The Alternative Global Triathlon Awards 2023

There have been some big names to miss out on being shortlisted at the inaugural Global Triathlon Awards. It is never easy to put together a shortlist that will satisfy all fans. Nevertheless, there are some names that were perhaps a little controversial to omit. Today we are imagining the Alternative Global Triathlon Awards. We will try to make use of the same criteria as the actual awards. The key difference will be that we have an additional criterion that the athlete cannot actually have been nominated for the corresponding…

Read More

Who Made the Biggest Percentage Improvements in 2022?

In December, we looked at the athletes that made the biggest improvement in WTCS race position from 2021 to 2022. One thing we flagged at the time was that looking at raw improvements in race finishes penalises athletes that started from a higher point. After all, it is impossible to make a twenty place improvement when your best finish is already 9th. Therefore, today we are looking at the biggest improvements from 2021 to 2022 in percentage terms. Men Matthew Hauser, the man chosen by TriStats readers as the breakout…

Read More

Which Athletes Will Win At The Global Triathlon Awards?

Tomorrow the inaugural Global Triathlon Awards will take place in Nice, France. The awards are a collaboration between World Triathlon and two private enterprises: Super League Triathlon and the PTO. In this article we are surveying the athlete prizes on offer: Female Athlete of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year and Rookie of the Year. The criteria for what earns an athlete the respective awards are a little vague in parts. It is also hard to tell whether WTCS racing, long distance racing or Super League events will take…

Read More

If The Paris Olympics Were Today – Women’s Edition

Having looked at how the Olympic Games would look if the Mixed Team Relay and men’s race were to take place already, today we are looking at what the women’s field would look like. Who would qualify? As was the case in the relay, France would qualify two women’s slots as hosts. Just as with the men, in this simulation these slots are allocated by the current individual Olympic qualification rankings and Cassandre Beaugrand and Emma Lombardi would receive the French slots. Next up would be Great Britain and their…

Read More

If The Paris Olympics Were Today – Men’s Edition

Yesterday we looked at the teams that would qualify in the Mixed Team Relay if the Paris Olympics were to take place today. Due to the nature of the qualifying system for the Olympic Games, the relay qualifications inform the qualifiers for the individual. As a result, we cannot simply look at the Olympic qualification rankings and assume the best ranked men will qualify. Given this, what would the start list look like if the men’s Olympic slots were allocated today? Who would qualify? To start with, we would have…

Read More

Rainsley Likely to Miss Start of Season with Injury

British triathlete Sian Rainsley will likely miss the early WTCS and World Cup races of 2023 after she revealed that she recently suffered an ankle injury. After rolling her ankle, Rainsley experienced an AFTL grade 3 and a CFL grade 1 in her left ankle. An ATFL grade 3 describes a complete tear of the joint. In most cases, there will be reduced strength although conversely there may be increased range of movement as the ligament is no longer carrying out its role as a joint stabiliser. The general prognosis…

Read More

If The Paris Olympics Were Today – Mixed Team Relay

With a little under 18 months until the Olympic Games kick off in Paris, it is inevitable that the world of triathlon will keep half an eye on who will qualify. If the Games were to take place today, who would be racing? We will start by looking at the Mixed Team Relay. The Mixed Relay receives the first slots that are allocated to qualifying countries. Using the World Triathlon Olympic qualification rankings, it is possible to simulate who would qualify. The current rankings will have significant implications for how…

Read More

Lehair Pips Daniels at Luxembourg Aquathlon Champs

Yesterday the Luxembourg Aquathlon Championships were held at the D’Coque national centre. With the Luxembourgish title on the line at an indoor venue, it represented a good winter racing opportunity for a number of athletes in the region. A number of Luxembourg’s best triathletes were also on the start list. Among the field were WTCS athletes Jeanne Lehair and Eva Daniels. Lehair switched her sporting nationality from France to Luxembourg in 2022. With 2022 WTCS race finishes of 8th in Montreal and 19th in Bermuda to her name, she was…

Read More

How to Qualify for the 2024 Spanish Olympic Triathlon Team

In contrast to the British and American selection policies, the Spanish selection policy for Paris has different criteria for its men’s and women’s teams. This is a rather unusual approach as many countries tend to favour keeping their policies identical across genders. As with all countries, the eligibility of athletes will be affected by whether Spain qualifies a Mixed Team Relay, whether athletes are ranked highly enough in the world rankings and how many slots Spain receives in total. How will the athletes be picked? For the Spanish men, the…

Read More

No Rest for the Wicked: 2023 Will Be a Season on Overdrive

Following World Triathlon’s announcement of two additional WTCS races for 2023, the schedule for the season looks packed. With Cagliari and Yokohama being added, the WTCS season has grown noticeably. One thing that stands out in the new calendar is the concentration of races. In the span of three months, the world’s best triathletes will take on five WTCS events and the all-important Paris Test Event. As seen in a number of Olympic selection policies already, the Paris Test Event is of central importance to many hopes and dreams of…

Read More

The Untapped Potential of Asian and African Triathlon

Recently, we received a question from one of our followers on Instagram. They were curious about the reasons behind a lack of representation in triathlon from Asia and Africa, beyond notable exceptions from Japan and South Africa. It is a good question to ask and one that will need to be addressed for the sport to continue to grow. Asia is currently home to over half of the world’s population, while Africa is the second most populous continent and is home to about 50% more people than Europe. By the…

Read More

Two More Races Added to 2023 WTCS Calendar

World Triathlon have announced that two further races will be held in the 2023 WTCS. After making its first appearance in the Series in 2022, Cagliari will host a WTCS race in 2023. Once again, it will be an Olympic distance race. In addition, Montreal returns in 2023. This will be the sixth time Montreal has held at WTCS event and, as with 2022, it will play host to a Mixed Team Relay event too. In contrast to 2021 and 2022, Montreal 2023 will be a Sprint race instead of…

Read More

An Olympic Sized Question for the Future of Triathlon

Where is triathlon going? As things currently stand, the Olympic Games represent the centrepiece of the sport, the apogee for athletes that race the Olympic distance and below to aspire to. With the Olympic distance and now the Mixed Relay locked into the Games, World Triathlon has a great foundation from which to continue to grow the sport. The current dynamic, however, creates both a short-term challenge and a long-term challenge. The short-term challenge will be to reconcile the competing demands of the Olympic and Mixed Relay distances. As much…

Read More

How to Qualify for the 2024 NZ Olympic Triathlon Team

As things stand, Team New Zealand are in line to qualify two men and two women to the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. As with the British and American teams, they will arrive in Paris with a defending Olympic medallist in their ranks after Hayden Wilde won individual bronze in Tokyo. As a result, there is a strong likelihood they will be looking to pick up at least one medal in Paris. Indeed, from their selection policy, it is clear Triathlon New Zealand are gunning for more hardware. How will…

Read More

It Runs in the Family: Elite Triathletes and Sporty Siblings

Statistically, if you are a younger sibling in a family, you are more likely to become an elite athlete than your older sibling. As a rule of thumb, younger siblings have a training partner that is generally a step further along the developmental path. That gives them experience of playing with, living with and training with someone that is simply better than them, having been born earlier. Over time, the younger athlete can catch the older sibling an often surpass them, although not always. Several studies have pointed to the…

Read More