No medal, no option – that’s what Laura Lindemann said before the women’s triathlon at the European Championships. And she kept her word.
Laura Lindemann finished second on Friday (08/12/2022) over the Olympic distance (1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling, 10 km running) in 1:52.19 hours. “I’m very happy”said Lindemann in the first. “It means a lot to me.”
At the finish she was nine seconds behind the new European champion Non Stanford (Great Britain). Third place went to Emma Lombardi from France (1:52:22).
Nina Eim (Potsdam/1:52:51) surprisingly took fourth place as the second best German. She finished ahead of the favored Frenchwoman Cassandra Beaugrande. Third best German was Annika Koch, she was tenth, 1:34 minutes behind.
Lindemann right in front
Lindemann’s start in this triathlon was an impressive one. When it was time to go ashore after swimming 750 meters, Lindemann was first with a time of 9:37 minutes. After 1500 meters Lindemann was second with a time of 19:22 minutes.
Lindemann also impressed on the bike. Right from the start she drove with the front and kept up when a leading group pulled away. On the train, Lindemann repeatedly performed managerial work. Although the field made up time in the last lap, they almost came together in the last meters. But the leading group with Lindemann crossed the finish line with a small lead.
Stanford catches up – and wins too
Lindemann also managed to switch from cycling to running shoes, initially establishing herself as third. At the beginning of the second of four laps, Lindemann even took the lead, closely followed by Beaugrand and Lombardi. Stanford later made a quartet out of the leading trio.
And indeed it was Stanford who was able to pull away a few meters on the penultimate lap. It was a small lead at first, but Stanford not only held it to the finish line, she extended it.