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Looking Back at 2024: Thoughts and Pictures from a Huge Year of Racing Part 2

Eshe Stockton sprints to the finish line at the Boston Tri.

Yes, I know it’s getting late into January to still be doing “look back” stories. I promise – we’ll be done soon! 2024 was an incredible year for the sport of triathlon, and a year I got to experience a bunch of new events. Considering I’ve been in the sport for almost 40 years and covering it for over 30, that says a lot.

London Triathlon/ Olympics

This was my first year covering the Olympic Games – unfortunately I didn’t get accredited as a photographer, but it was still amazing to be in Paris for the races. On the way to Paris I stopped in London to cover the T100 London event, which was part of the London Triathlon. The ready-made fan base of racers (there were roughly 4,000 participants) helped create an incredible atmosphere for the racing. The energy around the women’s race signalled the potential T100 racing has. The men’s race didn’t quite match that energy, but still offered an exciting day of racing with huge crowd support.

It was a surprisingly hot weekend in London – Chelsea Sodaro does her best to stay cool …

… as did Pieter Heemeryck and Alistair Brownlee the following day.

Since we (I was in Paris for Triathlon Magazine) had an accredited photographer on the ground for the individual races, I didn’t try to take any shots of the men’s and women’s races in Paris. That day of racing, though, was pretty incredible. The drama around the water quality in the Seine seemed to just heighten the anticipation for the race even more.

I did bring my camera to the mixed relay, and while I didn’t have the greatest position for shots, I was able to grab some decent images from that day of racing.

This is France’s Pierre Le Corre coming in off the bike all by himself after crashing during the first leg of the mixed relay. France was truly the prohibitive favourite to win the race, and to their credit, they would fight back to finish fourth.

This was the race for the medals, though – Laura Lindemann has sprinted ahead and somehow uber-biker Taylor Knibb managed to hold off Beth Potter (who competed for the UK at the 2016 Olympics as a runner) for the silver medal.

Boston Tri/ supertri

I’d never been to the Boston Triathlon before, which I realized after I finally made it down there was a huge mistake. This year’s race featured a supertri event and I managed to capture this shot of Alex Yee’s cheeky finish ahead of Alex Yee.

As exciting as the supertri event was, the Boston Triathlon was the highlight of the weekend. Race director Michael O’Neill (pictured – Will Thomas is the co-director) has been on my case to get to the event for years, and I am glad I finally made it there. They do things right in Boston – there’s an incredible community spirit.

Eshe Stockton is a legend at the event and is doing wonders in helping bridge triathlon’s lack of diversity … and she’s only 12. Supertri did an excellent video on Eshe – you can watch it here.

People just seem to have fun …

… whether they are competing or cheering.

Another highlight was getting to meet Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who competed in a relay. What gives with Boston Bruins players and triathlon? Normally Zdeno Chara would have been at the race, too, but he was nursing an injury.

IRONMAN World Championship Nice

The worlds in Nice definitely had its ups and downs. It was one of my favourite days of shooting, but it was also tough because while I was out on the course with my camera, my wife, who was supposed to be racing, was sick in bed. Despite having covered races in Nice over a dozen times, this was my first time up in the mountains on race day.

Marjolaine Pierre moved to Nice to pursue her triathlon career, making her incredible fourth-place finish that much more exciting for the local crowds.

The first 10 km of the run saw eventual champ Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews together …

Eventually Matthews would drop off the pace, and at one point it looked like she might not be able to hang on for second. (I’m guessing everyone knows she did … Matthews is one tough cookie!)

This was one of my favourite shots of the day – Pierre greets her coach, who also happens to be the IRONMAN Nice race director and a triathlon legend himself … Yves Cordier.

OK – that gets me through to the end of September!

Tags:

Boston TriIRONMAN World ChampionshipOlympicssupertri

Notable Replies

  1. Today I learned that Will Thomas (who I worked with back in my Maine Running days) is with the Ethos crew and puts on the Boston Tri.

    Small world…

  2. Avatar for monty monty says:

    I loved that finish of Alex Yee where he just pipped Alex Yee???

    Caption aside, it really was a single shot that could encapsulate their entire season together, and how Hayden tried everything to beat that guy…

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