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It was a confident group of four Canadian athletes arriving for this week’s World Triathlon Cup. On Sunday, they leaned on Tyler Mislawchuk’s experience to earn a bronze medal in a hard-fought mixed relay in Chengdu, China.
Montreal’s Isla Britton, Charlottetown’s Martin Sobey, Sophia Howell of Airdrie, Alta., and Mislawchuk of Oak Bluff, Man., swam, pedaled and ran to a one hour 22 minute 53 second finish.
“It was an amazing day and a proud moment to represent Canada,” said Britton.
Fresh off individual bronze Saturday, Mislawchuk kept the Canadians at the front of the pack after taking over from Britton. Completing the swim second, the three-time Olympian stayed clean on the bike before demonstrating his stellar run fitness where he was first into the tag zone.
“I found a new level running in the off-season, so I was happy to showcase some of that,” said Mislawchuk. “It was an amazing effort today from Isla, Sophia and just an absolutely electric finish from Martin.”
Britton, a 22-year-old national development team member, set the pace early for the Canadians. She took the opening leg that combined a 300-metre swim, 6-kilometre bike and 1.5 km run to set the early pace for the Canadian foursome.
Eleventh of 13 swimmers out of the water, Britton scrapped her way into podium contention over the bike and run where she handed off Mislawchuk.
“My goal was to put Tyler in the best position possible and hand things over as close to the front as I could,” added Britton. “It was a bit of a slow swim for me. I stayed calm, settled in and worked my way quickly to the front group on the bike. I wanted to keep things smooth and consistent to set myself up for a fast run.”
The 24-year-old Howell maintained a podium position for Canada with the top three nations opening a gap on the field. The United States and France fought to stay connected with the leading trio, setting up a battle of five nations to determine the medals in the decisive final leg.
Completing the penultimate leg in second place, Howell put things in Sobey’s legs for the finish, with Great Britain and Spain breaking away on the bike. Sobey was locked in a battle with the Americans and France for the final spot on the podium that came down to a dramatic finish with the spirited Sobey edging the U.S. at the line.
“We believed all week this team could fight for the podium, and today was about executing and proving that,” said Sobey. “The team was super strong and set me up perfectly to battle for the podium. I never shy away from a sprint on the blue carpet.”
Team Spain won the gold medal in 1:22:22 while the Brits finished 11 seconds back 1:22:33.
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