Leonie Periault

One of the greatest tributes paid to Léonie Periault is that she has had a legitimate claim to be France’s number one female triathlete over the past five years. Given the outrageous strength of a team that also includes Cassandre Beaugrand, Emma Lombardi and co, that is quite an accolade.

Léonie grew up in Versailles and raced her first triathlon at the age of eight. Her early interest in the sport set her on a pathway towards the elite ranks that seemed ever more likely as she achieved a string of successes at junior levels.

Under the guidance of coach Guillaume Lepors at Issy-les-Moulineaux, she collected five National titles in France in triathlon and duathlon. She proved herself against the best youngsters in Europe as she was runner-up at the Junior European Championship. Léonie collected the same accolade multiple times at the World level to give herself the perfect platform to step onto the elite stage. Her first title came in 2016 at the European Cup event in Weert, Netherlands, and she has been a force ever since.

Léonie is a vital member of the dominant French Mixed Relay team, along with Cassandre Beaugrand, Dorian Coninx and Vincent Luis. They produced a brilliant display to take the World Championship title in 2018 and followed that up with a gold medal at the European Championships in Glasgow. Léonie has also been a regular on the Super League Triathlon circuit, with her best result coming in Singapore in 2019, where she placed fourth.

She had a superb Olympics in Tokyo as she finished the top French women in the individual event in fifth place and was part of the France team that secured a bronze medal in the Mixed Relay.

Injury issues have derailed her journey somewhat, but she bounced back in 2023 and regained some of her best form heading into supertri, although her results were consistent rather than always spectacular.

That was far from the case in 2024 at WTCS Yokohama however, where she claimed a maiden win at that level in spectacular fashion. 

Léonie moved to Montpellier in 2015 to train under the direction of coach Stéphanie Gros and is now a member of the prestigious Poissy Triathlon.

She finished 27th at her home Olympics in Paris.