Category: Athletes

It is a new year and a new batch of talented athletes are primed to make their move on the international stage. In this article, we highlight six up and coming athletes that could make a splash this season. As a disclaimer, we are not calling the athletes named here the definitive best athletes in the Junior/U23 categories. Instead we are highlighting six that look to have particular promise going forward.  The athletes still have to be eligible to race in either the Junior or U23 categories in 2024, so…

Whereas a World Junior and European Junior title was enough to earn the mantle of the top Junior male triathlete of 2023, it is curiously not the case with the women. It may be a little inconsistent, and perhaps even a little controversial. After all, the athlete that won both titles could not have won a more important race at the Junior level. However, the top athlete here is actually one that did not take part in a single Junior race this season. Instead, the Junior Female Triathlete of 2023…

Having assessed the top performances and the top athletes of each continent for 2023, we come to our final look back of the season. In this article, we are looking to the future as much as we are to the past, in a way, as we will attempt to determine which man was the best Junior triathlete of the year. The levels attained by Junior triathletes have been plain scary at times this season and the next generation looks to be seriously talented. Among the many contenders for the title…

In 2023, there was a dominant force on the women’s Oceania triathlon scene. During the Antipodean season, one athlete proved untouchable at every race they attended. Thereafter, they went on to be the region’s best performer at the WTCS level. For combining local dominance and world-level success, there was thus no real question over who would be dubbed the Oceania Female Triathlete of 2023. Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) Nicole Van Der Kaay was superlative in the early part of the season. She crushed the Oceania Cups in Wanaka and…

Oceania was one of two regions to have multiple WTCS race winners in 2023. With two men stepping onto the top of the podium, the continent was actually the only one after Europe to be home to a race winner. Given the rarity of a non-European race winner this season, either of the two gold medallists could make a claim to being the continent’s top triathlete. One of them, though, operated on an exceptional level this season and was only narrowly denied the world title. Hayden Wilde (NZL) Hayden Wilde…

Only one athlete won five WTCS medals in 2023 and in doing so she claimed the world title. As such, the situation here is fairly clear. Much as it is easy to know what to do when the Macarena plays on the dancefloor, the choice of the European Female Triathlete of the Year was similarly bereft of difficulty. Beth Potter (GBR) Abu Dhabi. Montreal. Paris. Pontevedra. Four WTCS wins in 2023 put Beth Potter on a different plane to anyone else in the world of triathlon and established her as…

The European men are tricky. Not only are there too many successful stories from 2023 to sift through, but the nature of the different stories means that any determination of the top athlete is incredibly subjective, potentially even more than usual. Such has been their collective form, several European men make strong claims to have had a better year than the literal world champion. You could close your eyes and pick at random from any of the men listed and still easily defend their status as the top European man.…

The same combination of an Asian Games gold and being the continent’s leading WTCS performer that made Kenji Nener the Asian Male Triathlete of the Year was enough to determine the recipient of the female mantle. One achievement that the women’s winner added was a World Cup medal, ensuring that she ticked several boxes in 2023. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) Yuko Takahashi arrived in Hangzhou as the defending Asian Games champion. After a superb swim, she all but shut the door on anyone taking her title before anyone else had made…

After a simply dominant performance at the Asian Games, there was only one man that could really be named the Asian Male Triathlete of the Year. Given the same athlete was the continent’s top performer in the WTCS and the only individual from the region to log a top-10 finish in the Series, his case was close to inarguable. Kenji Nener (JPN) At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Kenji Nener was on a different level. He dropped one of the best bike rides of season to build a 3…

With four individuals visiting a WTCS podium in 2023, the Americas women were behind only the European women and the European men when it came to the number of individual medallists this year. Much as the top male performer in the region was the athlete that won two WTCS medals, leading the charge on the women’s side was the only multi-medallist. Taylor Spivey (USA) At the start of the season, the American’s women’s team was among the deepest in the sport and the race to make the Olympic squad represented…

The men of the Americas delivered some incredible performances in 2023. Three different individuals won the gold medals at the Pan American Games and the Americas Championships over the Olympic and Sprint distances while there were four different World Cup winners from the region. Only one man, however, made it onto a WTCS podium this year. Then he did it again. The Americas Male Triathlete of the Year was thus the athlete that enjoyed the greatest success at the highest level of the sport this year. Manoel Messias (BRA) Manoel…