00:00He was just a few steps away from securing the first medal he'd ever won, but moments before
00:05crossing the finish line, Diego Mentreda shocked the crowd when all of a sudden, he stopped.
00:10Before this moment in the 2020 triathlon in Santander, Spain, Diego was running steady
00:16in fourth place, just a few seconds behind the British runner James Teagle, who was comfortably
00:20holding third. It wasn't a surprise that James was performing well. He was a fierce competitor.
00:25He'd been doing triathlons all over the world for nearly a decade, and he was no stranger
00:29to the winner's circle. A year before this race, James beat out dozens of talented athletes
00:34to come in third at the Triathlon European Cup in Turkey, and he already had five medals
00:40to his name before the race that day. In comparison, Diego was just a novice. He only started seriously
00:46racing a year prior, and he still hadn't secured a spot on the podium. However, this time around,
00:51Diego put up an impressive fight, staying hot on the heels of the seasoned athletes. James
00:56was still pacing ahead the whole marathon. So, despite Diego's impressive performance,
01:01it seemed unlikely that Diego would make it into the top three. However, during the final leg of the
01:06race, less than 100 metres from finishing, James made a critical mistake that changed everything.
01:12As he came into the final corner, with an intense exhaustion draining him of everything he had left,
01:18he became disoriented, and he was confused by a red banner that he thought marked the finish line.
01:23Spectators desperately tried to tell him he was going the wrong way, but it all happened too fast.
01:29Trailing only a few steps behind, this gave Diego enough time to overtake James for third place,
01:34right before the actual finish line. It was Diego's chance. All Diego had to do was keep going,
01:40and he would have made the podium for the first time in his short athletic career. Most runners would
01:45have sprinted full speed ahead and claimed the medal, but not Diego. Instead of blasting through the
01:50finish line like everyone expected, Diego stopped. Just before he hit the line, he saw what had
01:55happened to James, and he figured if he'd been in front at the time, he might have even done the
01:59same thing. And if he was going to win his first medal under these circumstances, he didn't want it
02:04at all. So, as Diego just stood there, allowing James to catch up, the crowd watched on in awe. And
02:11as
02:11James passed him by, Diego shook his hand and voluntarily accepted fourth place for himself. After seeing this
02:18incredible, heartwarming show of sportsmanship, the triathlon organizers awarded Diego with an
02:23honorary third place medal. And he was also given the same 300 euro prize that James received.
