PHILIPSBURG—St. Barths Triathlete Fabien Husson repeated his success of 2021 by winning Sunday’s 33rd Boardwalk Triathlon for the Olympic distance in 2:08:47, to beat rival St. Martin’s Gregoire Pigeon from SXM Tri Academie who settled for second place in 2:11:58.
Pigeon however, currently in the best form of his sporting career, was seven seconds faster than Husson on the bike segment, but fell short in the swim and the run. His performance on the bike earned him a special Olympic prize.
The Olympic prize for the fastest swim went to Mathias Piazza from Carib Swim Team and the Olympic prize for the fastest run went to Jeannot Gouin.
Third place in the Olympic Individual went to Husson’s training partner from St. Barths Stéphane Lenoir who finished in 2:17:14. It’s safe to say that Husson, Pigeon and Lenoir are the fastest triathletes in this region right now.
SXM Tri Academie’s Caroline Deplanque was the first female to finish the Olympic Individual in seventh place in a time of 2:37:39.
The Individual Sprint distance was won by SXM Tri Academie’s Maxime Kruszewska in 1:09:15 ahead of second placed Alexandre Guerre from Tarascon Athletisme (1:12:02) and Sain-Martin Extreme Runner Julien Chabeuf third (1:13:25).
St. Maarten Roadrunners President Krispijn Teunissen placed seventh (1:16:30) while lower down Olivia Laurence and Sara Jane Hoistema battled for first place in the female category. It was Laurence who prevailed with a 10-second winning margin over Hoitsema (1:23:53). Regular stalwart Mary Wrigley looked to be thoroughly enjoying herself cruising into 16th place (1:26:46) for fourth female overall.
Team Connecte (Saphir Thomas, Andy Guibreteau, Jeannot Gouin) was the first Olympic team to finish (2:07:27) out of eight teams and United Nations (Gigi Cai, Yerlin Garcia, Anae Doranges) the first Sprint Team to finish (1:10:22) out of 10 teams.
A total of 111 athletes took part in the Boardwalk Triathlon in either Olympic or Sprint distance. This year there were no triathletes from Guadeloupe to test the dominance of St. Barths who came over in record numbers.
The fastest swimmers of the day, 11 in all, came from Carib Swim Team. The direction of the swim course was changed slightly so swimmers approaching the beach didn’t have the glare of the sun on their faces. This year drafting on the bike segment was allowed. Also, a record number of beginner triathletes participated.
“The weather conditions were ideal and it was already light by 5:30am so next year we might start at 6:00am instead of 6:30am,” Friendly Island Triathlon Association (FITA) board member Susy Piscione said. “We had amazing support not only from all our sponsors and volunteers but also from the police and VKS with 18 officers. We’ve never had that many before and it made the road very safe for the cyclists.”
