At the weekend we asked TriStats readers to vote for the athlete they thought had produced the most impressive performance in the 2023 WTCS so far.
With two races gone in the Series, there have been a number of classy showings. After taking two medals in her two appearance, Sophie Coldwell took the lion’s share of the votes.
In the end, 33% of readers voted her as having the most impressive race so far. With Coldwell readers were spoilt for choice as to which race was her most impressive. She electrified the season opener in Abu Dhabi. Next, she took her first WTCS win with a masterful performance in Yokohama.
Of any athlete, she has perhaps done the most to enliven the WTCS in 2023.
Coldwell was closely followed in the poll by Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal. Whereas Coldwell’s supporters could have pointed to either of her races, Tapia had a clear best race. In Yokohama she won a maiden WTCS medal as she flew to silver. Not only was that her first medal, it was was her first time inside the top-10 at a WTCS race. Tapia’s surprise result therefore earned 28% of the votes.
Hayden Wilde followed with 14% of the votes for the most impressive start. Some would have been impressed by his perseverance at Abu Dhabi although his dominant victory at WTCS Yokohama was realistically the bigger driver of votes.
Wilde was closely followed by Vasco Vilaca. In a similar vein to Coldwell, it is hard to choose between Vilaca’s best races this season. A silver medal in Abu Dhabi preceded a bronze in Yokohama and both were fantastic displays. Now the leader of the men’s Series, Vilaca earned 11% of the votes.
The race winners from Abu Dhabi, Beth Potter and Alex Yee, earned the smallest shares. Potter came away with 9% while Yee took only 5%. To a degree, this highlights an element of recency bias as Yokohama may have been at the forefront of people’s minds. Potter’s win in Abu Dhabi was her first in the Series and shared many of the traits of Coldwell’s win in Yokohama.
Likewise, Yee’s triumph in the season opener was a consummate performance that resembled Wilde’s win in Yokohama in many respects.
Aside from Coldwell, the above athletes will all be racing at WTCS Cagliari this weekend. As impressive as their levels have been so far, we will see if they have anything even better in store.
