Triathlon-Periault, Pearson clinch golds in Yokohama

:France's Leonie Periault won the second World Triathlon Championship Series gold of her career while American Morgan Pearson won his first in the men's event in Yokohama on Saturday.

Periault, 29, will join 22-year-old Emma Lombardi at their home Games after claiming a stunning victory with a winning time of 01:52:28. She finished 36 seconds clear of the U.S.'s Taylor Knibb in second place and 40 seconds ahead of Lombardi, who took bronze.

Knibb had already booked her place with a top-eight finish at the Paris test event in August last year. American Taylor Spivey missed out on the Olympic spot by finishing fourth and team mate Kirsten Kasper finished fifth.

Rio Games and double world champion Gwen Jorgensen came in 15th, while the reigning Olympic champion, Flora Duffy, made a strong comeback after battling injury by securing seventh place.

Knibb set a challenging pace in the swim segment and Duffy made a significant comeback during the cycling leg, which saw Dutch Maya Kingma fall behind with a puncture at the end of lap four.

Once on the running course, Periault was unmatched. Lombardi managed to keep pace the longest but eventually fell back.

"I am very happy, I don’t understand the performance," Periault told reporters. "It’s a good start for me after the winter, with my new coaches, I am happy, but I don’t understand the result!"

In the men's triathlon, Pearson outran Australian duo Matthew Hauser and Luke Willian, finishing first with a time of 1:42:05. Willian's bronze meant he will join Hauser at the Paris Games.

Hauser, who was second, had already qualified for the Olympics during his stand out 2023 season, peaking with a gold in Montreal after a silver in Yokohama.

Pearson, 30, had secured a spot at the Games with a