HOLLY Lawrence, a triplet from Buckland St Mary, revealed she was stoked after claiming personal revenge and banishing her crash demons to help Team Europe retain triathlon’s Collins Cup. 

The slippery Slovakian conditions in 2021 saw Lawrence hit the deck on the bike, allowing Team International’s Ellie Salthouse to get the win but on Saturday the Brit avenged that result by finishing the 100km course four-and-a-half minutes faster than her Australian nemesis.

Lawrence, 32, grew up in Somerset and was neck and neck with Salthouse after the swim before Team USA’s Jocelyn McCauley showed her class on two wheels to move to the front but Lawrence stayed in touch and went into the 18km run holding a lead that she never relinquished.

“It feels good especially since last year I crashed and just finished and chucked it in,” said Lawrence, who contributed 5.5 points to Europe’s total of 53 ahead of Team International’s 38 and winless USA’s 22.5 in triathlon’s version of golf’s Ryder Cup.

“I’m happy to get almost maximum points for the team and I’m stoked that I was useful.

“I got quite lucky actually because Jocelyn passed just at halfway on the bike and then it was into the headwind.

“She’s super strong so I stayed 20 metres behind the whole way back and got a toe in. Before the technical section I surged up and came into Transition 2 first.

“I think I was pretty tactical with that which is not usually me, so I’m pretty pleased.”

Lawrence, who represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, is the latest Welsh success story in swim bike run after the legendary Non Stanford rounded off her major international career with mixed relay silver at Birmingham 2022 before being crowned European champion in Munich.

“I don’t actually follow short distance really anymore but I’m stoked for Non, she’s a great person and great athlete and I’m stoked for her to round out her career like that,” explained Lawrence, who lived in Swansea for six years after moving there for university.

Lawrence now resides in Santa Monica in the US but is a proud member of the successful European squad and admitted she loves the team atmosphere of the Collins Cup at Samorin’s X-Bionic Sphere.

“It’s just a totally different mentality when you are racing in the team,” Lawrence added..

“Every time you pass people, you are cheering on your team members.

“I’d see Nicola [Spirig] and we were hollering at each other – it’s just fun! In some ways it takes the pressure off and in some ways it puts the pressure on as you’re doing it for the team.”

Lawrence will now switch back to focusing solely on herself ahead of the PTO’s US Open in Dallas next month and although she says there is still improvements to be made, she can head back across the Atlantic with renewed confidence.

She said: “I feel like I’ve got a lot of work to do before then but I feel like I’m trending in the right direction.”

The Collins Cup takes place on Saturday 20 August at the X-Bionic Sphere, Bratislava. For full listings of how to watch go to https://protriathletes.org/events/how-to-watch

Words by Josh Graham in Slovakia