After the event Cassandre Beaugrand said: Last year I had a crash and today it’s Bastille Day and my boyfriend’s birthday, so I’m very happy to win.
Stealing the show
By Roger Childs
Hopefully in the euphoria of World Cup football success, the French media and sports fans haven’t overlooked a superb performance by the young Frenchwoman in Germany.
21 year old Cassandre Beaugrand, who was 28th in the women’s ranking before the Hamburg short course event, stunned a star-studded field to win the elite women’s race by a country mile.
The men’s event was also exciting, but the podium place-getters were predictable. World champion Mario Mola was 14 seconds down off the bike behind Vincent Luis, Jonathan Brownlee and Kristian Blummenfelt, but caught them half way through the 5km run and coasted home ahead of Luis and a fast finishing Richard Murray.
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She looks very serene. Triathlon commentator
Beaugrand was competing against the best, including world champion Flora Duffy and highly ranked athletes such as Katie Zaferes, Jodie Stimpson, Rachel Klamer, Andrea Hewitt and Nicola Spirig, to name but a few.
The tall, slender Frenchwoman came into transition with a group of over twenty riders and was quickly into the lead on the run. She had a 7 second lead after 1km and the other participants and the commentators were sure she would be caught.
With long legs and an upright running style, Beaugrand was not giving ground and in fact she kept moving away – a 20 second lead by half way.
In the end she won by 30 seconds in the biggest upset of many years.
As she crossed the finish line on the blue carpet she burst into tears and embraced her mother and coach.
Cassandre Beaugrand is clearly destined for more success and will be closely watched by her rivals in future events!
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