As the dust settles on the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series, it is worth reflecting on how the season has unfolded and brought us the current standings. This season delivered some great racing and fans were in the fortunate position that in both the men’s and women’s rankings the world title would be decided at the Final itself.
The 2022 season, though, has had one problem that has dogged it throughout. Only 50% of the races counted towards the final Series standings. As a result, from the perspective of the overall Series, there have been races this year that have been diminished in value.
As per the World Triathlon points criteria, athletes could score at four races during the season and then can achieve a final fifth result at the Final in Abu Dhabi. However, with eight WTCS races this season, athletes have been able to skip half of the season and still put themselves in prime position to score well overall.
Part of the cause of the problem was the presence of the two 2021 races in the 2022 season. Due to the pandemic, the Hamburg and Abu Dhabi events were postponed to the autumn of 2021, after the 2021 season had finished. In order to try to give them some relevance, the races were tacked onto the 2022 season.
The issue is that no incentive was given to athlete to actually race the autumn 2021 events. Athletes knew that they could skip both and they would still have six events in 2022 with which to hit their four race quota. Moreover, this season Continental Championships also count as a race towards an athletes quota, albeit for less points than a WTCS event. An athlete could therefore have raced three WTCS races plus the European Championships, for example, and still be in contention for a high finish in the WTCS.
Adding the 2021 events to the 2022 season was a one-off pandemic-induced experiment. But still, it would have been interesting to have given them some meaning with regards to the season itself. It is not a good look for the sport if 50% of the WTCS is irrelevant to the final standings.
Yes, injuries happen and athletes should not be excessively penalised for that. Athlete welfare is hugely important and there should be a way for athletes to budget a crash or an injury into their season and not be penalised for it in the overall Series. If athletes also need a break for mental health reasons or burnout, it’s also completely justified. Even without the 2021 races, the 2022 season still ran from May to November for over six months and that alone is likely to increase the risk or injury or burnout.
It seems that World Triathlon have budgeted injuries or athlete non-attendance into their expectations of the Series and in the end that dilutes the product.
Ideally athletes should show up for as much of the Series as possible to ensure the integrity of the competition. We want to see the best in the world go head-to-head. Perhaps they should be allowed to miss one race per season, maybe two. When injury or bad luck like a puncture befalls an athlete, that is unfortunate but maybe the needs of the sport are bigger than the needs of the individual athlete. It is not the best look for the sport for athletes that have a puncture or crash or a bad race to turn around afterwards and shrug because that race is not one of their four counting events so does not matter. A cyclist does not get to turn around after a crash or puncture in the Tour de France and have that day not count to their final result. There should be leniency by giving athletes one or two “free” races, but the rest should count.
Injuries and luck affect the outcome of every sport so triathlon should not be afraid of accepting it may happen and influence the outcome of the WTCS. If the goal is to professionalise the sport in the long-term and turn it into a more serious product, then difficult choices will have to be made about how to structure the sport.
Granted, this season was a post-Olympic year and so some athletes may have needed a break. In that case, maybe there is an argument to be made that the post-Olympic year should have a shortened season or even a standalone world championships rather than a Series. The problem is World Triathlon tried to accommodate such thoughts without actually reducing the number of events.
Both the men’s and women’s finals in Abu Dhabi showed just how dramatic and tense the races can be when the right narrative is applied. However in the general sense, the cohesion of the Series is undermined if so few races ultimately count.
Whatever is decided going forward, it is important that the races we see matter or count for something.
