This has never happened before in triathlon: In the men’s Olympic race, around a third of the athletes were blocked by a boat at the start. While the competition raced like mad, they could only look after the action in disbelief at first.
False starts also happen every now and then in triathlons. Since the night of Monday, the endurance sport of swimming, cycling and running has a new, rather curious variant in this regard. It was not the athletes who made the swimming prelude in Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo unfair, but a camera boat.
This stood in the middle of the way for about a third of the 56-strong starting field in the men’s Olympic race when the starting gun was fired. While their competitors jumped into the water and immediately started like the fire brigade, the “blocked” had no choice but to watch what was happening in disbelief. A video published by the sports broadcaster Eurosport on Twitter shows the unusual scene:
Jet skis stop hurried triathletes
The excitement was correspondingly great – especially since it took some time before the race officials managed to stop the athletes who had dashed off, apparently overheard the corresponding warning tones and could only be stopped after about 100 meters by boats and two jet skis, according to the Reuters news agency.
They all had to go back to the starting pontoon, where the second attempt a few minutes later went smoothly.
The eventual winner Kristian Blummenfelt from Norway took the faux pas calmly after the race. The 27-year-old admitted after the race that he was amazed at the boat. He viewed the meters in the water as an “additional warm-up”. Bronze medalist Hayden Wilde also tried to see something positive out of the situation. “It was actually quite good to tense your arms a little after hanging around for 25 minutes before the start,” said the young New Zealander.
Step underwater: Australians break their noses
For the Australian Jake Birtwhistle, however, the first short trip into the water had painful consequences: According to Reuters, he was kicked in the face and suffered a broken nose. All the more impressive that he was still able to finish the race in 16th place.
The two German starters Jonas Schomburg and Justus Nieschlag meanwhile experienced a used day. Schomburg, whose competition had got off to a promising start, lost contact to the main field after a defect in Austria’s Alois Knabl after about 20 of the 40 kilometers by bike and finally crossed the finish line in 38th place. Nieschlag had to be content with rank 40.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
