WTCS Yokohama is right around the corner. As with WTCS Abu Dhabi, we have prepared a cheat sheet with all the relevant stats for the athletes starting.
Note that the data shown applies for Olympic distance races in the 2022 season. This covers the events from Yokohama, Cagliari and Bermuda as well as the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi. The idea is to therefore provide the most relevant data points for Yokohama, which will also be contested over the Olympic distance.
For every athlete, you will find their average position out of the swim as well as their average time behind the leader. The same statistics are also available for the run.
We also have each athletes’ season best finish at a Olympic distance WTCS race last season. With that it will be possible to see who in the race is outperforming their 2022 level.
To finish, we have included the number of Olympic distance WTCS races each athlete finished last season. If an athlete suffered a DNF at an Olympic distance WTCS race last year, their stats of the completed parts of the race are included. For example, we can see how Laura Lindemann swam at WTCS Yokohama, but as her day was ended by a crash her data set is not fully complete.
In the event that an athlete did not race over the Olympic distance in the 2022 WTCS, their profile will unfortunately be blank.
You will find the women’s cheat sheet first and then the men’s cheat sheet after.
The Women’s Cheat Sheet
After her demolition jobs in the water at WTCS Bermuda and the World U23 Championships, it is no surprise to see that Bianca Seregni was, on average, within 3 seconds of the leader out of the swim in her two Olympic distance WTCS races last year.
However, there are a couple of names beyond Seregni that stand out as a little surprising.
Summer Rappaport was on average only 2 seconds behind the fastest swimmer and can be counted upon to be at the front of practically every swim. Similarly, Georgia Taylor-Brown ceded only 5 seconds on average and emerged in 7th place on average across her Olympic distance swims.
It will therefore be difficult for any of Taylor-Brown’s rivals to gain anything over her in the water based on last year’s numbers.
Maya Kingma and Laura Lindemann were two others that were routinely near the front in the water too.
The run also presents an interesting story. Taylor-Brown is one of only two athletes to have averaged a deficit of less than a minute behind the fastest runner. She was 31 seconds behind the best runner on average and generally the second quickest in the field.
The combination of her fantastic swimming and running give a clear illustration on why she is often so hard to beat.
Emma Lombardi is the other woman that had an average run deficit of less than a minute. Across her three Olympic distance appearances, she was 49 seconds behind the fastest run.
It is worth noting that the average time behind the fastest run split is skewed a little by Flora Duffy’s dominant running performance at last year’s WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi.
Nevertheless, seeing as Taylor-Brown also has the fastest 10km split of the field from last year, the numbers suggest that she is the favourite this weekend.
The Men’s Cheat Sheet
Márk Dévay has been the king of the swim of late. In his Olympic distance swims in 2022, he averaged a deficit of 0 seconds behind the leader, making him the fastest man in the water. Yet it might be a compatriot of Dévay’s that presents the most intriguing data from the swim.
Csongor Lehmann was only 5 seconds behind his Hungarian team mate on average and across his two races emerged as the fourth quickest swimmer. What separates Lehmann is his sub-30 minute 10km split from last season. His best time of 29:46 represents the 7th best split of any man starting in Yokohama.
As a young athlete (and the U23 world champion in 2021), Lehmann can be expected to continue to improve. If he has even made the most minor of improvements, his numbers look like he is on the cusp of becoming a true medal threat.
When we look at the run, Morgan Pearson averaged a deficit of 0 seconds to the fastest split; this is because he logged the fastest split at his only race in Abu Dhabi. He will definitely be up there as one of the fastest runners.
The most fascinating aspect of the run, though, comes from the battle between Bergere and Wilde.
Surprisingly, Leo Bergere was 1 second closer to the fastest split on average than Wilde was last season. On the other hand, Wilde’s average run position was 4th whereas Bergere’s was 4.3. The lesson here is that, based on 2022, Wilde has no real advantage over Bergere in general on the run.
By contrast, Bergere was on average 19 seconds better than Wilde in the water. All that matters is what happens on the day and the past is the past. However, Bergere looks like the man to beat.
