The Belgian Hammers team won the Olympic qualifiers in Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday. As a result, the mixed triathlon relay team is firmly in place in the Tokyo Olympics.
Claire Michel, Gilles Jens, Valerie Barthelemy and Martin Van Reel outperformed their rivals from Italy and Switzerland. These three countries are allowed to go to Tokyo along with the top seven countries in the world, which were absent in Lisbon.
Belgian hammers each had to swim 300 meters, cycle 7.2 km and run 1.8 km. They finished at 1h23:58, 50 seconds behind Italy and Switzerland (both at the same time).
Claire Michel opened the Belgian national team and handed the task over to Jelly Jeans in fourth place, thirteen seconds behind leaders Italy and Denmark. Jens had to give up two places after swimming, while Denmark, Italy and Switzerland took the lead in the lead. Limburger, with Norwegian Kristian Blumenfelt, managed to get nearly twenty seconds over the front runners. Then Valerie Barthelemy managed to make the connection after swimming. A pioneer group of five has grown up in cycling, as the Swiss Nikola Spyrigg sprints while jogging. Behind the Olympic champion in London, Barthelemy moved in second place to Martin Van Riel. He made up a nine-second deficit and walked out of the bike park as a captain. Then he systematically expanded his progress.
Michelle, Barthélemy, Jeans and Van Reel, all among the top fifteen in the final round of the World Triathlon Series in Yokohama last week, are also almost certain to participate in the games individually.
