Lisa Tertsch claimed the world triathlon title for the first time as Great Britain’s Beth Potter had to settle for third place in the overall standings.
Tertsch won gold in the World Triathlon Championship finals in Wollongong, Australia, with a time of one hour 56 minutes 50 seconds.
The 26-year-old German finished 14 seconds clear of Italy’s Bianca Seregni, with France’s Emma Lombardi a further 12 seconds back.
Tertsch collected 1,250 points for winning the event, which took her overall tally to 3886.26 as she leapfrogged defending champion Cassandre Beaugrand (3577.04) of France and Potter (3313.18) into top spot.
The 33-year-old Scot was joint leader with Beaugrand before the event began but Tertsch, who had been fourth, produced a superb performance to seal victory.
Beaugrand lost ground early in the 10km run, in hot and blustery conditions, while Potter failed to keep pace with the leading pack – which allowed Tertsch to cash in as she excelled on a steep course.
In the men’s event, Australian Matt Hauser capped a dominant season as he won gold in a time of 1:42:42 to clinch his first world title success.
Hauser finished with 4,250 points, comfortably clear of Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo and Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca.
Beth Potter says she has felt less pressure this year as she seeks to clinch a second world triathlon title on Sunday.
The British Olympic bronze medallist is joint leader with defending champion Cassandre Beaugrand of France before the final event in Australia.
Potter admitted the build-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics and event itself took its toll.
“I was going in as one of the favourites to win Olympic gold and there was a lot of pressure and expectation on that one day,” said the Scottish triathlete, 33.
“It was really hard and I felt like I could never really get into my groove last year.
“I struggled when I got off the bike to feel like myself running and it was really frustrating as there was no reason for it, because it wasn’t like that in training.
“It just shows how much pressure I put on myself that year to come away with a medal. I don’t think I’ve ever dug as deep as I did in that Olympic race to get that medal and it meant so much to me to just get the bronze.”
She won the World Triathlon Championship Series from Beaugrand in 2023 before roles were reversed last year.
Potter has tried a new coaching set-up this year and spent nearly a month at altitude in the Swiss alpine resort of St Moritz.
“I just never found any part of my running easy last year and that was the one thing I always relied on to get myself out of trouble in races. It took me longer than I thought to recover off the back of that Olympic race,” she said.
“Even just to enjoy doing triathlons again, it took me a good few months of off-season and getting back into the new season to actually think I wanted to be on the start line and race, and enjoy it. That was quite hard for me as it’s my job, my livelihood.
“It’s taken me a bit of time at the start of the year to get to grips with some new training and part of it was mentally getting over the toll last year took on my mind and body. I’m really enjoying the new training methods and trying something a little different. It’s the lowest risk year to try something.”
Potter is tied with Olympic champion Beaugrand on 2,925 points but insists Sunday’s finale in Wollangong is “not a two-horse-race.
There is a gap of more than 200 points to the chasing pack led by Jeanne Lehair, ahead of Lisa Tertsch and Leonie Periault, with 1,250 points on offer to the winner in Australia.
The Scot will be cheered on by several family members – including two aunts who live nearby – as she takes on the 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.
Beth Mooney produces a brilliant innings, making 109, to save Australia’s innings against Pakistan as her side recover from 76-7 to 221-9 at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Luke and Beth Martin had been on a dream holiday to Turkey when tragedy struck on April 27Credit: GoFundMe
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Mum Beth from Portsmouth reportedly fell ill on her way to TurkeyCredit: GoFundMe
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Marmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul where Ms Martin died
She was rushed to a two-star-rated public hospital, where she is said to have taken her last breath and had her heart allegedly removed without any permission.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) warns that coroners in Turkey can take small tissue samples and organs for testing “without the family’s permission” under Turkish laws.
The advisory says that these orphans are usually returned before the person’s body is released.
However, Turkish authorities “might keep he body parts without permission in exceptional circumstances”, the foreign office warned.
The travel warning was placed before Ms Martin’s death and has nothing to do with her tragic case.
That’s because hospitals in Turkey have faced accusations of stealing organs and facilitating illegal transplants.
Meanwhile, the British government in its travel advisory warned tourists to be aware of medical treatments in the country.
The Foreign Office suggested that people visiting the country for medical tourism should exercise caution and discuss plans with a UK doctor beforehand.
The travel advisory reads: “We are aware of six British nationals having died in Turkey in 2024 following medical procedures.
“Some British nationals have also experienced complications and needed further treatment or surgery following their procedure.”
Brit mum, 28, mysteriously dies on Turkey holiday before horrified family find ‘her HEART had been removed by doctors’
Ms Martin was wheeled to Marmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital – a low-rated public hospital built on the outskirts of the Turkish capital.
After scrambling for an ambulance, she was finally admitted to the hospital, which offers Istanbul‘s International Patient Service serving foreign patients.
The doctors are understood to have checked her heart by performing an angiogram – a form of X-ray that shows blood vessels.
After doing the checks, the doctors told husband Luke they did not find anything suspicious.
Her family claims they were left completely in the dark by Turkish authorities throughout the whole ordeal.
And sickeningly, once they finally got back to the UK with her body, a UK autopsy revealed her heart had been removed – without any prior consent or authorisation.
Marmara Pendik Hospital is now facing a negligence investigation over Ms Martin’s sudden death, according to Ms Martin’s family.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) is also making its own enquiries with local authorities, the Daily Mail reports.
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The public hospital has a low rating on Google, averaging just two stars.
A website operated by the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Health states that the hospital’s principles are “transparency and accountability [with] people at the focal point of the fairness of the health service that is excellent”.
The Sun has reached out to the hospital for comment.
Meanwhile, Luke told how he was then shocked when Turkish police initially accused him of poisoning and killing his wife after her shocking death.
She was being treated in intensive care, he said, before adding he was banned from seeing her.
Beth and Luke’s parents flew out the following day and were again kept in the dark.
They were then shocked to discover Beth had been transferred to another hospital overnight, due to “concerns with her heart”, with none of the family members informed.
Close friend Ellie, who travelled to Turkey to try and help, detailed her experience of what happened after Beth’s death.
She revealed that Beth was supposed to be transferred to a private clinic.
But the public hospital was slow to act and “stopped her” from doing so.
She told how the doctors were acting strangely.
Ellie explained: “All they went on about is ‘are you going to sue the hospital? Sign this bit of paper’.
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The hospital has low ratings on Google
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Beth pictured with her husband LukeCredit: gofundme
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Luke was initially accused of poisoning BethCredit: GoFundMe
“I said: ‘Is there something we should be suing for? Do you know something we don’t? Because that’s really suspicious.'”
The family, who have not been told her cause of death, claim they were also forced to carry Beth in a body bag through the hospital.
She blasted the hospitals, saying: “The insurance company wanted to move her to a private hospital but the public hospital in Istanbul were not cooperating, they were being slow and delaying reports and not sending information over.
“They stopped her.”
She noted how suspicious it was that Beth’s hair was in “perfect” shape despite the mum undergoing “45 minutes of CPR”.
She speculated: “They said they did 45 minutes of CPR but anyone who has ever had CPR or has seen CPR knows how brutal it is.
“When I saw Beth in the morgue after she had her hair in two French plaits and they were perfect.
“There is no way they did CPR for 45 minutes, I know that,” she defiantly stated.”
She added that medical reports rule out food poisoning as a cause of death, but they still do not confirm how exactly the mum died.
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The family’s nightmare started hours after arriving on holiday in TurkeyCredit: Getty
Olympic triathlon double bronze medallist Beth Potter returned to action with second place in the World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama.
Potter, who was 14th for Great Britain over 10km in last month’s European Road Running Championships, finished four seconds behind Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair with Germany’s Lisa Tertsch in third, two seconds back.
Reigning Olympic and world champion Cassandre Beaugrand of France crashed out on lap six of the bike leg.
Therese Feuersinger of Austria held a narrow lead over Tertsch and Lehair after the swim, with Potter and Beaugrand 14 seconds behind.
Weather conditions resulted in a changed bike course and Potter and the chasing group caught up with the leaders by lap three.
Lehair went clear in the run and held on for victory, despite the Briton running the fastest run leg in the race.
In the Para races, Tokyo gold medallist and Paris bronze medallist Lauren Steadman was a comfortable winner of the women’s PT5 category, with Michael Taylor taking silver in the men’s PT4 behind French star Alexis Hanquinquant.
