This was our preview of the women’s individual Olympic Games Triathlon race at Paris 2024 – you can click here for a full report and results on how Cassandre Beaugrand claimed a brilliant gold for France.
The Olympic Games are back, with triathlon making its seventh appearance as the best short-course triathletes in the world prepare to battle it out for that elusive gold medal at Paris 2024 – and at last we will see action TODAY (Wednesday July 31).
After the postponement of the men’s race on Tuesday, it is the elite women who will now be first up (water permitting) when they hopefully dive into the iconic River Seine early on July 31. And Paris 2024 and World Triathlon officials have confirmed that water quality levels are acceptable and the race WILL go ahead.
Reigning Olympic champion Flora Duffy will lead the lineup in what may well be her last ever short-course event, with the Bermudian legend attempting to become the first woman ever to win back-to-back triathlon gold medals.
In our TV guide for the women’s individual race below, we have got all the information you need, including start times, streaming and a brief preview of the main contenders.
Start time and how to watch live
The individual women’s race will definitely take place today (Wednesday July 31), with the gun going off in Paris at 08:00 local time. This corresponds to 07:00 in the UK, 02:00 on the East Coast and 23:00 on Tuesday July 30 on the West Coast.
The action in the French capital will be available to watch via media rights holders, which vary from country-to-country. In the United Kingdom, the racing will be available on BBC Sport, with Discovery Eurosport providing coverage across Europe.
Additionally, in France the racing will be live on France Télévisions, with German viewers able to watch the race on ARD/ZDF, Italy airs coverage on RAI while the race in Spain will be on RTVE. In North America, CBC will be providing coverage in Canada and NBC/Peacock will broadcast and stream the race in the United States.
Elsewhere, the race will be available on Nine in Australia, Globo in Brazil, Fuji TV/NHK/Nippon TV/TBS/TV Asahi/TV Tokyo in Japan, SKY NZ in New Zealand and SuperSport in South Africa.
Paris race course for Olympic Games triathlon
The individual races in Paris will be contested over the Olympic distance, which consists of a 1500m swim in the River Seine, a 40km bike made up of seven laps of 5.715km and a 10km run made up of four laps of 2.5km.
![Taylor Spivey Olympic Test Event Paris 2023 [Photo credit: World Triathlon / Wagner Araujo]](jpg/taylor-spivey-olympic-test-event-paris-2023.jpg)
In the French capital, the race course is centred around the Pont Alexandre III bridge, with transition situated on the bridge itself. The course takes in many of the city’s most famous sights, including the iconic Champs-Élysées on the bike.
For an in-depth look at the course itself and how it could impact the way the race pans out, hclick here for Jonathan Turner’s exacllent analysis.
Women’s main contenders
Whilst our resident triathlon encyclopedia John Levison has already provided his predictions and podium picks, we wanted to give you a quick overview of the biggest names to look out for on Wednesday.
Reigning champion Duffy, who returned to racing earlier this season after a 500-day hiatus, will face a stiff challenge to take a second consecutive win, having finished seventh and eighth in her two WTCS appearances prior to Paris.
The women at the front of those races, namely Cassandre Beaugrand of France, Lisa Tertsch of Germany and Beth Potter of Great Britain, are all chasing a first Olympic individual medal, and will be eager to take down a legend on their way to gold.
Potter, who won here at the Test Event last year, is the reigning world champion, but is yet to find the form that saw her dominate the short course scene last season, but will hope to rekindle that before race day.
Beaugrand, on the other hand, has flipped the script on the Brit and has gone from bridesmaid to star of the show, just at the right time. After wins at WTCS Cagliari and WTCS Hamburg in 2024, the Loughborough-based pro looks in great shape for gold.
Tertsch, along with Tokyo silver medalist Georgia Taylor-Brown, French rising star Emma Lombardi and America’s queen of versatility Taylor Knibb, is amongst a group of women who are contenders for a medal, but not outright favourites for gold.
In what appears to potentially be a race between five women for the bronze medal behind Beaugrand and Potter, who will deliver on race day? Whatever happens, it is set to be a real blockbuster.
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Click here for all the latest Paris 2024 Olympic Games Triathlon news, analysis and opinion.
