Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen has today surged to her first Supertri title in remarkable fashion. The 31-year-old outpaced the established Supertri forces of Léonie Périault and Cassandre Beaugrand on the final run leg of the day to cross the line first in Toronto, Canada. And all on her very first Supertri race.
Vermeylen’s victory also made it a great start to the 2025 Supertri season for her Brownlee Racing team (now managed by triathlon legend Tim Don), who pushed the pace from the very start of the three-stage triathlon to overcome the formidable Crown Racing lineup of France’s reigning Olympic Games champ Beaugrand and 2024 Supertri champ Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain.
The Belgian’s margin of victory would be just two seconds over French racer Périault, with Beaugrand six seconds back despite having taken the lead with a kilometre of the run to go. Emma Lombardi and Jeanne Lehair would round out the top five. Taylor-Brown, having rarely raced in 2025, would finish sixth.
“I didn’t expect that,” said an elated Vermeylen at the finish, having raced on the front foot from the very start of the race. “There are a lot of really good girls on the start line today who really know what they’re doing. After the first stage I wondered if this was a very bad tactic for me, but I’m so happy that the team did well. A huge congratulations to Tim, who made sure everything was in place at the right time.”
THE ELIMINATOR RETURNS
Supertri’s debut showcase in Canada’s most populated city was the opening event in the four-leg 2025 series, with stops in Chicago, USA, (23 August), Jersey in the British Isles (21 September) and Toulouse, France, (5 October) to come.
The Toronto route was an open and fast course compared to some of Supertri’s more technical options, with a swim in Ontario Place, before a 200m run to transition via a bridge, before biking and running around Exhibition Place.
The Toronto leg saw a return of the original Supertri Eliminator format, which provides a short break between each of the three 300m swim, 4km bike and 1km run stages, allowing athletes to reset their equipment. The big twist is that the last two athletes to cross the finish line at the end of Stage 1 and 2 will be eliminated.
For 2025, the four teams are Brownlee Racing, Crown Racing, Podium Racing and Stars & Stripes Racing, the latter failing to trouble the top five here in Canada.
RACE BREAKDOWN
STAGE 1
The 300m harbour swim in Ontario Place on the shore of Lake Ontario commenced with Brownlee Racing Olivia Mathias of GB coming to the fore, but it would be her British teammate Tilly Anema who’d exit the water first to earn a Short Chute for her team. The big news would be Supertri stars Georgia Taylor-Brown, Cassandre Beaugrand and Jeanne Lehair of Podium Racing struggling at the back of the field some 15secs in arrears.
Onto the 4km bike and Brownlee Racing would dominate at the front with all four of the athletes in the top six, while pre-race women’s favourites Crown Racing would continue to toil at the back – a dicey tactic with the Supertri Eliminator in operation. Stars & Stripes Nina Eim would crash towards the end of the bike leg but returned to the action soon after. Brownlee Racing would take another Short Chute courtesy of Brit Jess Fullagar.
Onto the single lap 1km run and Beaugrand and Taylor-Brown would move up through the field to eighth and tenth, respectively, but Brownlee Racing would still dominate, with Belgium’s Jolien Vermeylen making it a Short Chute clean sweep for the squad; Podium Racing’s Léonie Périault finished second and Mathias third in the stage. Eliminated would be Sophie Alden of Podium Racing and Eim, who couldn’t recover in time from her crash.
STAGE 2
Onto the second 300m swim of the day and the Crown athletes would come back into the reckoning, yet the Brownlee squad would once again exit the water first, this time Anema and Mathias ahead of Beaugrand, Australian Emma Jeffcoat and Taylor-Brown in the top five.
The reigning Olympic champ Beaugrand would enter the fast and furious 4km bike course first ahead of Anema. Series contender Jeanne Lehair suffered a sloppy transition yet would move from the back up to 11th by the end of the bike leg, just 6secs behind leaders Fullagar and Mathias.
The second 1km run would witness the familiar sight of Beaugrand pushing the pace at the front, with her French compatriots Périault and Lombardi in close pursuit. Beaugrand and Périault would cross the line first; eliminated this time would be Jeffcoat and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal of Stars & Stripes.
STAGE 3
The deciding final stage would begin with a Pursuit start, seeing Périault begin the 300m swim 3secs ahead of Vermeylen (who had a Short Chute), 14secs ahead of Beaugrand and Mathias, and 16secs clear of Lombardi. Vermeylen would lead the field but Beaugrand was swiftly reducing the deficit, pulling level by the final buoy and swimming past (or arguably over) Périault to take the lead and enter T1 first.
Beaugrand was first onto the final 4km bike leg, with Périault and Vermeylen in her slipstream. That trio would dominate but Brownlee Racing would be looking good for the team honours, having three athletes in the top six. Taylor-Brown, despite racing sparingly in 2025, would move into the front pack on the final leg and come into transition first ahead of the lead group of seven.
Onto the 2km double-length final run and Beaugrand would suffer from a slow transition, dropping 6secs behind the leaders. Both Fullagar and Vermeylen took turns at the front but Beaugrand would erase the deficit and surge into the lead. Vermeylen’s Short Chute saw her move into second and then first as Beaugrand faded, with Périault now in second.