PHILIPSBURG—Fabien Husson from St. Barths maintained his unblemished record of winning the Olympic Individual category for the third consecutive year on Sunday at the Sonesta Boardwalk Triathlon. The only time he didn’t win was in 2019 when he was beaten by Guadeloupe’s Olivier Noglotte, and 2020 was a fun Quarantine Triathlon during the COVID pandemic when many big names stayed home. SXM Tri Academie’s Greg Pigeon must be wondering what more can he do to beat Husson. Once again, he had to settle for second place in a replay of last year with the gap between the two about the same but the finish times for both athletes were not as fast as last year. That surely would have something to do with the extreme heat. Third place in the Olympic Individual went to Gabriel Pertusot. The Olympic Individual had a record entry of 37 athletes. First in the female category was Caroline Deplanque (16th overall), second Aude Vermillard (17th overall) and third Joy Berlemont (26h overall). There were seven Olympic distance teams. First went to Fast and Furious (Mathias, Reni, Florentine), second The Dutchies (Jollen, Adealle, Noah) and third team SBH Triathlon (Lucas, Jessica, Jerôme). The Sprint Individual attracted 41 entries. First place went to Julien Chabeuf, second to Peter Vander, and third Thomas Carty. St. Maarten Roadrunners President Krispijn Teunissen was fourth overall. Céline Verdonck was the first of the women to finish (11th overall), Héléne Girardeau from St. Barths second (14th overall) and Eline Broere third (17th overall) The Junior Individual Sprint category saw Jolle Kamminga emerge first Junior and fifth overall. Second went to Pepijn Vriezen (eighth overall) and third Meks Teunissen (ninth overall). A remarkable swim from Vriezen (the fastest time of 13:57) enabled him to stay ahead of Teunissen. In the Sprint Teams (eight entries) it was Team Saba and SXM first (Gigi, Otis, James) second went Youth Power (Nicolas, Jahlem, Desire) and third Green Tigers (Dario, Dario, and Agnes). Making its debut at this event was the “Try a Tri”, a short distance triathlon for beginners which drew 13 entries. Florence Gonon took first place, Adelaide Le Gac was second, and Michael Benjamin third. Despite the heat, Friendly Island Triathlon Association (FITA) organiser Susy Piscione noted no medical interventions were needed for the heat. But there were a couple of crashes at the speed bump on the descent past the former Great Bay Hotel when Jean Marc-Outil and another athlete forgot the bump was there. Next year the bump will be marked with some reflective paint. “In all we had over 150 athletes which is the most we’ve had for many years. We realise we are going to have to start at 6:00am next year as every year seems to be getting hotter,” she said. Prizes were awarded in all the age categories and for fastest swimmer, fastest cyclist and fastest runner in the Olympic distance. These went respectively to Matias Piazza (16), Gregory Pigeon, and Fabien Husson. Complete results and times are on Tri Sport’s website.
