Category: WTCS

Who Are The Favourites In The Women’s 2024 WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

In a similar fashion to the men’s field, there are plenty of contenders that could win the women’s WTCS title this year. Any of half a dozen women hold legitimate ambitions to claim the title and the margins that will ultimately separate them will likely be fine. However, one area in which the women’s field diverges from the men’s is the presence of a clear favourite. Beth Potter was not mentioned in our survey of the women’s favourites last year, which proved to be a gross oversight. On the one…

Read More

Who Are The Favourites In The Men’s 2024 WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

On their day, any of at least a dozen men could win a medal in this year’s WTCS. No fewer than eight men won multiple WTCS medals last season alone and, given the right conditions, any of them could challenge for a spot on this year’s overall podium. Throw in rising stars like Tim Hellwig (already a double WTCS medallist in his career), Csongor Lehmann and Miguel Hidalgo, single medal winners like Antonio Serrat Seoane, Lasse Lührs and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon, and established veterans like Vincent Luis and Jelle Geens…

Read More

Which Women Could Win Their First WTCS Medal in 2024?

Benjamin Eastman

Yesterday we surveyed some of the men that could win their first WTCS medal this season and today we are doing the same for the women’s field. Winning a medal at a WTCS event is one of the chief ambitions of rising short course triathletes and the examples of last year offer plenty of encouragement for such athletes heading into 2024. Three women won medals for the first time last year. Among the first time winners was Kate Waugh, an individual identified as possible medallists at the start of the season. (No…

Read More

Which Men Could Win Their First WTCS Medal In 2024?

Benjamin Eastman

It is the ultimate aspiration of every athlete coming through the ranks of short distance triathlon to step upon the podium at a WTCS race. Winning a medal in the Series is a major challenge yet in the past couple of years a handful athletes have turned their ambitions into reality. With WTCS Abu Dhabi a little over three weeks away, today we are surveying some of the candidates that could win their first WTCS medal in 2024. To go with that, we will also suggest the course that we think offers…

Read More

How to Win the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series

Benjamin Eastman

The start of the 2024 World Triathlon Championships Series is less than a month out and an important question has to be asked. How will the world champion be decided? Since 2009, short course triathlon has used the WTCS to determine the world champion as opposed to the single day world championships that was used hitherto. The athletes will race over the course of a season and, if the past couple of years are anything to go by, the victor may not become apparent until the final day. The key…

Read More

First Look at the WTCS Abu Dhabi 2024 Start Lists

Benjamin Eastman

The start lists for the opening race of the 2024 WTCS season have been published and there are several interesting details to note. WTCS Abu Dhabi will be one of three races in the Series to take place before the end of the Olympic qualification window. Moreover, with only five regular season WTCS events taking place this year, it will be an invaluable opportunity to log early points for those with world title ambitions. While some switching and substituting is par for the course with WTCS start lists, the bulk…

Read More

Who Made the Biggest Percentage Improvements in 2023?

Benjamin Eastman

When we looked at the biggest raw improvements of the 2023 WTCS season, the athletes that rose from a lower starting point stood at an advantage over those that had earned a top-10 race finish in the season prior. Anyone trying to match the 29 place improvements made by Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal and Max Studer would have faced a challenge had they finished 2022 with a season best result of 8th. In this article, we will therefore visit the 2023 improvements once more albeit this time in terms of…

Read More

Five Things We’d Like To See In The WTCS In 2024

Benjamin Eastman

Aggressive swimming When considering what we would like to see in the WTCS in 2024, it is perhaps best to start with the most recent instalment of the Series. At WTCS Pontevedra, the two men’s favourites to win the world title, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde, lost time in the swim and found themselves on the back foot as they headed into T1. This changed the dynamic of the race and laid the foundations for a dramatic upset. Looking ahead to next year, it is clear that a swim-centric strategy…

Read More

The Fastest Women’s WTCS Run Splits Of All Time After 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Triathlon is getting ever quicker. In 2023, four women ran under 33 minutes at an Olympic distance WTCS race and the level required to medal, let alone win, is constantly evolving. Here, we take a look at how the top splits of 2023 stack up against the fastest run splits of all time in the WTCS. Olympic distance Gwen Jorgensen remains the only woman to have run under 32 minutes in a WTCS race. Her split of 31:41 from WTCS Stockholm in 2013 remains the gold standard and, as yet,…

Read More

The Fastest Men’s WTCS Run Splits Of All Time After 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The 2023 season witnessed the fastest men’s Olympic distance run split in WTCS history. As if that was not enough, the second fastest run split ever was also recorded. After Alex Yee joined the sub-29 minute club in 2022, there were two further splits under the barrier this year. In total, there were three new entries in the all time rankings. Read on to find out how the latest all time rankings look. Olympic distance After scaring the record in 2022, Alex Yee is now the fastest runner in WTCS…

Read More

Who Made The Biggest Improvements From 2022 to 2023?

Benjamin Eastman

Sporting careers rarely follow a straightforward trajectory. For every sudden rise, there is a plateau. For every dip in form, there is a comeback. In every season there are stories of athletes hitting new heights or reattaining levels of years before. In this article, we will delve into the biggest improvements in WTCS finish from 2022 to 2023. For reference to the previous year, you can see the improvements from 2021 to 2022 here. Some of the results represent personal best finishes, the highest that athlete has ever crossed the…

Read More

German Triathlon Union Takes Over WTCS Hamburg From Ironman

Benjamin Eastman

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…

Read More

Comparing the Best WTCS Debuts of 2022 and 2023

Benjamin Eastman

A WTCS debut is what many young triathletes dream of as they imagine their rise through the ranks of the sport. Sometimes, a debut goes swimmingly as athletes break into the top-10 at the first ask, or even win a medal. On other occasions, an athlete can be in for a difficult day. The level in the WTCS is a considerable step above anything a debutant will have usually encountered beforehand, making the first race a baptism of fire. The 2023 season saw several athletes make their first forays into…

Read More

Changes Made To The Start Of The 2024 Triathlon Season

Benjamin Eastman

There has already been movement on the planned schedule for international triathlon in 2024. The first stops of the WTCS and World Cup schedules for next year were announced in September. In the weeks since, new races have been added while previously fixed dates have been changed. World Triathlon have confirmed that WTCS Abu Dhabi has been moved back by a week. It was originally slated to take place between 2-3 March next year. Now it will occur on 8-9 March. As a result, the new Abu Dhabi date will…

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