Three golds for French amateurs at Ironman 70.3 in Nice

13 September the Ironman 70.3 world championship in Nice brought French amateurs three world titles and ten age-group podiums — while among the professionals not a single French athlete finished higher than 13th place.

Professionals left without a top-10

The men’s race was won by New Zealander Hayden Wilde in 3:50:51, ahead of Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt and Belgian Jelle Geens, reports Nice Premium. The best of the French was Simon Viain — 13th place and 3:56:50.

Meanwhile, in the age-group categories, where more than six thousand amateurs started, the French collected medals in almost every category: a 1.9 km swim in the Bay of Angels, a 90 km bike leg over the hills and a 21.1 km run along the sea.

Four French athletes in the top five of M30-34

In the M18-24 category Antoine Viertaix finished second in the world and fifth overall among amateurs. In M25-29 Robin Lemercier took second and Victor Tourde third.

The most French-heavy group was M30-34. Alexandre Caille (4:18:03), the 2024 world champion in the same category, finished second and beat compatriot Anatole Giraud-Telme (4:18:04) by exactly one second. Followed by Brice Gayant (4:20:16) and Florian Richard (4:21:21) — four French athletes in the top five. Julien Orhan was sixth in M35-39 (4:33:04), Richard Sumpter third in M45-49, and in M65-69 two athletes reached the podium: Christian Masera and Jean-Luc Franchi, lists 3bikes.

«I am proud of this podium, all the more so in front of my family, for my second Ironman race and my first performance at this level,» said Anatole Giraud-Telme.

Three golds: ages 50, 55 and 80

Laurent Lambert of AS Monaco Triathlon became world champion in M50-54 with a time of 4:38:57. Christophe Bastie won the M55-59 group (4:54:10), and Albert Dulac took M80-84 (8:12:08).

«I had personal expectations that I was able to meet despite tendonitis. It is a challenge every kilometre, and it’s great to take part in a race in such a magical place for triathlon,» shared Laurent Lambert.

Nice hosted the Ironman 70.3 world championship for the second time since 2019. Major events on the Côte d’Azur are coming one after another: at the end of August the region hosted a Vuelta stage, and we wrote about world-class female athletes from our area in a feature about five Tour de France riders.

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Photo: K / Pexels