Category: Comment

Who Produced The Top-10 Triathlon Swims Of 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The end is nigh. Of the year, that is: for guidance on when to expect the end of the world, please confer with your local cult leader. Before attention completely turns to 2024 and the blockbuster schedule laid out, it is time to take a look back at some of the highlights of the past year. In this article, we will kick things off with a review of the ten best swims in triathlon this year. Given the disparity between courses and events, what constitutes a best swim is a…

Read More

The Triathlon Comeback Stories of 2023: Vicky Holland

Benjamin Eastman

In some respects, it was a case of saving the best for last. Vicky Holland was the fourth and most recent of the athletes to make a comeback to elite triathlon after a maternity break this year. Without wishing to compare her return too directly to those of Gwen Jorgensen, Katie Zaferes and Alice Betto, Holland made perhaps the biggest initial splash. Whereas her counterparts took at least one race to regain their bearings at the world level, Holland plunged into the Tangier World Cup and came away with a…

Read More

The Triathlon Comeback Stories of 2023: Alice Betto

Benjamin Eastman

Alice Betto’s comeback in 2023 has been a story of inexorable improvements. At every race, the Italian athlete seemed to get better and she capped it with a first ever international gold medal. Like Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen, Betto’s time away from the sport came as a result of a maternity break. She had last raced at WTCS Abu Dhabi in 2021 and it would be over 18 months before she returned to the Series. In comparison to her two American counterparts, Betto was a little late to the…

Read More

The Triathlon Comeback Stories of 2023: Katie Zaferes

Benjamin Eastman

Katie Zaferes was one half of a double comeback for the American team in 2023 alongside Gwen Jorgensen. As former world champions and Olympic medallists, their returns made for an exciting narrative to follow throughout the season. The similarities also extended to the types of comeback they were undertaking. With both navigating their returns after maternity absences from elite competition, they helped to shed additional light to an important conversation for female athletes in triathlon. While World Triathlon had launched its new maternity policy at the start of the year,…

Read More

The Triathlon Comeback Stories of 2023: Gwen Jorgensen

Benjamin Eastman

Among the multiple comebacks to elite triathlon in 2023, Gwen Jorgensen’s was perhaps the least expected. The former Olympic champion announced her return in December 2022 and in doing so sent shockwaves through the sport. Her stated aim was to make the US Olympic team in 2024 with the Mixed Team Relay being both a source of inspiration and the focus of her ambitions. With a full season of racing now under her belt, in this article we will assess Jorgensen’s comeback and delve into how far she has come…

Read More

What to Make of the Drama at the Vina del Mar World Cup

Benjamin Eastman

The women’s race at the Vina del Mar World Cup saw one of the most dramatic finishes of the season. However, the excitement of watching one former world champion (Gwen Jorgensen) hunt down another (Katie Zaferes) in the final kilometre while Tereza Zimovjanova battled to hold on to a best ever World Cup finish was soon dwarfed by what happened next. In a shock move, four of the top-5 finishers were disqualified from the race. At the end of the first of the two run laps, the leaders took the…

Read More

The French Grand Prix Star Performers of 2023 – Women Part 2

Benjamin Eastman

The final instalment of the the French Grand Prix top performers of 2023 is here. After casting an eye over part 1 of the women’s first division yesterday, today we will look at part 2. Determining top performer of a team is a subjective business and some teams are more clear-cut than others. Overall, though, factors like highest finishes, number of appearances and consistency can create a strong enough case for someone to be considered their team’s star. Les Sables Vendée Triathlon – 2nd Les Sables Vendée were the surprise…

Read More

The French Grand Prix Star Performers of 2023 – Women Part 1

Benjamin Eastman

We have studied the top performers in the 2023 men’s French Grand Prix and now it is the turn of the women. To find the top performer of a team, an array of considerations can be noted. Seeing as the Grand Prix is a five-round competition, with each counting towards the final standings, the number of appearances by an athlete figures prominently. At the same time, the value of each contribution matters. For example, a single medal-winning performance or a top-10 finish might mean more than multiple results outside the…

Read More

The French Grand Prix Star Performers of 2023 – Men Part 2

Benjamin Eastman

Yesterday we started our dive into the top performers of the men’s French Grand Prix in 2023. In this article, we will tackle part 2. Among the factors that weigh upon an athlete’s relative importance within a team are how often they race, their best results and even if they won a medal. Furthermore, if an athlete’s strong performance coincides with a particularly good round for their team, that could also be of significance. While no individual athlete can carry an entire team alone, they can nonetheless have a major…

Read More

The French Grand Prix Star Performers of 2023 – Men Part 1

Benjamin Eastman

The third athlete is so often pivotal to the success of any team in the French Grand Prix. With three athletes scoring at any given race, depth can be as much a determinant of a team’s prospects as individual brilliance. Over the course of the season, though, some athletes mark themselves out from their teammates and step up as the star performer for their squad. As much as the team supersedes the individual in the French Grand Prix, there will always be space for someone to stand out. In this…

Read More

The Next Generation of Male Multi-Strategy Triathletes

Benjamin Eastman

Being able to win a WTCS race is no mean feat. Similarly, winning a WTCS title requires a near-perfect season built upon consistency and high finishes. The challenge of winning multiple world titles, however, is on another plane altogether. Since the start of the WTCS, only four men have become world champion more than once: Alistair Brownlee, Javier Gomez Noya, Mario Mola and Vincent Luis. It should be noted, though, that Luis’ second title came at a single-day world championships in 2020. Of that quartet, only Mola has really been…

Read More

The Next Generation of Female Multi-Strategy Triathletes

Benjamin Eastman

Over the weekend, we discussed the importance of strategy and the ability to win WTCS races in multiple ways. At this point in time, we concluded that there are three women and only one man in the current era of WTCS race winners that can be considered multi-strategy athletes, of which at least two (Flora Duffy and Vincent Luis) are close to the end of their careers. During the post-Paris Olympic cycle, a new crop of athletes will come through. In this article, then, we will survey the group of…

Read More

The Rise of the Swim-Run Strategy in Elite Triathlon

Benjamin Eastman

When it comes to strategy in triathlon, some approaches are rather obvious. The run-centric approach of using a field-leading run split to win the race is perhaps the most basic way to win a race. Under this strategy, an athlete either has to be with the lead group when they arrive in T2, or at least close enough to the leaders, and then use their running superiority to win the race. World class exponents of this approach include Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde. Similarly, the breakaway approach is a recognisable…

Read More

Strategy and the Value of Multiple Threats in the Men’s WTCS

Benjamin Eastman

Yesterday, we introduced the concept of strategy in the WTCS and surveyed the female gold medallists from the current Olympic cycle that could lay claim to being a multi-strategy athlete. The conclusion was that Beth Potter, Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown are the three multi-strategy athletes that are currently operating in the women’s Series. As it happens, the trio have also won all four of the world titles since 2020. In this article, we will be turning to the men’s Series and considering which of the WTCS gold medallists in…

Read More

Talking Strategy and Race Approaches in the Women’s WTCS

Benjamin Eastman

There are many ways to skin a cat. Equally, there are several ways to win a WTCS race. Strategy is a slightly under-developed concept in triathlon, in part because in plenty of cases an athlete’s make-up means that they only have one way of succeeding at the top level. All things being equal, the fastest runner in the field does not need to bury themselves in a breakaway to win a race. Moreover, the fast swimmer that lacks running speed will be unlikely to plump for a run-driven strategy. In…

Read More