It’s back!
As we enter the Olympic season, the time has come to cast an eye over the men and women that form the TriStats Top 30 Triathletes.
With so much talent on the World Triathlon scene, we have resisted the temptation to extend the list and, as a result, several worthy names have narrowly missed the cut. It should be noted that these rankings are not intended as a prediction for the year but rather 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 the year.
To put the rankings together, 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.
As a rule, we have leaned towards a younger athlete if we feel they are likelier to maintain or exceed their recent levels compared with a slightly older athlete that has not necessarily replicated previous heights for a couple of years.
At the same time, there are a couple of names included concerning athletes that have reached outstanding heights in the sport but for various reasons, such as injury or absence, have not quite enjoyed results at similar levels in the past couple of years. In such cases, we have made a judgement call whether we think said athletes still have a realistic shot of attaining high levels this year.
There will always be an element of subjectivity in these rankings so feel free to disagree with any names or suggest your own in the comments below.
Without further ado, then, let’s crack on with the first names in the men’s 2024 Top 30.
30) Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen MEX (2023: unranked)
Peñaflor is part of a rising crop of athletes that achieved notable success on the World Cup circuit in 2023. He ended last season with the joint-most medals on the men’s side of any colour, winning bronze in Huatulco and Vina del Mar and silver in Chengdu.
To go with that, he also finished 4th in Tongyeong.
Peñaflor’s run has shaped up to be a real strength in recent times and his knack for landing on the podium, especially in bunch sprints, is a promising sign. To date, he has not quite cracked the WTCS and has been sniffing around the top-30 at race. For example, he finished 31st in Abu Dhabi and 33rd in Cagliari.
Generally, though, he has shown signs of progress in the last few years. Looking ahead, he is now Mexico’s leading man in the world rankings and is shaping up to be an Olympic qualifier. Peñaflor’s likely Olympic status, greater number of World Cup medals and general position in his career edged him ahead of a few excellent younger contenders like Dylan McCullough and David Cantero del Campo.
If he can crack the WTCS over the coming few months, he could end the year as not only Mexico’s leading man but possibly as one of the best in the Americas.
29) Vetle Bergsvik Thorn NOR (2023: unranked)
Thorn got his 2023 season off to a flying start with a win at the European Cup in Quarteira. His high point of the year would come a few months later as he won the European Games title. To take the gold medal in Poland, Thorn put together a near-perfect race. His swim put him solidly towards the front and he rode well. He then logged the joint-fastest run of the day while unleashing a vicious sprint finish to seal the win.
Later in the year, he added a World Cup bronze medal in Tangier, building upon the medal he won a year prior in Bergen.
On the WTCS scene, Thorn has also showed increasing signs of maturity. Finishes of 12th in Yokohama and 13th in Pontevedra were especially promising. While they did not quite hit the same high as his 9th place in Hamburg in 2022, Thorn’s 2023 performances showed a lot more consistency. A disqualification in Hamburg in 2023 hurt his shot at another top-10 at his previous best venue.
On the Olympic front, Thorn has usurped Gustav Iden in the Norwegian pecking order and is a near-certainty to be selected for the Games should things remain as they are.
After his win in Quarteira, he spoke of how he unabashedly believed he could medal in Paris. If he builds upon his existing momentum, he might just find himself in a position to deploy his lethal sprint finish and shock a lot of people this summer.
28) Charles Paquet CAN (2023: unranked)
Like Thorn, Paquet got his 2023 season going with an impressive Continental Cup victory; he won the Americas Cup in St. Peters in style. In another similarity to Thorn, Paquet claimed a World Cup bronze medal; he took 3rd place in Brasilia.
Whereas Thorn showed more signs of consistency in the WTCS, Paquet stood out with a 7th place finish at WTCS Montreal. On home soil, the Canadian was in the thick of the action over the final few kilometres on the run and clocked one of the best splits of the field. While he has not able to replicate it later in the year, it matched his previous best WTCS result and showed that on his day he can be prominent at the top level.
In addition, Paquet added a 6th place at the Rome World Cup.
While Paquet has not logged several big finishes in a row, he has showed signs of being able to push for a WTCS top-5 or better and will be one to watch this season.
27) Henri Schoeman RSA (2023: unranked)
After a torrid time with injury, Schoeman has been working his way back to the top level of triathlon. In many respects, 2023 was his best season for several years. Not only did he record two top-10 finishes in the WTCS, finishing 6th in Sunderland and 10th in Yokohama, but he essentially made it through the year unscathed and ready to progress into 2024.
His swim has not quite been as dominant as hitherto, although it has been a point of strength nonetheless. Not to be forgotten is that he finished 11th at the 2022 WTCS Final; he managed 17th place at the 2023 iteration.
An Olympic bronze medallist in 2016 and a WTCS race winner, Schoeman has showed that he has one of the highest ceilings in the sport. His injuries have put a slight dampener on his top form and it remains to be seen if he can fight for WTCS medals this year.
With his injury struggles hopefully behind him, though, Schoeman should prove a reliable candidate for top-10, or maybe even top-5, finishes in the Series this year.
26) Adrien Briffod SUI (2023: unranked)
Briffod had a near-identical season to Schoeman. He entered 2023 off the back of a 13th place at the previous WTCS Final and then got things going with a 10th place in Abu Dhabi. Next up, he finished 6th at WTCS Yokohama with a marvellous performance. He therefore matched Schoeman’s best WTCS results and seemed set for a big campaign.
Bronze medals at the European Championships (over the Olympic distance, but a duathlon) and the European Games followed. Notably, with his results in the first half of 2023 Briffod should have locked up Olympic selection for Switzerland.
Just as it seemed he was building up a head of steam, though, things took a downturn for Briffod. A DNF at the Paris Test Event preceded injury and he did not race again.
Had he been able to build upon his form in the first half of 2023, he may have been in a position to push for a big end to the season. Instead, he will attempt to recapture his form for 2024. Should Briffod manage to hit the highs of last year, with his Yokohama level being the target, he could pop off in a big way.
25) Marten Van Riel BEL (2023: 19th)
We now come to the first athlete to retain a spot from the 2023 Top 30. Van Riel has been a little unlucky to slip in the rankings over the past year however he is still hunting his best WTCS medal-winning form.
His top result last year was a 9th place in Montreal, matching his 2022 result at the same location. To go with that, he finished 12th in Cagliari, 12th in Hamburg and 13th in Yokohama.
On paper, an argument could be made that some of the men behind could nip ahead of Van Riel. Paquet had the better finish in Montreal, Thorn had a similar level of consistency, and Schoeman and Briffod managed two top-10 WTCS results. However, it cannot be forgotten that Van Riel is a WTCS medallist from the current (and shortened) Olympic cycle.
In 2021, he won bronzes in Leeds and Montreal and a silver at the WTCS Final in Edmonton, which helped him to 2nd overall in the Series. Moreover, he is a proven Olympic threat. He finished 6th in Rio and 4th in Tokyo and on his day could be a medal contender in Paris this summer.
By most standards, Van Riel has been good since coming back from injury. If he gets things right this year, though, he has the potential to be great once more.
