Year: 2023

The Extraordinarily Difficult TriStats Quiz Of 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The last race of 2023 has already receded into the distance. It was a long year in which plenty happened, with shocks, scandals, dramatic races and more. Here, you can test your knowledge to see how much of it you actually remember. With twenty questions to complete, only the truly knowledgeable will get all the questions right; then again, maybe the questions are actually super easy and failing to get full marks will be a bit awkward… Those seeking further challenges can attempt the 2022 quiz here or the 2023…

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Five Things We’d Like To See In The WTCS In 2024

Benjamin Eastman

Aggressive swimming When considering what we would like to see in the WTCS in 2024, it is perhaps best to start with the most recent instalment of the Series. At WTCS Pontevedra, the two men’s favourites to win the world title, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde, lost time in the swim and found themselves on the back foot as they headed into T1. This changed the dynamic of the race and laid the foundations for a dramatic upset. Looking ahead to next year, it is clear that a swim-centric strategy…

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Podium Face-Off: Which Of The 2021 Or 2023 Men Would Win?

Benjamin Eastman

Yesterday, we posed the question asking which of the women’s Tokyo podium and 2023 WTCS podium will come out on top in 2024. Over the past two years, the entire women’s podium has changed, pitting the best of the last Olympic cycle against the rising forces of the current quad. In this article, we will turn our attention to the men and raise the same question. Looking ahead to the Paris Olympics in 2024, who would you back to collectively come out on top: the defending medallists from the Tokyo…

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Podium Face-Off: The 2021 Women vs The 2023 Women

Benjamin Eastman

For a variety of reasons, the women’s WTCS podium contained none of the individual medallists from the Tokyo Olympics. Only two years have passed yet there has been a change at the top. In the defence of the Tokyo medallists, injuries to Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown left them without a chance to claim a podium spot. Katie Zaferes’ maternity break has likewise seen her put a greater emphasis on 2024 rather than 2023. Nonetheless, Taylor-Brown’s win in Cagliari and Zaferes’ 5th place in Montreal hinted at what could be…

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The Fastest Women’s WTCS Run Splits Of All Time After 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Triathlon is getting ever quicker. In 2023, four women ran under 33 minutes at an Olympic distance WTCS race and the level required to medal, let alone win, is constantly evolving. Here, we take a look at how the top splits of 2023 stack up against the fastest run splits of all time in the WTCS. Olympic distance Gwen Jorgensen remains the only woman to have run under 32 minutes in a WTCS race. Her split of 31:41 from WTCS Stockholm in 2013 remains the gold standard and, as yet,…

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The Fastest Men’s WTCS Run Splits Of All Time After 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The 2023 season witnessed the fastest men’s Olympic distance run split in WTCS history. As if that was not enough, the second fastest run split ever was also recorded. After Alex Yee joined the sub-29 minute club in 2022, there were two further splits under the barrier this year. In total, there were three new entries in the all time rankings. Read on to find out how the latest all time rankings look. Olympic distance After scaring the record in 2022, Alex Yee is now the fastest runner in WTCS…

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Who Made The Biggest Improvements From 2022 to 2023?

Benjamin Eastman

Sporting careers rarely follow a straightforward trajectory. For every sudden rise, there is a plateau. For every dip in form, there is a comeback. In every season there are stories of athletes hitting new heights or reattaining levels of years before. In this article, we will delve into the biggest improvements in WTCS finish from 2022 to 2023. For reference to the previous year, you can see the improvements from 2021 to 2022 here. Some of the results represent personal best finishes, the highest that athlete has ever crossed the…

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What Were The Strongest Triathlon Fields Of 2023?

Benjamin Eastman

Triathlons are notoriously difficult to compare. From different courses, profiles, and occasionally idiosyncratic measurements, there are plenty of factors that converge to make any comparison rather limited. Throw in the variance in participants and it very quickly looks like a futile pursuit. However, there is nonetheless a way to compare the relative strength of a field against another. Borrowing from the index system of the French federation, every race can be assigned a score based on the world rankings of those starting. Namely, the rankings of those in the top-8…

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Who Was The Junior Female Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Whereas a World Junior and European Junior title was enough to earn the mantle of the top Junior male triathlete of 2023, it is curiously not the case with the women. It may be a little inconsistent, and perhaps even a little controversial. After all, the athlete that won both titles could not have won a more important race at the Junior level. However, the top athlete here is actually one that did not take part in a single Junior race this season. Instead, the Junior Female Triathlete of 2023…

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Who Was The Junior Male Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Having assessed the top performances and the top athletes of each continent for 2023, we come to our final look back of the season. In this article, we are looking to the future as much as we are to the past, in a way, as we will attempt to determine which man was the best Junior triathlete of the year. The levels attained by Junior triathletes have been plain scary at times this season and the next generation looks to be seriously talented. Among the many contenders for the title…

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Who Was The Oceania Female Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

In 2023, there was a dominant force on the women’s Oceania triathlon scene. During the Antipodean season, one athlete proved untouchable at every race they attended. Thereafter, they went on to be the region’s best performer at the WTCS level. For combining local dominance and world-level success, there was thus no real question over who would be dubbed the Oceania Female Triathlete of 2023. Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) Nicole Van Der Kaay was superlative in the early part of the season. She crushed the Oceania Cups in Wanaka and…

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Who Was The Oceania Male Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Oceania was one of two regions to have multiple WTCS race winners in 2023. With two men stepping onto the top of the podium, the continent was actually the only one after Europe to be home to a race winner. Given the rarity of a non-European race winner this season, either of the two gold medallists could make a claim to being the continent’s top triathlete. One of them, though, operated on an exceptional level this season and was only narrowly denied the world title. Hayden Wilde (NZL) Hayden Wilde…

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Who Was The European Female Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Only one athlete won five WTCS medals in 2023 and in doing so she claimed the world title. As such, the situation here is fairly clear. Much as it is easy to know what to do when the Macarena plays on the dancefloor, the choice of the European Female Triathlete of the Year was similarly bereft of difficulty. Beth Potter (GBR) Abu Dhabi. Montreal. Paris. Pontevedra. Four WTCS wins in 2023 put Beth Potter on a different plane to anyone else in the world of triathlon and established her as…

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Who Was The European Male Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The European men are tricky. Not only are there too many successful stories from 2023 to sift through, but the nature of the different stories means that any determination of the top athlete is incredibly subjective, potentially even more than usual. Such has been their collective form, several European men make strong claims to have had a better year than the literal world champion. You could close your eyes and pick at random from any of the men listed and still easily defend their status as the top European man.…

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Who Was The Asian Female Triathlete Of The Year 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The same combination of an Asian Games gold and being the continent’s leading WTCS performer that made Kenji Nener the Asian Male Triathlete of the Year was enough to determine the recipient of the female mantle. One achievement that the women’s winner added was a World Cup medal, ensuring that she ticked several boxes in 2023. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) Yuko Takahashi arrived in Hangzhou as the defending Asian Games champion. After a superb swim, she all but shut the door on anyone taking her title before anyone else had made…

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