Nicola Spirig, the last Swiss Olympic triathlon champion, played a decisive role on the way to Julie Derron's silver medal. She is almost as happy about her success.
Beaming with joy, Julie Derron and Nicola Spirig embrace at the finish line. "Who would have believed it?" they ask each other. "Apart from us." Spirig, who won gold in London 2012 and silver four years later in Rio, was already very confident before the race, but was cautious in public so as not to put any additional pressure on Derron.
"This is very close to my heart," Spirig told the Keystone-SDA news agency afterwards. "Because Julie trained with me for so long, five or six years." In recent years, she has been a role model, then training partner and finally mentor to the 27-year-old from Zurich. So much so that Derron copied her preparation for London almost one-to-one. "I also did two half Ironmans to train strength and endurance," she says after the race. "That's probably the secret solution."
Sutton's experience and knowledge of human nature
Like Spirig before her, Derron trains with successful coach Brett Sutton. "He's an incredibly good coach with lots and lots of experience and knowledge of human nature," enthuses Spirig. "He doesn't train anyone the same, they all have different training plans." And he has used her, Spirig, as a mentor to get Julie this far. "I also talked to her about the Olympics, about what to expect."
Julie Derron's life wasn't always so rosy. Three years ago, she missed out on qualifying for the Games in Tokyo, and in early 2023 she suffered a fatigue fracture in her hip. "It was mentally difficult to know that there wouldn't be many more chances to qualify for the Olympics after that," recalls Derron. However, she made the most of her first opportunity and was able to approach the Olympic year with peace of mind.
Four months in China
She spent four months training in China. "It was certainly a challenge, but it was extremely beneficial for me," says Derron. "I was able to concentrate 100% on the sport and had a great training group. That gave me a great foundation at the start of the year." She benefited enormously from the strong Chinese women, especially in swimming. "They were able to push me and push me to the limit." She then spent the summer working in St. Moritz, where Nicola Spirig also visited her in the final phase.
The result is now this rather surprising silver medal. Surprising for the others at least. Spirig already knew before the race: "Julie was in very, very good shape." Swimming was the basis. "And at the Olympic Games, it's probably not a bad thing if you can go into it without too much pressure. Especially if it's your first."
Perhaps Derron will do the opposite of Spirig in the second Games and follow up her silver with gold. She knows who to ask how to do it.
