For all the luminaries from Spain that have graced triathlon, it remains the case that the country has only ever claimed one Olympic medal in the sport: Javier Gomez Noya’s silver in 2012. As a country that has churned out so many talents (and claimed seven men’s WTCS titles between Gomez and Mola alone), it seems like a surprisingly low return. Looking ahead to the Paris Olympic Games, though, the Spanish federation will look to change that as they compose their team. Luckily for the selectors, they are spoilt for…
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Pearson and Vermeylen Take On Off-Season Races
Two 2023 World Cup medallists turned back the clock at the weekend and returned to their pre-triathlon sports. Morgan Pearson, the winner of the Karlovy Vary World Cup, plumped for some racing on the track indoors over training outdoors in the cold. A runner in the days before becoming a triathlete, he dusted off his spikes and toed the start line at the Potts Invitational in Colorado. It was a rare deviation in training from the zone 2 guru. Pearson nonetheless put up some head-turning performances. He took on the…
Read MoreThe State of Play in the German Olympic Triathlon Team Race
Germany is one of the few countries to have almost completely finalised their Olympic team. All three of their women’s slots have been allocated while only one slot remains on the men’s side. As the defending world champions in the Mixed Team Relay, they have secured, at minimum, two male and two female places at the Games. Such is the state of the Olympic Qualification rankings, though, adding a third male and female slot will be a formality. Like America, Germany could come away with medals in all three Olympic…
Read MoreThe State of Play in the American Olympic Triathlon Team Race
The American triathlon team finds itself in one of the more unusual positions on the international stage insofar that it could leave Paris this summer with medals in all three events or in none. Whereas a couple of countries, such as France and Britain, feel like bankers to take at least one medal, America does not quite inspire the same base confidence. And yet it nonetheless feels eminently possible that they could medal in each event. Perhaps Germany is the only other team in the same boat. One of the…
Read MoreThe State of Play in the New Zealand Olympic Tri Team Race
After a successful 2023, the New Zealand triathlon squad are bubbling nicely ahead of the Olympic Games. With a defending individual medallist and a promising relay, they could potentially contend for multiple medals in Paris this summer. New Zealand are forecasted to take two slots for each gender. Their slots are all but guaranteed through the Mixed Team Relay which makes individual qualification somewhat moot. Securing a third athlete for either gender seems like a bit of a long shot right now. None of the New Zealand women are ranked…
Read MoreWollongong Announced As WTCS Final Host For 2025
World Triathlon have confirmed that Wollongong, Australia, will play host to the World Triathlon Championship Series Finals in 2025. After being held in Spain for consecutive years (in Pontevedra in 2023 and Malaga in 2024), the Finals will return to the southern hemisphere for the first time since 2018 when they were held in Gold Coast, Australia. In 2018, Gold Coast also hosted the Commonwealth Games. In Wollongong, the 2025 world champions in the Senior, U23, Junior and Para-triathlon categories will all be named. This follows the pattern of the…
Read MoreThe State of Play in the British Olympic Triathlon Team Race
As things stand, Britain is in line to claim three women’s slots and two men’s slots at the Paris Olympic Games. Four of the slots (namely all bar one of the women’s places) have been secured already by dint of the British performance at the 2022 Mixed Team Relay World Championships. The third women’s slot is essentially a formality at this stage, based on the Olympic Qualification rankings. Meanwhile, Britain will require a big start to the season from two men not named Alex Yee if they want to earn…
Read MoreKarlsruhe and Neckarsulm To Join Forces in 2024 Bundesliga
While other teams have focused on bolstering their ranks through recruitment drives, two Bundesliga teams will be merging ahead of the upcoming season. Karlsruhe Lemminge finished 12th overall in the women’s series. The team were promoted after the 2022 season and had a successful first year in the top division. In the men’s competition, Sportunion Neckarsulm took 6th place. Heading into the final round, Neckarsulm sat in 4th place. However, a sub-optimal day at the last round in Hannover saw them drop two places. While Karlsruhe did not have a…
Read MoreVoters Back Men’s 2023 WTCS Podium Over 2021 Olympic Podium
The men’s field ahead of the 2024 season is brimming with talent. Any of about a dozen men could conceivably win a WTCS race and vie for a spot on the podium at the Paris Olympic Games. Such is the depth at the top of the sport, there has been a near-complete shift in the podium from the 2021 Olympics to the 2023 WTCS. Hayden Wilde was the only man to make both podiums and is the only constant in the top-4. Kristian Blummenfelt, Alex Yee and Marten Van Riel…
Read MoreWomen’s 2023 WTCS Podium Favoured Over Tokyo Podium
Last week, we asked which of the women’s 2021 Olympic podium and the women’s 2023 overall WTCS podium you think will fare better in 2024. A trio of world champions made up the 2021 podium: Flora Duffy (2016, 2017, 2021, 2022), Georgia Taylor-Brown (2020) and Katie Zaferes (2019). Meanwhile, the 2023 podium contained a first-time world champion in Beth Potter. Moreover, it contained two athletes that had made the overall Series podium for the first time: Cassandre Beaugrand and Emma Lombardi. Only 36% (rounded to the nearest integer) favoured the…
Read MoreTriathletes Run Into 2024 With New Year’s Eve Races
Some choose to party their way into the New Year. Some choose to set off fireworks. Some choose to test their running fitness with a final race of the year. To celebrate the end of the year, multiple elite triathletes took on the third option as they competed in a variety of running races on the final day of 2023. In Auch, a contingent of French triathletes took on the 8.4km course at the Corrida d’Auch. Damian Andrada came out on top in a time of 25:25, beating out Thomas…
Read MoreMilner Impresses Alongside Triathletes At Euro XC Champs
Not content to simply compete internationally in one sport, at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels a number of triathletes stepped up to take on some of the continent’s leading runners at their own game. As recently reported, Hugo Milner and Lisa Tertsch qualified to represent Britain and Germany, respectively, in the Senior races. Milner was in top form in Brussels as he finished 4th in the men’s event. He completed the six-lap 9km course in 30:27, putting him only 10 seconds behind race winner Yann Schrub of France.…
Read MoreKingma and Derron Flaunt Running Speed at Winter Races
Two of the top athletes in the women’s WTCS showed off their winter running speed over the past two weekends. WTCS gold medallist Maya Kingma and World Cup gold medallist Julie Derron raced in their home countries of the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively, and produced some rapid results. Kingma took on the Montferland Run, a race of 15km over an undulating course. In the end, she clocked 53:03 (with a chip time of 53:01) which was enough to make her the 10th woman across the line. Kingma noted that she…
Read MoreRainsley, Schaufler and the Precarity of National Squads
Making the national team can be a make or break factor in the careers of athletes. Those that make the team can take onboard support and funding as they pursue their ambitions. Those that miss out, however, face an altogether less comfortable reality. In the past couple of weeks, several federations have revealed their national squads for the coming 2024 season. In the cases of Britain and Germany, a couple of noteworthy names have missed out. Sian Rainsley is one such athlete that has been cut from the British squad.…
Read MoreGerman Triathlon Union Takes Over WTCS Hamburg From Ironman
For several years, WTCS Hamburg has been under the purview of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC, otherwise known as Ironman), a status quo that stood as a relic of a previous relationship between World Triathlon and the WTC. In recent times, though, several WTC-owned WTCS stops have vanished from the schedule. From Stockholm to Gold Coast to Cape Town, to name a few, the WTC had a major presence in the WTCS circuit. Those stops have since disappeared. Indeed today none of Stockholm, Cape Town or Gold Coast are WTCS…
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