PARIS — The U.S. Triathlon Mixed Relay Team of Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Morgan Pearson, and Taylor Knibb won the Olympic silver medal in a thrilling three-person sprint finish on Monday morning in Paris in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The Olympic medal is the second for the U.S. in the Mixed Relay event, which made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games with the U.S. also earning the silver at the pandemic-delayed Games.
The silver is the fifth medal in U.S. triathlon’s history at the Olympic Games. Katie Zaferes won bronze in the women’s individual race in Tokyo, while Gwen Jorgensen won gold at the Rio 2016 Games and Susan Williams earned bronze at the Athens 2004 Games.
Germany won gold on Monday, in the exciting and fast-paced event in the heart of Paris at the Pont Alexandre III bridge. The U.S. beat Great Britain to the finish line to win silver, with anchor leg Knibb out-sprinting Great Britain’s Beth Potter to cross the finish line just 0.005 of a second ahead.
The U.S. finished in a time of 1 hour, 25 minutes, 40 seconds, just 1/100th of a second behind Germany and 0.005 of a second ahead of Great Britain in the photo finish.
“There are no words to describe it,” said Spivey. “I thought at one point we were going to be in bronze and that’s actually what they told us when they first crossed the line. But the boys told them to look at the photo finish again, and we were actually lining up to go to the podium and they said ‘you know you got silver.’ So, I think we are the happiest silver medal athletes.”
Fifteen countries competed in the Mixed Relay. Each country fields a team of two men and two women, with each athlete completing a super-sprint triathlon consisting of a 300-meter swim in the Seine, a draft-legal 7-kilometer bike on the Champs-Elysees and Saint Germain Boulevard, and a 1.8-kilometer two-lap run before tagging off to the next teammate. The order of the competition is man-woman-man-woman.
Mixed Relay racing is fast-paced and strategic — rewarding athletes who have flawless transitions, strong technical skills and superior short-course speed. With each athlete taking two laps on the bike and two on the run before hitting the tag zone, the race is highly spectator-friendly and made-for-TV.
Rider, Spivey, Pearson and Knibb all played a critical role in earning the team silver.
Rider led off for the U.S. After an excellent swim in the Seine’s current, Rider was in the first chase pack on the bike following Alberto Garcia (ESP), who led out of the swim and rode a solo breakaway. Rider and the chase pack caught Garcia by the second lap to form a large group with the majority of the countries. Two contenders, Pierre Le Corre (FRA) and Hayden Wilde (NZL) crashed on the final U-turn before transition and Le Corre lost precious time to replace the chain on his bike.
Alex Yee (GBR), who won gold in the men’s individual race on July 31, put Great Britain solidly into first place as he pulled away from the field on the run. He tagged to Georgia Taylor-Brown, the silver medalist from Tokyo.
“My job was to go first, deal with whatever happens in the swim and try to make whatever front group was there and the my best run I could,” said Rider who is a first-time Olympian. He grew up as a triathlete, starting the sport at six-years-old. He was the top U.S. male finisher in the men’s individual triathlon on July 31.
Sixteen seconds down to Great Britain, Rider tagged to Spivey, a former Division I collegiate swimmer at California Polytechnic University. Spivey, who finished 10th in the women’s individual race to lead the U.S., gained ground during the bike and run, moving the U.S. into fifth place.
Lisa Tertsch (GER) caught Taylor-Brown on the run, giving Germany its first lead as she tagged off to teammate Lasse Luehrs (GER).
Spivey tagged Pearson for leg three with the U.S. in fifth place, 13 seconds down to Germany. Pearson, who was a member of the silver-medal-winning team in Tokyo, recorded a solid swim and rode the bike in a chase pack with Visco Vilaca (POR), Alessio Crociani (ITA) and Sylvain Fridelance (SUI) keeping the U.S. in medal contention, with Great Britain and Germany within reach. Dickinson (GB) gave way to Potter, Luehrs (GER) was relieved by Laura Lindemann and Pearson tagged Knibb for an epic showdown between the anchor legs.
Knibb stormed through the water, moving the U.S. into third as she emerged out of the Seine 23 seconds back of Potter and 12 seconds back of Lindemann. Knibb, who raced the Olympic cycling individual time trial, showed her time trial skills on the first lap of the bike to catch Lindemann. Together, the pair gained ground on Potter on the bike, catching her as the trio entered the day’s final transition. It would then all come down to the 1.8k run.
Knibb pulled away early on the run, taking a small lead with the German and Great Britain pair right on her heels. Lindemann regained the lead on the second lap, leading the trio down the blue carpet. Lindemann and Germany won the gold, with Knibb just out-leaning Potter to the finish line for the epic photo-finish silver medal, her second Olympic medal, adding to the mixed relay silver from Tokyo.
“I’m very grateful for my teammates,” Knibb said.
“I’m so happy and proud of this team. It’s so special. I knew if we all executed a solid race we could be in the fight for a medal but to actually do it, there are no words to describe it,” Spivey said. “(Racing on the mixed relay vs. the individual race) I personally think it’s a lot more pressure, because you’re not just racing for yourself, you’re racing for a team. You want to give the best race you can and not let the team down.”
Pearson, now a two-time Olympic mixed relay medalist, said he hopes the exciting, dramatic race — and U.S. success — helps fuel a new generation to the sport of triathlon.
“Hopefully it’s inspiring the next generation. Draft-legal triathlon in the U.S. is really not popular and I think we all sacrifice a lot to do this sport,” Pearson said. “It’s an amazing race to watch, you know maybe there’s a new crop of athletes that are excited about the sport of triathlon now.”
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