The Australian mixed relay triathlon team of Luke Willian, Natalie Van Coevorden, Matt Hauser and Sophie Linn raced their hearts out in Paris on Monday but were unable to challenge for the medals, finishing 12th in 1:28.50.
The medals came down to a dramatic sprint, and photo finish, with Germany (1:25.39) taking gold and causing an upset over defending champions Great Britain and USA for bronze.
With a huge home crowd cheering them on, France was able to recover from a crash on the opening cycling leg to finish fourth but for Australia and New Zealand, who finished 14th, once off the front of the pack they were unable to work their way back despite performing well.
The Australians were disappointed with the final result, and a freak fall out of bike transition for Van Coevorden, cost the team time and the opportunity to work together with France on the bike.
But ultimately, they are proud of how they raced, given only Hauser has Olympic experience and even that Tokyo experience was very different to Paris.
“We are feeling a little bit of disappointment,” Hauser said.
“Obviously, we hold ourselves to high standards here in Australia. I think the overwhelming emotion is just pride, and pride for our country and being able to don this jersey and go out there and give it our all no matter what.
“It’s not the result that we wanted out there today, but, you know, I couldn’t be prouder to line up with these three great guys and girls who are all first time Olympians.”
Willian led off well for the Aussies with an improved swim from his individual race and with a strong cycle and run he had the team in sixth place, when handing over to Van Coevorden.
“It’s such fast racing, it’s just flat out. The team’s done the best they can and I’m proud of everyone on this team,” Willian said.
The current again made the 300m swim difficult and teams had different tactics.
“It’s a hard fight out there, no matter what the race is. And I think this one just came a little bit harder with the conditions that we had to face,” Van Coevorden said.
It was a freak incident on to the bike that left Van Coevorden needing to pick herself back up after losing valuable time and needing to do everything possible to try to make it back.
“I slipped off my saddle, so that’s never happened to me before. So just another thing to add to the list of things that can go wrong, I suppose. But once I slipped off, I time trialled the whole way and never gave up. And I think that’s what I have to be proud of.
“The biggest thing is don’t panic, just get on with it. That was the main thing in that situation and just get on with the job because I had many other people that were relying on me and I think that plays a big part in your mind.”
Hauser raced well but was solo for most of the bike so it was hard to make up ground on teams working together. Linn anchored the team for Australia and was seventh quickest for the final leg and moved Australia up two positions.
“No matter what position we’re in I want to give it my all. Whether we’ve got someone just ahead of us or just behind us or whatever it is, we just adapt to the situation,” Linn said.
“You are fully focused on those small battles, the races within the race, and we try to pick off as many spots as we can and that was my focus today. We went in close to New Zealand and Mexico and we got them both so that was good.”
Hauser’s seventh place finish in the individual race, despite a tumble into the final transition off the bike was the highlight of the Australian results in Paris but this team is motivated for more Games and to get Australian triathlon back on the podium.
“In the early 2000s and obviously following on from Sydney we’ve had a lot of success in this sport and that’s obviously been lacking in the last few years,” Hauser said.
“We’ve really taken it upon ourselves to bring this new cohort forward and for the generations to come and for LA 2028 and the spectacle that Brisbane is going to be.
“We do this for the young kids and young boys and girls in the sport in Australia. We go out there, we compete our hardest, we try our very best to try and push this sport forward and, you know, we just can’t wait to see what bodes well for the future.”
The World Triathlon Grand Final is in Wollongong next year which will be a boost for the sport.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. To have world class racing back in Australia is what we need,” Hauser said.
“We need events back on our shores and we need to inspire the next generation and have it front and centre and on TV and all forms of media. We need to keep pushing this sport forward because obviously France loves it and 250,000 people came out here to cheer on all the athletes and create this amazing atmosphere and spectacle.”
The four athletes will now recover and are keen to get out and cheer on the other Aussies competing in other sports and make the most of the Olympic experience.
“People tell you that the Olympics are special and you kind of tell yourself, okay, it’s just another race,” Linn said.
“But it really isn’t. You’ve just got so many people from all over the world cheering for you, whether you’re in first place or last place or anywhere in between. People just get around it and it’s such a magical experience. Something that I would definitely like to have again.”
