Jess Learmonth Makes It A Hat-Trick In Controversial Race as Georgia Taylor-Brown Reinstated After DQ

Championship 2021

Jersey 18 Sep 2021

There was controversy and talking points aplenty as Jess Learmonth made it a perfect three wins from three while Georgia Taylor-Brown successfully appealed a disqualification having crossed the line in second place in a dramatic race in Jersey.

Learmonth has been utterly dominant in the Super League Triathlon 2021 Championship Series, and arrived in Jersey having already secured wins in the first two races in London and Munich, and was once again in imperious form. She grabbed the early advantage by securing both Short Chutes thanks to a blistering open swim and bike.

The only athlete who could keep pace with her was friend and GB teammate Taylor-Brown. However, any chance of a close finish was ended as she crashed in the final transition leaving Learmonth to storm clear to win. That was not the end of the story though. Taylor-Brown mistakenly thought she had been awarded a Short Chute and took it.

Having been informed of her error before the final lap of the run she opted to make up the distance she had incorrectly cut off. Initially, Taylor-Brown was disqualified, but a meeting of Super League’s Technical Committee reinstated her and vowed to clarify the rules ahead of next week’s finale in Malibu.

French athlete Cassandre Beaugrand was back on the podium for the first time in the Series after coming through a pack to take third place.

The event was Super League Triathlon’s fourth visit to Jersey and raced over the Enduro format, which sees athletes complete three continuous rounds of a 300m swim, 4km bike and 1.6km run.

Learmonth has a perfect 45 points at the top of the Championship Series leaderboard, but with extra points on offer in Malibu and Taylor-Brown having taken three second place finishes, still needs a big last race to secure the title.

“I’m not nervous and I don’t feel the pressure,” insisted Learmonth. “I am just having fun. It’s great. If she would stop decking it it would be Georgia here and not me. I swear before Super League she has never fallen off her bike, never had any issues and then since Super League she decks it or does something in transition.

“I do think it (three SLT wins) is because of the Short Chute. Normally I don’t run easy but saunter about getting to transition but now I am gunning it which breaks the race up a bit more and because it’s so technical there is no chance to catch unless you corner well or take risks.

“The run I felt better on was the third one but the first two I felt awful.”