Triathlon took to the City of Lights at the Paris Test Event. Now it is the turn of the Eternal City. Having replaced Arzachena in a late switch, Rome will host an international triathlon for the first time.
The racing will take place in the Laghetto dell’Eur to the south of the city and the athletes will tackle the Sprint distance. As befitting the illustrious destination, plenty of big names will descend upon the Italian capital.
Who’s there?
The home team will be well represented. Leading the way for the women will be Bianca Seregni, the winner of the Weihai World Cup. Seregni has enjoyed plenty of success at the World Cup level in her nascent career and will look to add yet another medal in Rome.
She will be joined by a large team containing Verena Steinhauser, Costanza Arpinelli, Luisa Iogna-Prat, Ilaria Zane, Angelica Prestia and Carlotta Missaglia.
Germany will also be sending a fairly large squad to Rome. After wins at the Yeongdo World Cup and Bundesliga Hannover, Annika Koch will look to claim another gold medal. Nina Eim and Marlene Gomez-Göggel will also attempt to add further World Cup medals to their trophy cabinet after winning silver and bronze in Valencia.
Lisa Tertsch and Lena Meißner then complete the German team.
France will be represented by Audrey Merle, Mathilde Gautier, Lea Coninx and Candice Denizot. Merle is a World Cup winner while Gautier won the European Super Sprint Championships in August so look for both to be at the forefront of the action.
Miriam Casillas Garcia heads up a talented Spanish team. World Cup medallist Noelia Juan will be joining her on the start line, as will Sara Guerrero Manso, Marta Pintanel Raymundo and Anna Godoy Contreras.
The winner of the Paris Test Event, Beth Potter, will look to add another win in a famous capital as she takes on the Rome World Cup. She could well arrive in Italy as the world champion if the WTCS Final in Pontevedra goes her way.
Kate Waugh, Sophia Green and Olivia Mathias are also slated to race for Britain. Georgia Taylor-Brown is also named on the start list. Given her calf injury, though, she will realistically not race.
A three woman contingent of Natalie Van Coevorden, Jaz Hedgeland and Charlotte McShane will be racing for Australia. The Netherlands will likewise send three women in the form of Maya Kingma, Rachel Klamer and Barbara De Koning.
A strong Austrian cohort will be headed up by Lisa Perterer after winning a medal in Weihai. She will be racing alongside Julia Hauser, Therese Feuersinger, Tanja Stroschneider and Sara Vilic.
Julie Derron, Nora Gmür and Cathia Schär then comprise the Swiss women’s team.
Among those entered as the only women from their country are Jolien Vermeylen, Alberte Kjaer Pedersen, Ekaterina Shabalina, Eva Daniels, Tilda Månsson and Natalia Casas.
On the men’s side, Michele Sarzilla leads the Italian team after claiming his first ever World Cup medal in Valencia. World Cup winner Gianluca Pozzatti will also be racing, as will Nicola Azzano, Nicolo Strada and Alessio Crociani.
After winning back to back World Cup medals in Weihai and Valencia, Lasse Nygaard Priester will be back for more. Olympic qualifier Tim Hellwig is also slated to start for Germany, as are Valentin Wernz, Jonas Schomburg and Lasse Lührs.
Alex Yee is listed on the start list for the British team with Jonathan Brownlee, Barclay Izzard and Max Stapley for company. After withdrawing from the World U23 Championships, Connor Bentley is slated to race.
Switzerland’s leading quartet of Max Studer, Adrien Briffod, Simon Westermann and Sylvain Fridelance will be making the trip down to Rome while Csongor Lehmann, Márk Dévay, Bence Bicsák and Gábor Faldum will be racing for Hungary.
The European champion, David Castro Fajardo, leads a Spanish team containing Sergio Baxter Cabrera, Antonio Serrat Seoane, Roberto Sanchez Mantecon and Alberto Gonzalez Garcia. Meanwhile, Casper Stornes and Vetle Bergsvik Thorn will be racing for Norway with the former looking to bump up his Olympic qualification ranking.
Furthermore, Noah Servais, Marten Van Riel and Arnaud Mengal will be starting for Belgium.
Vasco Vilaca is among the most eye-catching names of the athletes that are the only participants for their country. The likes of Kyotaro Yoshikawa, Badr Siwane, Richard Murray, Charles Paquet and Shachar Sagiv are also part of the solo squad.
Main talking points
Young French guns
Tom Richard will lead a young French team containing Paul Georgenthum, Valentin Morlec, Yanis Seguin and Baptiste Passemard. On the surface, it would seem that a big performance from any of the younger quartet could propel them into WTCS and World Cup start lists next season. This being France, the system is a little more complicated than that.
On paper, each of the four will need a top-20 finish (assuming the performance index is sufficient) to earn the right to start at World Cup races in 2024. If they already have the relevant result, Rome will not be too important.
However, even a win in Rome will likely not be enough to earn starting rights at next season’s WTCS. The French system puts a premium on WTCS results and medals at the European Championships or World U23 Championships to earn selection in that regard.
Seguin and Passemard are racing at the World U23 Championships and a medal there should earn them the right to start in the WTCS in 2024. Morlec has aged out of the U23 ranks while only Passemard will be eligible for the World U23 Championships next season. As a result, the window for this generation of French men to step up into the WTCS may be starting to close.
WTCS rematch
With Alex Yee, Vasco Vilaca and Hayden Wilde all due to start, the Rome World Cup may promise a rematch of the WTCS finale.
All three have technically beaten one another in the WTCS this season, although that statistic is largely helped by Wilde’s mechanical at WTCS Abu Dhabi. Over the course of the season, they have each claimed four WTCS medals and have marked themselves as the preeminent forces on the men’s scene.
With Rome coming two weeks after the Final in Pontevedra, it will offer the perfect opportunity for a mini rematch of sorts. Should Yee claim the world title, as he is positioned to do, Vilaca could get payback with a Rome win. Conversely, if Vilaca stuns Yee, the Brit may get a quick revenge in Italy.
There is, however, one important point to note.
More often than not, when the likes of Yee and Wilde appear on World Cup start lists the safe assumption is that they will withdraw or be substituted out. (UPDATE: Wilde has indeed been substituted out and Lachlan Haycock will race for New Zealand instead). In the case of Rome, though, there is one key factor that may shape their decision to race.
The off-season begins
For plenty of athletes, the WTCS Final marks the end of their season. However, Rome may have turned the heads of several to continue for another fortnight. It is on balance the best holiday destination on the World Cup circuit.
The likes of Yee and Vilaca may therefore race before using a holiday in Rome to kickstart the all important rest and recovery phase of the year.
All WTCS races and World Cups have their own charm. Without wishing to be too harsh, in tourism terms some have faces only a mother could love. On the other hand, Rome is beautiful. It would be worth the visit even without the excuse of a World Cup.
One question to ponder, then, is whether some legs might suffer more from the racing or from the extensive sight-seeing afterwards.
You can view the full start lists here.
