We are back with the next cluster of athletes in the men’s Top 30 Triathletes for 2024.
To compile the ranking, WTCS performances have generally taken the priority. At the same time, results at World Cups and Continental Championships also feature and attempts have been made to strike a balance between the different levels of the sport. Moreover, we have tried to weigh the consistency of some athletes against the medal-winning exploits of others.
Remember, these rankings are not intended as a prediction for the year but rather as more of a survey of how we feel the field stands going into the new season. We have tried to strike the balance between who would win on any given day and who would perform best over the course of a season.
There will always be an element of subjectivity in these so feel free to disagree with any names or suggest your own in the comments below.
24) Kenji Nener JPN (2023: unranked)
Since a breakout 2021 in which he became the Asian champion over the Olympic distance and placed 14th at the Tokyo Olympics, Nener has been steadily growing as a force at the top level of triathlon.
Last year was his best yet in the WTCS as he logged two top-10 finishes for the first time. In Cagliari he placed 9th and then in Montreal he finished 10th. Montreal was particularly eye-catching for the way Nener was a constant presence at the front of the race, having been one of the quickest swimmers and then one of the leading lights on the bike.
Nener also finished 11th in Yokohama and 15th in Sunderland, helping him to 15th overall in the Series. That actually matched his final position from the 2022 Series, even if he was in general a step up in 2023.
Towards the end of the season, Nener also became the Asian Games champion. He blew away the field in a dominant performance to take the third international win of his career. Generally, Nener tends to stick to the WTCS which limits his opportunities for such victories. Should he dabble with the World Cup circuit, his Asian Games performance has marked him out as an athlete that could power to gold. Equally, should he stick to prioritising the WTCS, a maiden top-8 finish could be on the cards.
It appears that 2024 will be a final hurrah for Nener. As such, it remains to be seen what he has in store for his last dance.
23) Lasse Nygaard Priester GER (2023: unranked)
Priester won the joint-most World Cup medals on the men’s side in 2023, ending his year with three pieces of hardware.
He claimed a bronze medal in Weihai and then was pipped to the gold in Valencia, leaving him with silver. At his final race of the year, in Miyazaki, he then added another bronze. In both Weihai and Valencia, Priester was in a position to win the race. As a former World Cup winner, it would be no surprise to see him return to the top of the podium.
With three 2023 medals, Priester ostensibly had a similar season to Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen (ranked 30th). The difference between the pair comes in their WTCS track record.
At the WTCS Final in Pontevedra, Priester powered to 11th place in his best finish in the Series for over a year. He has twice finished in the top-5 at WTCS races, including most recently in Leeds in 2022.
Although he has often been plagued by injuries, Priester has therefore shown that, when fit, he has the capacity to fight to World Cup wins and WTCS top-5 results.
22) Max Studer SUI (2023: unranked)
Studer is probably the most enigmatic athlete in the men’s WTCS. In the politest terms possible, his choices can often be head-scratching.
Last year, he won the Asia Cup in Dexing, China, but ignored WTCS Yokohama. His coach, Brett Sutton, is based out of China which may explain his decision. Nevertheless, it is a rare for an athlete of his calibre to plump for a Continental Cup over the Series.
And make no mistake, Studer is a serious talent. In 2023 he finished 6th at WTCS Hamburg and 9th at WTCS Abu Dhabi. With Yokohama positioned between the two, another top-10 could have been on the cards. Moreover, he showed in Dexing that his form was there.
Later in the summer, he made another curious choice. Shortly before the Paris Test Event, Studer opted to take on the Engandiner Sommerlauf, a challenging 25.5km run over a course that gained 365m of elevation while also losing 401m. While he claimed the silver medal, the run came within a week of the Test Event where he went on to finish 11th. Hindsight is always 20/20, but perhaps taking on such a difficult race before the Test Event may not have been the best call.
Studer thus ended his WTCS campaign with a sense of promise unfulfilled. He did not hit a full quota of five races yet still took 23rd place overall.
He can be a perplexing athlete but he has proven that he can be a regular top-8 threat at WTCS races and he finished 9th at the last Olympics. Even if no one knows for sure what he will do, chances are Studer will log a couple of impressive performances this year.
21) Jonas Schomburg GER (2023: unranked)
Schomburg seemed to find a new level at the perfect time last season.
After countless attempts, his trademark tactic of breaking clear in the opening kilometre of the run paid off at WTCS Cagliari as he earned a career best 6th place. In addition, he claimed a first World Cup medal in Karlovy Vary in September.
2023 was thus a breakthrough year for the German athlete.
The consistency of old was still there; he finished 12th in Montreal and 17th in Yokohama, building upon similar finishes of 12th in Bermuda and 13th in Cagliari in 2022. In his most recent season, though, Schomburg showed that he had an extra gear than before.
Only one man (Antonio Serrat Seoane) has attended more WTCS races than Schomburg since the last Olympics and an argument could be made that he might benefit from racing a little less. On the other hand, his recent form has shown enough promise to suggest his approach does not need fixing.
Most intriguingly, Schomburg will be up against Priester in a head-to-head for the final slot on the German Olympic team. The two men are very evenly matched although Schomburg will count on his greater consistency seeing him over the line.
20) Ricardo Batista POR (2023: unranked)
After his younger brother earned rave reviews for claiming the World Junior and European Junior titles in 2023, the time came for Batista to flex his muscles and remind the triathlon world that the elder brother in the family still packed a punch.
He dominated the field at the European Super Sprint Championships, claiming both the Senior and U23 titles. At no point did anyone else get a look in. Batista was simply a class above a field that contained plenty of strength (for example, it included Priester).
Batista was also a force on the World Cup circuit. A bronze medal in New Plymouth got his season off to a bright start and built upon his maiden World Cup medal from late 2022. However, injury slowed him a little over the summer. Batista nonetheless returned to add a silver in Tongyeong and he was then denied a third medal by a penalty in Miyazaki.
To go with that, Batista showed increasing signs of maturity in the WTCS. He finished 10th in Sunderland, in which he was part of a mini-breakaway on the bike, and then finished 14th in Pontevedra. Looking ahead to 2024, it would be no surprise to see him push for multiple top-10 WTCS finishes and a first World Cup win.
19) Antonio Serrat Seoane ESP (2023: 10th)
Serrat did not quite match the highs of his 2022 season as he slid from 7th overall in the WTCS to 25th. Nevertheless, it remains only a little over a year since he won his maiden WTCS medal – he nabbed a silver in Bermuda – and he ended his 2023 campaign with a World Cup silver medal in Brasilia.
He remained a relatively consistent force in the WTCS, finishing 9th in Sunderland, 11th in Abu Dhabi and 13th in Hamburg. In a slight surprise, his best Series results came over the shorter formats. Hitherto, Serrat has often been a tad better at the Olympic distance.
Although he has lost a bit of the momentum he carried into 2023, he has already qualified for the Spanish Olympic team. His run remains a point of strength and, on his day, he can be a WTCS medallist again.
After winning silver medals at both the WTCS and World Cup levels, a first ever international win may also be on the horizon.
