the last to make the subsequent lead group that formed, alongside Casper Stornes (NOR) and Sebastian Wernersen (NOR), once the lead pair were caught. Given that Cantero, Milner and further threats were left in the chase pack behind, Lehmann’s brief scare suddenly became an enviable position. By the end of the bike, the advantage of the front group nudged a minute.

A cat-and-mouse 10km run began as multiple contenders sought to challenge Lehmann. Seguin, Silva, Stornes, Westerman and Henry Graf (GER) proved the main threats to the Hungarian athlete as the pack thinned. By the third and final lap, Westerman and Silva had cracked and Graf likewise was starting to lose touch with the leaders after a series of attacks and counter-moves. The medallists, however, were by no means settled as Milner came roaring back through the field.

Lehmann tried to break free of Seguin and Stornes but they clawed their way back to him. Repeated worried glances over their shoulder betrayed that they knew Milner was approaching fast. With the gold at stake, though, none of the trio wanted to play their hand too early. It was at the final dead-turn, having seen Milner, that Stornes unleashed a desperate final move designed to protect a medal rather than reach for the win. In doing so, he provided the perfect launch-pad for Lehmann who did not require a second invitation. Lehmann moved away in the closing few hundred metres to seal the gold ahead of Seguin. Stornes’ smart effort then saw him take bronze ahead of Milner, who, by a whopping 42 seconds, was the fastest runner of the day (28:15).

You can follow the progress of Europe’s triathlon stars across the final stages of the season across all World Triathlon channels.