Women's Triathlon Olympic Updates: Barthelemy, Belgium Place Fifth in Relay
7/30/2021 10:20:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving, Olympics
• Tokyo Olympics Site | U-M Olympics Coverage
Saturday, July 31
Triathlon Mixed Relay
Former U-M women's swimmer Val Barthelemy competed for Belgium in the first Olympic triathlon mixed relay Saturday morning (July 31) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at Odaiba Marine Park. The Belgian quartet finished fifth (1:24:36), two seconds behind the Netherlands (1:24:34).
The triathlon mixed relay consists of two men and two women from each country and requires each athlete to swim 300 meters, cycle for eight kilometers, and run for two kilometers before tapping the hand of their teammate to pass the relay.
Barthelemy completed the third leg of the relay and helped the Belgians move up a spot from sixth to fifth with her 22:08 time that was the fourth fastest of her segment. She logged the fastest swim time of the leg at 4:17, finished the bike portion of the race in 10:24, and completed the run in 6:20 to cap her first Olympic experience.
Great Britain (1:23:41) won the inaugural Olympic event, finishing 14 seconds ahead of the United States (1:23:55) and 23 seconds ahead of France (1:24:04).
• Triathlon Mixed Relay: 5. Belgium (1:24:36)
• Results and Video (NBCOlympics.com)
Val Barthelemy (Getty Images)
Tuesday, July 27
Women's Triathlon
Former Wolverine women's swimmer Val Barthelemy made her Olympic debut competing for Belgium in the women's triathlon Tuesday morning at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo. The 2013 U-M alumna finished 10th with a time of 1:58:49, three minutes and 13 seconds behind gold medalist Flora Duffy of Bermuda (1:55:36) and 1:46 off a spot on the podium.
Barthelemy completed the 1,500-meter swim in 19:59 and in 17th place but was able to make up ground in the second leg of the race. After turning in the top transition time from water to bike, she was completed the 40-kilometer bike portion of the event in 1:03:48 to move into seventh place entering the final leg of the competition. Barthelemy had another great transition from bike to run but fell back to 10th place by the five-kilometer mark and never quite made up ground, finishing the run in 35:12.
Barthelemy will get a second chance to compete with the mixed relay scheduled for Saturday (July 31) morning at 7:30 in Japan (6:30 p.m. EDT Friday).
Women's Triathlon: 10. Val Barthelemy (1:58:49)
• Stats and Video (NBCOlympics.com)
