Lisa Tertsch (born 1 December 1998) is a German triathlete and cross country runner.

Early life and education

Tertsch was born in

Offenbach am Main Offenbach am Main () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Hesse, Germany, on the left bank of the river Main (river), Main. It borders Frankfurt and is part of the Frankfurt urban area and the larger Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Aut ...

. She is a member of ASC Darmstadt. She studied economics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, from 2016 until summer 2021. In an interview with the FAZ she said, that until then, studying had been her top priority; sport was second. 2021 was also the Olympic qualification for Olympics in Tokyo, which she missed by a hair and she realized that if she pursued sports half-heartedly, it would be difficult to compete against competitors who invested more into sports.

Career

Junior career

In 2015, she won junior European Cup races in

Quarteira Quarteira (, ) is a Portuguese Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish, in the municipality (''concelho'') of Loulé in the Algarve.Detail Regional Map, Algarve-Southern Portugal, The population in 2011 was 21,798, in an area of 38.16 km². Histo ...

in Portugal, and Bled, Slovenia, and silver in the mixed relay at the 2015 European Triathlon Championships. In April 2016, she won the European junior duathlon title in

Kalkar Kalkar () is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inv ...

. She was runner-up to

Taylor Knibb Taylor Knibb (born February 14, 1998) is an American triathlete and the 2022 and 2023 and 2024 Women's Ironman 70.3 World Champion. She competed in the women's event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021, finishing sixteenth. Late ...

at the 2016 Junior World Championships in

Cozumel Cozumel (; ) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán Channel. The ...

, Mexico. In July of that year she won the German junior national title in

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

. She also won silver in the junior event at the 2016 European Triathlon Championships behind

Cassandre Beaugrand Cassandre Beaugrand (born 23 May 1997 in Livry-Gargan) is a French triathlete. She is the only female triathlete (and the second ever after male Alistair Brownlee) to have won a gold medal in the three major competitions, Triathlon at the Summ ...

Cross country

She won gold with the U23 women at the 2018 European Cross Country Championships in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

Triathlon

In August 2019, she won bronze in the women's U23 race at the Triathlon World Championships in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. That year, she took first place at the U23 European Championships and was number one in the European Cup rankings at the end of the season. In February 2020, she was named ETU Athlete of the Year. She became German champion over the triathlon sprint distance in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2021 and again in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

in 2023. She won

World Triathlon Championship Series The World Triathlon Championship Series is an annual series of triathlon events organised by World Triathlon. The series is used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. Previously, the ITU (the former name of World Triathlon) world champi ...

bronze in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in the summer of 2022. She finished second at the World Triathlon Championship Series Hamburg in July 2024. In July 2024, she was a gold medalist at the

World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships The World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships, is an annual team triathlon competition organized by World Triathlon. The competition is completed in teams of four, two men and two women, with each member doing a super-sprint distance triathlon. Hi ...

. She competed at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. In the individual race held on 31 July 2024, an early crash in the bike section put paid to hopes for medal but she came back to secure a top ten finish. Later at the Games she won a gold medal as part of the German mixed relay team. The following month, in her first race since the Olympics she won the Valencia World Cup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tertsch, Lisa 1998 births Living people German female triathletes German female cross country runners Sportspeople from Darmstadt 21st-century German sportswomen Harvard University alumni Harvard Crimson women's track and field athletes Harvard Crimson women's cross country runners Triathletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in triathlon Olympic triathletes for Germany