**Good news: TEAM USA WINS SILVER IN TRIATHLON’S MIXED RELAY**
PARIS — At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the American triathletes faced a challenging week. Despite their individual struggles, including several personal disappointments, they shone brightly in the mixed relay event.
The triathlon mixed relay, held on a picturesque morning at Beaux-Arts Pont Alexander III, saw Team USA claim a hard-fought silver medal. Taylor Knibb, who had a tough individual triathlon earlier in the week, played a crucial role in this achievement. “It feels so incredible,” said Taylor Spivey, who competed in the relay’s second leg. “All of us didn’t have the best individual race. I don’t know why. We just couldn’t put it together. But we could put it together today, and we made it count. To walk away with the silver medal is really special.”
Knibb, 26, experienced a challenging Olympics, including crashes in the cycling time trial and a disappointing 19th place finish in the individual triathlon. However, she described the mixed relay medal as a “silver lining.”
This silver medal mirrors the success Knibb and Morgan Pearson, 30, achieved at the Tokyo Games, where the mixed relay event debuted. So what makes Team USA excel in this event?
The mixed relay format involves two men and two women from each country competing in a 300-meter swim, a 7-kilometer bike, and a 1.8-kilometer run. In Tokyo 2020, the order was woman, man, woman, man, while in Paris, it switched to man, woman, man, woman.
Seth Rider, a 27-year-old mixed relay specialist, led off for the U.S. team, passing the baton to Spivey 16 seconds behind the leaders. Spivey moved the team up to fifth place, just 13 seconds from gold. Pearson then tagged Knibb in fifth, 21 seconds behind the leaders but only one second from a podium spot.
Knibb made significant progress during her leg. She emerged from the swim in third place, then on the bike, she overtook Great Britain’s Beth Potter and Germany’s Laura Lindemann. Potter, the bronze medalist in the 2024 individual triathlon and a 2016 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, and Lindemann, a three-time Olympian, were strong competitors.
Knibb, in a spirited final run, was narrowly edged by Lindemann at the finish line. The Germans secured the gold, while Team USA claimed silver and Great Britain took bronze.
Rider attributed their success to the American team’s extensive experience in the mixed relay, with several world championship medals over the past eight years. Pearson credited a surge of Olympic spirit for their performance. After a tough individual race, he received a crucial pep talk from his coach, which shifted his mindset and contributed to their silver medal finish.
