UIPM 2025 Biathle-Triathle World Championships: Dallenbach (SUI) and Fernandez (FRA) slow hosts' run

South Africa’s stunning Western Cape got a little flicker of Olympic star power as the second day of the UIPM Biathle-Triathle World Championships saw things taken up a notch.

A huge cohort of new champions joined the roll of honour and there were some big names amongst them as Olympian Alexandre Dallenbach of Switzerland raced across the sun-kissed sands of Mossel Bay (RSA) to claim gold on a hectic day of individual Biathle Finals. 

The veteran, who finished 14th at the Paris 2024 Games, came out on top in the Senior Men’s decider while Lea Fernandez of France was crowned Senior Women’s champion with an impressive victory. 

Those gold medals helped stem the flow of gold on another prolific day for the host nation, as 12 titles came South Africa’s way and another four going to fellow African powerhouse, Egypt. 

But with almost 800 participants across the Biathle and Triathle portion of this week’s proceedings alone, there was of course room for a rainbow of nations on the podium. There were also gold medals for Portugal, Great Britain and India with Austria, Greece, Spain and Germany also ending the second day with hardware to show for their efforts. 

The performance of Bhumi Agrawal (IND) in claiming the Junior Women’s title was a fitting reward for the South Asian nation, who brought an impressive team across the ocean to South Africa. Martha Warner (GBR) had earlier broken a relentless run of victories for home challengers when she won the U17 Girls race. 

From Blake Fischer (RSA), who sprinted to glory in the Boys U11 early on Tuesday morning, to ageless wonder Mary Collett (GBR), one of two 77-year-olds in the field, who triumphed in the Women’s Masters 70+ category, it was another joyous day for all ages. 

Wednesday’s third day of action will see attention pivot to Triathle, and a schedule stacked with Mixed Relay deciders and individual finals for the youngest competitors.