Like her journey to Tokyo, Amélie Kretz overcame all obstacles to take an incredible 15th place, the best women’s performance of any Olympic Games by a Canadian. Flora Duffy is the new Olympic triathlon champion. The athlete from Bermuda won the gold medal with a time of 1:55:36. She beat Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown (1:56:50) and American Katie Zaferes (1:57:03).
Right up to her Olympic race, the Sainte-Thérèse triathlete showed unparalleled resilience. She told us this morning: “I was looking forward to racing, training has gone really well in the last few weeks, so I was looking forward to a big race. After a complicated swim, by her own admission “I had a bad swim, I ended up further out on the bike than I would have liked. The current on the left-hand side was really intense, and all the swimmers on the left got screwed” and only 26thout of the water, Amélie Kretz “fought right to the end”. On the attack, but still cautious on the bike on soggy asphalt, she climbed back up to 21st position at the end of the eight laps thanks to excellent positioning, very often well placed in the wheel of specialist Taylor Knibb. “I did what I could on the bike to get back up, but the girls in front had already gone”. A good second transition and the hunt was on. She finally gained five places with the 8thfastest time of the 10 km (34:41). “I had good running legs today (yesterday ndrl), so I was able to move up a few positions”. She finally finished 15th, the best Canadian performance in the history of the Olympic Games. It’s a15th-place finish that’s worth a lot more: “You always want more as an athlete, and seeing that I had the 8th-fastest race time today, I tell myself that if I’d had the swim I’m usually capable of, I could have done really well. But with the track record of the last few years, and especially the last few months, this 15th place is worth a lot more than a 15th place. I’d like to thank my family, my coach Alex Sereno, my support team, Dominique and Stéphane, and a big thank you to Triathlon Québec!”
Amélie Kretz will be back in action this Friday at 6:30pm with the mixed relay, along with Joanna Brown, Tyler Mislawchuk and Matt Sharpe.
