Cassandre Beaugrand Sets French 5K Record and Joins the Sub-15 Club

Cassandre Beaugrand competes at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Sure, she “only” came fourth in the race, but a triathlete finishing fourth against some of the world’s best runners, all while setting a national record, is impressive and worth noting. Today Olympic gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand ran a speedy 14:53 at the Monaco Run to break the French national 5 km road record by five seconds.

The race was won by Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw in 14:33, with the Netherlands’ Diane Van Es setting a new European 5 km record to take second (14:39). Slovenia’s Klara Lukan rounded out the podium in 14:45. You can see the full results here.

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Beaugrand set the record thanks to a speedy 2:49 final km. Here are her splits:

• 1 km: 3:01
• 2 km: 6:02 (3:01)
• 2.5 km: 7:35
• 3 km: 9:05 (3:03)
• 4 km: 12:04 (2:59)
• 5 km: 14:53

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Beaugrand is no stranger to representing France at high-level running races. She’s a five time junior national cross country running champion, and she’s competed at the World Cross Country Championships four times in the U20 category. She also ran the 1,500 m at the World Junior Championships in 2014.

Triathlon fans don’t have to worry that we won’t see the reigning Olympic and world champion competing in any multisport events – she’s announced that she’ll be racing in the new Professional Triathletes Organisation-backed Lievin Triathlon at the end of March, then will compete in another indoor race at the Supertri E World Triathlon Championship two weeks later. She’ll make her World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) debut in Yokohama.

It is interesting that Beaugrand chose to compete in a running race rather than the season-opening WTCS Abu Dhabi race next weekend since she is a member of the Bahrain Endurance team, which would presumably have liked to see her compete in the region.

Today’s performance does indicate that Beaugrand remains in excellent form after having recently switched coaches and training base. Earlier this year she announced that she was leaving her coach Gavin Smith and the training base in Loughborough, England, to start working with Glenn Poleunis in Girona, Spain.

“It’s never easy to change something when it’s working so well, but I’ve always followed my heart and owned my choices,” Beaugrand posted on Instagram. “After the Olympics, I decided I needed some sun again and left the UK.”

Fastest Triathlete Over 5 KM

As fast as Beaugrand’s time might be, she’s actually still a bit shy of the best 5 km run by a triathlete – that goes to Scotland’s Beth Potter, who ran 14:41 at the Podium 5 km race in 2021, which would have set a new world record. That time was never certified by World Athletics, even though the course was deemed to be accurate, because there was no doping control at the race and the timer didn’t have the appropriate certification.

We’ll get to see Potter and Beaugrand compete against each other at the Supertri E World Championship event – Potter won that race last year ahead of the French star.

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