A highly promising junior, not even a three-year absence from the sport has damaged the hard-running German’s steady climb through the elite rankings. Here's everything you need to know about the Harvard-educated Lisa Tertsch…
Who is Lisa Tertsch?
“You always have to look where you’re at and not compare yourself to other people so much,” says Lisa Tertsch. “I’ve tried to go my own way and see what’s right for me.”
Certainly, the German’s assent through triathlon’s upper echelons has been a little unusual. Hers is not the path most travelled. After something of a stellar career in the junior ranks (national champion, European champs silver), Lisa prioritised her studies, heading to Harvard for a degree in economics.
Triathlon didn’t get a look-in for three years, but her running shoes still saw plenty of action as she represented the university as a distance track runner, winning plenty of medals in the process.
On her return to the multisport ranks after graduation, Lisa quickly found her winning ways, both as an U23 and an elite.
Her medal haul in major championships has been impressive, including podium spots at U23 level at both European and world champs, but arguably her finest elite performance to date was the surprise WTCS bronze she took in Hamburg in the summer of 2022.
Ranked fifth in the world at the start of 2024 – based more on her European Cup and World Cup pedigree rather than her still-lightweight WTCS palmares – Lisa still has plenty of time to truly make her mark, but her running ability should see more podium appearances in 2024. Maybe even in Paris, for which she's already qualified.
How old is Lisa Tertsch?
Lisa Tertsch was born on 1 December 1998, making her 25 years of age.
Lisa Tertsch’s career highlights
March 2015: Perfect in Portugal
A year before she heads to the States to study at Harvard, Lisa stands atop a podium for the first time, having smashed the rest of the field on the run at a junior European Cup race in Quarteira in Portugal. She repeats the trick in the same competition that September in the picture-postcard Slovenian town of Bled.
May 2016: European championship silver
Lisa enjoys further success in Portugal when she takes silver at the junior world champs in Lisbon. However, she more than meets her match on the run when the older Cassandre Beaugrand overtakes her to take the win.
Lisa had already tasted golden success that season, having taken the European junior duathlon title on home soil in Kalkar the previous month.
July 2016: Junior national champion
Lisa takes her first national title in Nürnberg, comfortably holding off the challenge of her contemporary, Lena Meissner.
September 2016: The world champs podium beckons
At the junior world champs on the Mexican island of Cozumel, Lisa puts in a terrific performance to take silver behind the USA’s Taylor Knibb. It’s her first notable success beyond the European circuit.
June 2019: Maiden elite victory
After three years away from the sport at Harvard, when economics textbooks took precedence, Lisa makes a majestic return to triathlon with victory in a European Cup sprint race in Dnipro in Ukraine.
A fortnight later, she breaks the tape at a World Cup event in Antwerp, before a third quick success, this time back in the European Cup in the Dutch town of Holten. Quite a month.
August 2019: Another world champs medal
Lisa’s excellent form continues in Lausanne where, although still only 20, she takes bronze at the U23 world champs, in the process posting the fastest run split by far.
September 2019: Champion of Europe
Lisa follows up that bronze in Lausanne with a gold-medal-winning performance in Valencia to become the U23 European champion. The German U23 mixed relay squad, of which Lisa is an integral part, take silver the following day.
June 2021: Another national title
After a COVID-affected season that yielded just a brace of European Cup podiums, Lisa returns to winning ways when she leads home the field at the German sprint championship, taking top spot by just a single second from Nina Eim.
The same month, there are further medals at the U23 European sprint championships in Kitzbühel: bronze in the women’s race and silver in the mixed relay.
March 2022: Double European Triathlon Cup podium finishes
Lisa puts in medal-winning performances in successive European Triathlon Cup races. In Liévin in northern France, it’s silver as she loses out to compatriot Nina Eim, and it’s bronze in Quarteira.
July 2022: A shock WTCS podium appearance
Home turf clearly makes a difference as Lisa delivers a significant message to the WTCS ranks, taking bronze in Hamburg behind seasoned campaigners Flora Duffy and Beth Potter. Not only is it the German’s first WSTC podium, it’s her first top-10 finish in the series.
September 2022: A golden return to Spain
Valencia was the crucible for Lisa’s U23 European champs coronation three years earlier and it’s a happy return visit as she takes victory in a World Triathlon Cup race in the Spanish city, just about holding off the attentions of Mexico’s Anahi Alvarez Corral.
A European Triathlon Cup triumph comes the following month in the Turkish resort of Alanya.
March 2023: Top 10 in Abu Dhabi
Lisa kicks off the new season with her second WTCS top-10 finish, this time in Abu Dhabi. She improves on this two months later with eighth in Cagliari.
June 2023: A European silver
On the streets of Madrid, Lisa is uncustomarily outpaced on the run at the European championships and has to settle for second best behind Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair.
July 2023: Mixed relay gold in Paris
Is part of the victorious German quartet at the Paris Mixed Relay Test Event.
October 2023: Moroccan marvel
The run proves decisive for Lisa in the World Triathlon Cup in Tangier as she creates a comfortable gap between herself and the rest of the field to end the season with a handsome victory.
Lisa Tertsch in quotes
On winning a World Cup race in Antwerp in 2019 after three years away from the sport: “I’ve been focusing on the running in recent year, but now that I’m also good enough to be in the first bike group, it makes it possible to put in that kind of performance. I did not expect this. It’s my third triathlon back and I wasn’t sure how it would play out.”
On her maiden appearance on a WTCS podium, in Hamburg in 2022: “This time, all the puzzle pieces came together and I could show what I am capable of. And thank you, the crowds. The atmosphere was amazing out there.”
On lining up next to her triathlon heroes: “You can get nervous if you get star-struck. ‘Oh my God, there’s an Olympic champion running next to me. I can’t do this.’ So I always try to tone it down. ‘We’re all just people…’”
What’s next for Lisa Tertsch?
There'll be plenty of eyes on Lisa at the Olympic start line this summer, especially as she’s already become acquainted with the course with an individual ninth place at the test event last year.
But the German’s season won’t completely be defined by that one day in July. A strong showing in the WTCS series, where she’s only finished in the top five on one occasion, must also be a huge priority for Lisa in 2024.
Top image credit: Chuso Dyanez/World Triathlon
