Switzerland wins its second medal at the Summer Games in Paris - in a race in which nobody expected to win a precious metal. The 27-year-old Julie Derron from Zurich wins silver in the triathlon.
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- Julie Derron from Zurich sensationally wins the silver medal in the triathlon at the Olympic Games.
- The podium finish comes as a surprise, as Derron was not one of the big favorites for the medal. However, she herself said in an interview after the race: "Three or four weeks ago, I told my coach that I had the feeling that I could win a medal."
- The 27-year-old explained her almost perfect race as follows:" I thought I'd give it my all until it blew me away."
Julie Derron surprised everyone - but probably not herself. The Swiss athlete came out of the Seine 46 seconds behind after the swim. She immediately caught up with the leading group on the bike. She then pushed the pace - first on the bike and then - surprisingly - on the run.
Derron laid the foundations for a medal with her accelerated run. One by one, her rivals were forced to abandon her. In the end, only the Frenchwoman Cassandre Beaugrand was stronger than Derron, who was able to break away from Derron a good 1000 meters before the finish.
In an interview with SRF, Derron said: "That was pretty much the perfect race. After the swim, I had to catch up on the bike. I thought I'd give it my all until it blew me away. On the run, I just wanted to keep up for as long as possible, I don't know exactly what got into me, but nobody overtook me.
Julie Derron celebrates her silver medal as she crosses the finish line, Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand from France kneels on the left
Image: Keystone
Triathlon Julie Derron surprises with the silver medal
Image: Keystone
Julie Derron often set the pace on the final run course, reducing the original leading group of nine to a quartet
Image: Keystone
Julien Derron came out of the Seine 46 seconds behind the leaders
Image: Keystone
Julien Derron quickly caught up with the leading group on the bike
Image: Keystone
Julie Derron was overwhelmed with emotion after crossing the finish line
Image: Keystone
It is already the sixth Swiss Olympic medal in triathlon
Image: Keystone
The race took a lot of energy
Image: Keystone
Julie Derron celebrates her silver medal as she crosses the finish line, Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand from France kneels on the left
Image: Keystone
Triathlon Julie Derron surprises with the silver medal
Image: Keystone
Julie Derron often set the pace on the final run course, reducing the original leading group of nine to a quartet
Image: Keystone
Julien Derron came out of the Seine 46 seconds behind the leaders
Image: Keystone
Julien Derron quickly caught up with the leading group on the bike
Image: Keystone
Julie Derron was overwhelmed with emotion after crossing the finish line
Image: Keystone
It is already the sixth Swiss Olympic medal in triathlon
Image: Keystone
The race took a lot of energy
Image: Keystone
Exploit with announcement
Derron's performance was sensational - or as she put it "pretty incredible". She won a race in Malaysia in February and one in China in April. In the world rankings, however, Derron is only in 10th place, and in the important World Series rankings she is only 28th. On the other hand, Julie Derron also won gold at the European Championships three years ago.
For Derron herself, the exploit came as no great surprise: "Three or four weeks ago, I told my coach that I had the feeling that I could win a medal." The medal means a lot to her, also because she missed the last Olympic Games in Tokyo: "It makes me extremely proud and happy to go home with a medal."
When asked whether it had taken her a lot of effort to jump into the dirty Seine water, Derron said: "It's competition day, so you focus on the competition. During the swim, I once thought, oh God, I'm swallowing a lot of water. But I trust that the rules were followed."
Derron does not yet know exactly how the silver medal will be celebrated. Although she was optimistic going into the race, a medal celebration was not planned: "But we will certainly have a toast together," says Derron.
This is the fifth time that Swiss women have won a medal at the Olympic Games. After Brigitte McMahon (gold in 2000), Nicola Spirig (gold in 2012 and silver in 2016) and Magali Messmer (bronze in 2000), Julie Derron can now also wear Olympic medals.
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