Tokyo (AFP)

Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt got up early Monday to pick up the Olympic triathlon title at the start of day three of competition at the Tokyo Olympics, while Dutch cycling phenomenon Mathieu van der Poel is eagerly awaited at the event. mountain biking at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Blummenfelt ended British hegemony and Alistair Brownlee, crowned in 2012 and 2016 but absent this year due to injury, and surprised the top names in the humid and stifling heat of Tokyo.

The strong Norwegian is not unknown, since he has two successes in 2021 during the stages of the World Triathlon Series in Yokohama and then in Lisbon, but the French Vincent Luis, double world champion and imperial in 2020, had the favors of predictions.

But Luis broke down from the start of the run and let Blummenfelt, 27, fly to the title, ahead of Briton Alex Yee and New Zealander Hayden Wilde, to claim the first major title in his career. career.

In swimming, the American Katie Ledecky can offer herself in the 400m freestyle her first Olympic title in Tokyo while she will also line up in the 200m, 800m and 1500m in the Japanese capital.

Another great moment awaited in swimming, the 4x100m relay with an explanation awaited between the United States and Australia.

- Japan without Uchimura -

Just eight days after the end of the Tour de France, of which he wore the yellow jersey a few days before giving up to prepare for the Tokyo meeting, Mathieu van der Poel, 26, can still flaunt his class and its versatility on a bike during the MTB event.

Van der Poel, grandson of French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor, collects titles and victories on the road, in cyclo-cross, as well as in mountain biking, with a bronze medal at the 2018 cross-country Worlds (Olympic distance ) and a title of European champion (2019).

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But the French Jordan Sarrou, reigning world champion and the Swiss Nino Schurter who will aim for a fourth consecutive Olympic medal, after bronze in Beijing-2008, silver in London-2012 and gold in Rio-2016, can upset.

In the wake of the great Olympic debut of skateboarding, with the men's title won by the Japanese Yuto Horigome, it is the turn of the "riders" to explain themselves in the "street" event scheduled in the Olympic skatepark.

It is also the start of the men's Sevens rugby tournament with Fiji, crowned in 2016 in Rio for the discipline's first appearance on the Olympic program, as big favorites, New Zealand and Australia.

At the end of the day at the Ariake Gymnastics Center will be awarded the first Olympic medals, with the men's all-around team, with Japan as the favorite despite the absence of its star Kohei Uchimura, down by an injury.

© 2021 AFP