PARIS – Harvard track & field and cross country alumna Lisa Tertsch '21 made her Olympic debut in Paris this morning, as the Darmstadt, Germany native finished in ninth place in the women's triathlon.

In Olympic competition, the triathlon consists of three legs, 1500m of swimming, 40km (24.85 miles) of biking, and concludes with 8.55km of running (5.31 miles). Across all three legs, Tertsch finished with a time of 1:57.03, just three seconds off the gold medal time of 1:54.55 from France's Cassandre Beaugrand.

Tertsch kicked-off the competition with a segment time of 22:45 in the swim, which ranked 13^th among all 55 Olympic participants. It took Tertsch just 50 seconds to transition into the biking portion of the triathlon, as she finished with a segment time of 59:12 in the second leg. Tertsch concluded the event with a segment time of 33:47 in the run, which catapulted her from 15^th place into ninth place.

On Monday, Aug. 5, Tertsch will return to competition with her Team Germany teammates for the mixed relay triathlon event. The race begins at 2 a.m. eastern standard time and will air live on Peacock.

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