Georgia Taylor-Brown led Great Britain out to mixed relay bronze at the World Triathlon Series in Hamburg, laying down a marker ahead of the discipline's Olympic debut.
Freshly-minted world champion Taylor-Brown, World Series debutant Barclay Izzard, Jess Learmonth and Alex Yee came home 40 seconds ahead of Norway in fourth.
Taylor-Brown ran GB into an early lead and revelled in reconnecting with an event that has been added to the Olympic programme for Tokyo 2020.
“The first leg is always hard, and you don’t know what is going to happen but I think it went well today,” said the 26-year-old.
“It seemed like a usual race and we were all together. It would have been hard to break up the bike pack because of the rain on the ground but I went for it on the run again.
“It has been a lot of fun competing in a team again.
“It was obviously a little bit different because we didn’t get to celebrate on the finish line with Alex, but it was really good to run along the course and cheer each other on. I think you just have more to give in a relay.”
Britain have excelled at the first elite triathlon competition to be staged after COVID-19, doubling as the World Championships for 2020.
Manchester native Taylor-Brown was electric on the run in her individual triumph and did it again for her team, handing a 13-second lead to Izzard.
Izzard was soon swum down but stayed in touch with the leaders and Learmonth’s customary strong swim helped her go clear on the bike with France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and USA’s Katie Zaferes.
Yee held third place and couldn’t catch Frenchman Dorian Connix, who opened up a 30-second lead on the bike, perhaps anticipating the Brit’s prowess on the closing run.
That was enough to finish on the podium, 34 seconds behind winners France and 26 behind silver medallists USA.
The GB mixed relay team have now medalled at four successive World Series events, a run stretching back to June 2019 when they won gold on home soil in Nottingham.
British Triathlon performance director, Mike Cavendish, said: “We came into this competition not really knowing what to expect on the back of the strange 2020 season, but we have seen some great performances from the team.
“Georgia put in an excellent performance yesterday and Alex reiterated his potential. I’m pleased with Barclay’s debut at this level, he had a promising individual race and returned with another good performance in the relay. We’re also really happy to be back on the podium in the Mixed Team Relay.
“Competing again has reminded us how much we missed racing so we will get in a solid block of winter training before preparing to race again in 2021.”
Sportsbeat 2020