Category: Races

Speed was the name of the game at the European Youth Championships. Over the Super Sprint finals, the racing took scarcely over 20 minutes in total, leaving virtually no opportunities to put a foot wrong, and the loss of even a few seconds proved fatal to the hopes of several athletes. To land on the podium, a near-perfect race was required. The heats had slimmed the men’s and women’s fields to thirty athletes apiece the night prior. While some took the chance to win their heat and prove their strength,…

More Junior action took place at the weekend with the European Junior Cup in Panevėžys, Lithuania. A handful of athletes even arrived having raced only days earlier at the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. Fortunately, only a Super Sprint race was on offer in Panevėžys, with the athletes racing over a 350m swim, 10km bike and a 2.5km run. Still, with several contenders lurking for the gold in both races, the brevity of the event did not reduce its intensity. Women’s race Two young Latvian athletes took control of the…

While the World Junior Championships, World Mixed Team Relay Championships and latest stop of the WTCS took place in Hamburg, racing was also underway across the Atlantic. The Americas Cup in Long Beach attracted a range of North American talent, as well as several faces from beyond. Anyone expecting the famed Californian heat, though, would have been disappointed. The 7am start for the men made for slightly chillier conditions. With the water cold enough to allow the use of wetsuits too, some athletes were caught out early on in the…

Battered. Beaten. Broken. The bodies of the athletes had been through much and yearned for a respite after multiple rounds of racing at WTCS Hamburg. None such rest was forthcoming, though, as a number of the finalists lined up to race once more in the Mixed Team Relay. Doubling as the World Championships, the relay held a special importance. The winners would seal two male and two female places at the Paris Olympic Games, earning the right to start a relay too. That kind of security was hard to pass…

Expectations were high for an accomplished German team to deliver before a home crowd at the World U23/Junior Mixed Team Relay Championships. Their intent was clear for Germany was one of several teams to pack their relay exclusively with U23 athletes in their quest for the gold. As Juniors are technically under the age of 23, perhaps the event was more aptly described as a case of U23 and very U23 athletes. Australia, Japan and USA were the only teams to completely consist of Juniors while several countries, such as…

With only a few more brush strokes, a handful of men could have painted a masterpiece at the World Junior Championships. One by one, though, each fell agonisingly short. In the end, one man managed to apply the finishing golden touches and in doing so he produced something spectacular. Although the opening salvo in the 750m swim did little to break up the field, two men emerged at the head of the pack. Carter Stuhlmacher had been a dominant force in Junior racing in the Americas. His Hungarian contemporary, Márton…

Anxious faces gazed out across the Binnenalster as the wait for the women’s World Junior Championships continued. Some jumped on the spot, some kept as many layers on as possible, some rehearsed taking their marks. Amid a dazzling array of talent, the size of the occasion was greater than anything seen previously in the Junior ranks this season. The gold medal dangled ahead of the athletes. All they had to do was seize it. Once the race finally got under way, it was Tabea Huys that nipped into an early…

Since the start of 2022, Alex Yee’s record in the WTCS reads: seven finishes, five wins, one bronze medal and a 5th place. Two of those wins have come from his two appearances in this year’s Series and he will arrive in Hamburg as the only unbeaten athlete in the Series. However, the term “unbeaten” comes with an asterisk. At the French Grand Prix in Metz, Yee suffered a defeat to Matthew Hauser. The Australian escaped after a fast swim and then kept clear of Yee’s chase pack on the…

With two wins her to name, Beth Potter is enjoying the best season of her (triathlon) career. Victories at WTCS Abu Dhabi and WTCS Montreal have established her at the forefront of the women’s field and marked her out as one of the select few capable of winning the world title. With neither of Sophie Coldwell or Georgia Taylor-Brown racing in Hamburg, Potter is the only 2023 WTCS race winner on the women’s start list. Hamburg also holds happy memories for the Scot. Until Abu Dhabi in March, Hamburg had…