Rappaport, Spivey Lead Elite U.S. Triathletes At World Triathlon Championship Series Montreal

MONTREAL — U.S. elite triathletes Summer Rappaport (Thornton, Colo.) and Taylor Spivey (Redondo Beach, Calif.) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, at Saturday’s World Triathlon Championship Series Montreal, which featured the unique and exciting “eliminator” format of super-sprint racing. 

The fifth-place performance vaults Rappaport into seventh place in the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Rankings, while Spivey continues to lead the U.S. women, sitting in fourth place. 

In Saturday’s eliminator format, 30 athletes per gender, who earned their spots in Friday’s qualifying races, started the final, which featured up to three races on the 300-meter swim, 7.2-kilometer bike and 2k run course. 

The 20 top finishers in the first stage advanced to the second stage, and the top 10 in the second moved on to the third and final stage for the podium. Athletes had about 15 minutes between each race, enough time to tidy up their transition areas, hydrate and fuel and shake out the legs during the walk from transition area to swim start. 

Rappaport and Spivey cleanly made it to the final stage featuring 10 women, with Rappaport leading the women out of the swim. Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter, along with France’s Cassandre Beaugrand, immediately pulled away on the bike and built a 15-second lead heading into the second transition. 

Rappaport, Spivey and the rest of the group chased that trio, but it was Taylor-Brown who earned the gold (24 minutes, 4 seconds), Beaugrand (24:07) the silver and Potter (24:15) the bronze. 

Rappaport finished fifth in 24:42 and Spivey sixth in 24:44. 

This weekend was Rappaport’s first time racing the format, which made its debut in Montreal last year. 

“You’re red-lining for the whole 20-25 minutes. So it’s pretty brutal,” Rappaport said. “But I think I would enjoy racing this again. It’s an interesting format. I do triathlon because I love head to head racing and this format provides a lot of opportunities for that, which is exciting.” 

Kirsten Kasper (North Andover, Mass.), who advanced to Saturday’s finals, was a late scratch Saturday morning due to illness.  

Matt McElroy (Huntington Beach, Calif.) represented the U.S. elite men, finishing 20th after being eliminated in the second stage. His cycling shoe fell off his pedal when he mounted his bike while exiting the transition area, causing him to lose contact with the rest of the group.  

Great Britain’s Alex Yee won gold in a time of 21:55, outsprinting Hayden Wilde of New Zealand in the final 200 meters. Leo Bergere of France took the bronze. 

Up Next & Tune In
On Sunday, four U.S. elite triathletes will team up to race in the 2022 World Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships. 

The U.S. has long had international success in the Mixed Relay event — winning silver at the 2020 Mixed Relay World Championships, bronze in 2019 and 2018, silver in 2017 and the world title in 2016. 

The Mixed Relay made its Olympic debut last summer at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the U.S. team won the silver medal. 

The Mixed Relay is a fast, tactical and spectator-friendly race. In the Mixed Relay, each country’s team is made up of two women and two men, and each team member competes a super-sprint swim, bike, run triathlon before tagging their teammate. Until at least 2024, the order of the Mixed Relay will now follow the new order of man-woman-man-woman.

The Elite Mixed Relay World Championship begins at 4:45 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live at TriathlonLIVE.tv with subscriptions available for purchase. 

Also on Sunday is the Junior Mixed Relay World Championships at 2 p.m. ET and the Age Group Mixed Relay World Championships, with two waves at 7:15 and 10:45 a.m. ET. 

2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Montreal 
300m swim, 7.2k bike, 2k run

Elite Women — Complete Results
1. Georgia Taylor-Brown (Great Britain), 24:04
2. Cassandre Beaugrand (France), 24:07
3. Beth Potter (Great Britain), 24:15

U.S. Finishers
5. Summer Rappaport (Thornton, Colo.), 24:42
6. Taylor Spivey (Redondo Beach, Calif.), 24:44
31. Kirsten Kasper (North Andover, Conn.), DNS Final Stage 1

Elite Men — Complete Results
1. Alex Yee (Great Britain), 21:55
2. Hayden Wilde (New Zealand), 21:58
3. Leo Bergere (France), 21:59

U.S. Finishers
20. Matt McElroy (Huntington Beach, Calif.), eliminated in Final Stage 2
30. Brent Demarest (Charleston, S.C.), eliminated in repechage 
36. Austin Hindman (Wildwood, Mo.), eliminated in repechage
40. Seth Rider (Germantown, Tenn.), eliminated in repechage