Crown Racing Lead the Way as They Target Back-to-Back Supertri League Titles
After round one of Supertri League 2025, it’s last year’s champions who top the team standings despite Brownlee Racing picking up the individual wins in both the men’s and women’s races.
The race wins for Jolien Vermeylen and Alex Yee may see the two Brownlee Racing athletes top the individual tables after Toronto, but a team total of 73 left them in second place behind defending champions Crown Racing.
A total of 89 points were registered by Crown who saw Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand cross the line in third to secure 13 points, Emma Lombardi finish just behind her in fourth to earn 12 points, with 2024 women’s series winner, Georgia Taylor-Brown, coming home in sixth to pick up 10 points from the women’s race. Emma Jeffcoat added two points from 14th place.
In the men’s race, Vasco Vilaca matched Beaugrand with third and 13 points, whilst Ricardo Batista, Charles Paquet and Tyler Mislawchuk finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectively to contribute 10, 9 and 8 points to Crown’s 89.
Speaking ahead of the opening round of 2025, Crown Racing’s Team Manager, Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack, commented: “Last year’s success means nothing. There is one less race this year and that opens things up.
“We are a bit different to other teams in Supertri in that we build a team for the year so there is balance across all facets of the sport. Our Olympic champions and marquee short course athletes are people we build a team around.
“We know it will be tough to win again. Our success last year, and we have learned this, is to keep a consistency across the series.”
Consistency will be key across the Supertri League races for the athletes, but in the team standings it’s consistency of result within each race that matters and is why Crown are top after round one despite the double win for Brownlee Racing.
McCormack has built a team with all athletes capable of scoring high points whilst other teams score points up and down the table.
“The athletes are still racing individually, just chasing team points,” McCormack explains. “The individual discipline pursuit can be difficult at times, but fundamentally the racing is short enough that they can race individually and you move athletes around and make sure they are aware of the points chase.
“For us it will be the swapping in and out of athletes which will be tough and for us Chicago will be a very difficult round because we will lose a lot of athletes and will field a younger team. We are going in hoping to win but it’s not a foregone conclusion.”
Chicago will host the next of the three remaining races in Supertri League 2025 later in August, followed by Jersey in September and Toulouse in October.
“It’s good to be back in Jersey and it’s a shame we ever left,” McCormack remarks. “The area we race now has the construction work finished and it will look magnificent as a racing course.
“That run in and out of the swim can be a bit tricky, especially in the Supertri format, but in my opinion it has been the best venue for Supertri events.”
Although Supertri’s team dynamic rewrites the saying that triathlon is an individual sport, it does also reward individual’s performances. Taylor-Brown is the serial Supertri League winner in the women’s overall standings, but will face a battle if she is to reign supreme again in 2025.
“GTB’s biggest challenge is that she has taken a hiatus,” McCormack explains. “She informed us post-Olympics that she wanted to take a back seat in her racing. For anyone in an Olympic build it is a long journey and she wanted to do other things and she came back to us and asked if she could race Supertri and she enjoys this.
“GTB’s biggest challenge will be some of the young stars. Emma Lombardi is on our team and is strong and Jeanne Lehair will be a big challenger.”
Despite the battle for the individual crown, McCormack is well aware of the important role that Taylor-Brown has in his team’s overall success.
“What GTB brings to our team is a real motherly dynamic, an experienced dynamic to a lot of the athletes. Her performance is one thing but her being part of the team is very important.
“Even if not playing it in racing, she comes across as the team leader with a lot of input for the others.”
After the first round of Supertri League 2025, Crown Racing top the team standings on 89 points, with Brownlee Racing sitting second on 73. They are closely followed by Podium Racing in third on 69 points, with Stars and Stripes trailing the rest on 51.
The action from Supertri League 2025 continues on Saturday 23 August when the athletes blow back into the windy city, Chicago. International viewing is available through Warner Bros. Discovery including on TNT+ in the UK and Ireland, HBO Max in the USA, and Eurosport across Europe. The racing will also be available to stream on discovery+.
