PARIS, Fra.—Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk and Charles Paquet battled extreme heat, a rapid current and a world-class field to finish in the top-15 at the Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Competing in his third Games, Mislawchuk finished ninth for his best Olympic result at 1:44.25. Paquet was steady in 13th with a time of 1:44:37. Emy Legault, who like Paquet was making her Olympic debut, placed 35th in the women’s race.
Mislawchuk had the nation on its feet, fighting to win Canada its third Olympic medal in the sport until the final four kilometres of a grueling test that took the world’s elite triathletes for a 1.5-kilometre swim in the Seine River before heading onto a 40-kilometre bike and 10-kilometre run course past Paris’ iconic landmarks – from Pont Alexander III to Champs Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, the Assemblee National and Eiffel Tower.
“I went for it. I could have likely paced myself better, but to me whether I was fourth, fifth or sixth it didn’t really matter. I tried to win a medal and ran for third place with the two French athletes for six kilometres,” said Mislawchuk. “I didn’t come here to be top 10, but I gave everything I had.”
Mislawchuk came out of the two-lap swim in the Seine in the top 20. He quickly settled into a chase group of 16 athletes with teammate Charles Paquet (Port Cartier, Que.). Well organized, the chase pack hunted down the front runners at the midway point of their eight laps on the bike to form an elite group of 32 riders, all capable of charging for the podium.
Canada’s most successful male triathlete since Simon Whitfield, Mislawchuk has won multiple World Cup races, a bronze medal on the World Triathlon Championship Series, and became the first Canadian in the 20-year history of triathlon being in the Olympic program to win the Tokyo Olympic Test Event, but he has battled injuries in both of his 15th-place finishes at his first two Olympic attempts.
After a long battle back to his elite form since Tokyo 2020, the pint-sized Canuck was finally back, exchanging jabs with the top triathletes on the planet in a footrace on the ultimate stage spectated by hundreds of thousands of screaming fans lining the streets in the City of Lights.
“I did everything I could over the last three years to come back from an achillies tear, concussion, crashes – you name it, I had it. I finally came to the start line healthy today. I absolutely went for it and I’m proud of the effort,” said an emotional Mislawchuk, who admitted the heat got to him on the last couple of laps.
“I’m just a kid from Oak Bluff, Manitoba (near Winnipeg) where it drops to -50 degrees and I’m here at my third Olympics. I came fourth at the Manitoba Games. I couldn’t even get on the podium there. Fifteen years later I’m fighting for a medal at the Olympic Games. Of course you want more, but that’s all I had in me.
“The whole way, I just kept saying ‘20 more seconds, for the rest of your life.’ I did that until six kilometres. I just ran out of steam. Unfortunately, the triathlon run is 10k and not six,” he added. “The last four kilometres felt like an eternity out there, but I just kept saying ‘the rest of your life.’”
Grinding through the heat, just 12 seconds behind Mislawchuk, was Charles Paquet (Port Cartier, Que.).
The Olympic rookie was rock solid through the triple-sport discipline. Coming out of the water in 30th spot, Paquet set himself up for a fight at the medals himself after posting the top bike time of the day at 51:16.
“It wasn’t easy for me. The swim was pretty hard. I went a bit too hard in the first stretch and I wasn’t feeling that great,” said the 26-year-old Paquet.
After racking his bike, Paquet bolted out of Transition 2 in 24th spot, and began picking his way through the field where he was running in a group of eight athletes fighting for third place.
“I was so close to the top 10 and seeing that I was fighting for a medal was insane. It felt amazing. It was so real to see the guy in third place right in front of me. It was incredible out there. If you would have told me that last year, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Believe he should.
Paquet has been delivering the performances of his life on the elite triathlon circuit over the last 12 months. He surged to a seventh-place finish at the final Olympic qualification race in Cagliari, Italy in May. He posted a career-best fifth-place finish on the WTCS two weeks earlier in Yokohama, Japan. Those followed a seventh-place finish at the Montreal WTCS event last year, just weeks prior to winning his first World Triathlon Cup medal.
“This is just the beginning. I am so motivated now for the next four years,” he added.
An epic battle for Olympic gold also unfolded up front with Great Britain’s Alex Lee and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde running shoulder-to-shoulder until the second lap of the run when the Kiwi pulled away.
It appeared Wilde would be crowned Olympic champion until the determined Yee battled back in the final kilometre of the race. Yee broke the finishing tape with a time of 1:43:33. Wilde settled for the silver medal at 1:43:39, while Leo Bergere, of France, placed third at 1:43:43.
Earlier in the day, Emy Legault carried the Canadian flag in the women’s race.
Overnight rain pelted down on the epic Olympic course until the 55 women triathletes headed to the start pontoon, putting swim technique and race tactics at a premium.
The 28-year-old stayed in control, fighting the current head-on in the swim, and remained upright on the slick cobbles throughout the bike and run course.
Dodging a crash before getting onto the run to complete the tricky course, the Ile Perrot, Que. resident clocked a time of 2:01:54 for 35th spot.
“It was pretty awesome to get to race here in Paris,” said Legault. “I had a pretty good swim. It was a bit all over the place with the current. I got stuck behind a collision. I got out of it okay, but that affected my result. I’m pretty happy overall, especially when you consider my challenges from last year.”
It was a four-woman race for the medals with 800-metres to go. In the end, it was Cassandre Beaugrand (France) thrilling the hometown crowd, taking the gold medal with a time of 1:54:55.
Switzerland’s Julie Derron was second at 1:55:01, while Beth Potter (Great Britain) held on for the bronze medal at 1:55:10.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chris Dornan
Triathlon Canada
T: 403-620-8731
E-mail: chris.dornan@triathloncanada.com
