Over the past week, a couple of changes have been made to the Valencia World Cup start lists.
The likes of Sophie Coldwell, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Vetle Bergsvik Thorn have withdrawn from the event. The Spanish contingent has also grown following the additions of Marina Muñoz Hernando, Paula Del Pozo Borrachero, Natalia Castro Santos and Iratxe Arenal Arribas, among others.
One name, though, stood out among the new faces.
Tamara Gorman, the former World Junior and World U23 champion, will be making her first international appearance since suffering a broken sacrum at the end of 2022. The American athlete had been struggling with what she had put down to an ongoing hamstring issue. The problem, though, was something different altogether.
Almost ten months after her last international race, Gorman will be back in Valencia.
Such is the depth of the American women’s team, it may be too late in the day to make a run at Olympic qualification in 2024. Nevertheless, her return will a big step on both a personal front as well as for the national team.
Gorman has four World Cup medals to her name and logged two WTCS top-10 finishes while still an U23 athlete. Until injury trouble set her back, she looked to be at the vanguard of the next generation of American women.
Looking beyond the Paris Olympics, there will likely be a need for Gorman to step into the breach and fill a few gaps in the team. Of the American WTCSS starters this season, Taylor Spivey, Summer Rappaport, Kirsten Kasper, Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen were all born in 1991 or earlier. There is nothing to say that they won’t make it to the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028, but the youngest of the quintet would be turning 37. As such, the American team may need a new generation to step through.
Taylor Knibb is the most obvious candidate to lead the US forwards. With her long distance racing commitments in addition to her recent signing for a pro cycling team, her presence in the short distance world come become limited after Paris.
Erica Ackerlund has shown plenty of promise on the WTCS stage while Gina Sereno has won a World Cup medal. Gorman, though, may be the most credentialed athlete (after Knibb) among those that could become the new focal point of the team.
Having been out for so long, there will be no real expectation on her return in Valencia. If she makes it through the end of the season unscathed, she will be able to look ahead to 2024 and the post-Paris era in which she could become a central piece of the future of American triathlon.
Among the other changes to the Valencia start lists, Eva Daniels has replaced Jeanne Lehair for Luxembourg. Jule Behrens and Finja Schierl have been added to the German team while Annika Koch has withdrawn. Miriam Casillas Garcia has likewise pulled out of the event.
Alex Yee and Jonathan Brownlee have been substituted out in favour of Hugo Milner and Cameron Main. For Germany, Lasse Lührs and Valentin Wernz are also out. In their place, Eric Diener, Jonas Osterholt and Cedric Osterholt will be starting.
