The second round the of the 2023 WTCS takes place in Yokohama, Japan, in a month. After skipping the opener in Abu Dhabi, a number of athletes will be making their bow for the year. Meanwhile, several names that enjoyed success in the first race of the year will be looking for more.
As with the Abu Dhabi start lists, there will be a couple of names on the start list that ultimately do not race. Some, for example, could be switched out to get a compatriot into the event. For the most part, though, the names listed will line up on the pontoon in Yokohama.
Who’s there?
Headlining the names racing for the first time in 2023 will be Flora Duffy. The defending world champion skipped Abu Dhabi, opting to instead take a slower start to the season and to allow a knee injury sustained last autumn to recuperate.
UPDATE: Flora Duffy has now been substituted out and replaced by Erica Hawley.
Duffy will be joined by Taylor Knibb. The presence of both women will likely ensure a searing tempo on the bike. Throw in Bianca Seregni, who will also be making her first WTCS start of the season, and the swim also promises to be a fast one.
Among the other women making their first start are Laura Lindemann, Alberte Kjaer Pedersen, Nicole Van Der Kaay and Maya Kingma. Any of those four could conceivably medal with a good race.
Lindemann and Kingma have WTCS wins and multiple WTCS medals to their name so will be a threat on any course. Kingma, in particular, will no doubt be licking her lips at the prospect of another breakaway with Duffy and/or Knibb.
Pedersen will arrive in Yokohama still searching for a maiden WTCS medal. After coming off a spell away with concussion, it is hard to gauge where her form is at. While she has a WTCS best finish of 4th, Yokohama could be a little early for her. That being said, her running prowess is well-established and she could spring a surprise on the field.
Then there is Van Der Kaay. She was impressive in her win at the New Plymouth World Cup and is one of the form athletes in the world of triathlon. She has all the requisite skills to launch herself onto the podium. More than anything, she has the momentum to make something happen in Yokohama.
On the men’s side, 2021 world and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt will make his first WTCS start of the year. While his coach recently acknowledged that the world title is not on his radar, he will nonetheless be a tough opponent to surmount. At his last two races in Japan, Blummenfelt won Olympic gold and WTCS Yokohama. That kind of know-how is not easily discarded.
Jonathan Brownlee, Lasse Lührs and Csongor Lehmann are three other names to watch out for. Each will be starting their first WTCS race of 2023; the first two won medals last year while Lehmann is a man on the rise.
Lührs has had a couple of injury niggles of late so it remains to be seen what kind of shape he is in. If he is at full fitness, though, he will almost certainly be in the mix.
Both fields contain medallists from Abu Dhabi too. From the men’s podium, Vasco Vilaca and Manoel Messias will be present while Sophie Coldwell and Taylor Spivey will also be racing. (Note: Messias has since been subbed out for countryman Antonio Bravo Neto).
Summer Rappaport, Erika Ackerlund and Kirsten Kasper will be joining Spivey and Knibb for the Americans. Georgia Taylor-Brown and Kate Waugh will similarly be among the British contingent.
A strong pack of German women will also be starting alongside Lindemann. Nina Eim, Lena Meißner, Lisa Tertsch and Marlene Gomez-Göggel will all be hoping for a strong result to strengthen their hopes of securing an Olympic qualifying slot this season.
Notably, Meißner will be arriving on the back of consecutive WTCS top-5 finishes. At both races, she took advantage of breakaways and with Duffy, Knibb and Seregni in the field she can expect another in Yokohama.
Emma Lombardi is the sole French woman on the start line. After her surprise 4th place on debut last year, she will absolutely be one to watch.
Turning to the men, Hayden Wilde will be on the start list one year after winning his first WTCS medal. After a win at the New Plymouth World Cup, he will arrive in good form like his compatriot Van Der Kaay.
In a similar vein, Morgan Pearson will hopefully race after enduring a DNS in Abu Dhabi due to sickness. His maiden WTCS medal came in Yokohama back in 2021; look for him to produce something similar.
Matthew Mcelroy and Kevin Mcdowell will also be among the US team in Yokohama. Earlier this year, we suggested Yokohama as a course at which Mcdowell could win his first WTCS medal.
Gustav Iden and Vetle Bergsvik Thorn will arrive in Yokohama on the back of contrasting form. Iden will be hoping to rally after a disappointing day in Abu Dhabi whereas Thorn will be racing on the back of a win at the European Cup in Quarteira.
The big names do not stop there.
Jelle Geens and Marten Van Riel are slated to start. Van Riel is still on the way back from injury so potentially could be subbed out for Noah Servais as happened prior to Abu Dhabi. Both he or Geens, though, could well threaten the medals.
WTCS medallists from last season Jawad Abdelmoula, Roberto Sanchez Mantecon and Antonio Serrat Seoane will be racing while an Australian trio of Matthew Hauser, Jacob Birtwhistle and Brandon Copeland will all fancy their chances.
Finally the French team will consist of Leo Bergere, Vincent Luis, Dorian Coninx and Tom Richard. It would be no surprise to see them try to push the pace in the water. After manufacturing breakaways in Bermuda and Abu Dhabi at the end of 2022, perhaps they will be able to do the same next month.
With the entire top-10 in the men’s world rankings racing, Yokohama promises to be one of the highlights of the season.
Who’s not there?
The winner of WTCS Abu Dhabi, Beth Potter, will not be racing in Yokohama. The decision to race or not in Yokohama is a tricky one. On the one hand, the travel is intense and will eat away at what could be valuable training time. On the other, it is one of the few Olympic distance races in the schedule.
While Potter triumphed in Abu Dhabi, she only won 750 points. By contrast a win in Yokohama will be worth 1000 points. Whoever finishes on the podium, then, will automatically leapfrog her in the rankings. At the end of the season, we will see if sitting this round out will pay off.
With Potter absent, Sophie Coldwell is next in line to be the Series leader after Yokohama, although it depends on how the race pans out.
Cassandre Beaugrand and Leonie Periault will be missing the race too. In addition Anabel Knoll will be skipping Yokohama.
On the men’s side, there are not too many big names passing on the race. Joao Silva and Pierre Le Corre are the only men in the top-20 of the world rankings not due to start.
UPDATE: Read more about Alex Yee’s and Flora Duffy’s absence here.
Main talking points
Will Taylor-Brown bounce back?
At WTCS Abu Dhabi, it was not Georgia Taylor-Brown’s day and she finished 15th. In doing so she lost a run in which she had medalled at eight consecutive WTCS events.
After winning in Yokohama last year, the event offers the perfect opportunity for her to rebound and show the field that Abu Dhabi was an aberration. Indeed a win would be the perfect way to get her season back on track.
On the flip side, another under-par performance could spell the end for her title challenge before it even really begins. It would be an exaggeration to call this race make or break for Taylor-Brown’s WTCS, however it is definitely important that she gets this one right.
French tickets to Paris
The members of the French team will need to finish in the top-5 in Yokohama or Cagliari to be sure of being selected for the Olympic Test Event in Paris this year. Thus far, Leo Bergere and Leonie Periault are the only two French athletes to have secured their slots.
The likes of Lombardi, Luis, Coninx and Richard will therefore require a big performance to book their tickets. Coninx and Luis started their seasons with top-5 finishes in Abu Dhabi so can be optimistic about their chances.
Likewise, Lombardi’s past success in Yokohama should reassure her.
Either way, the looming home Olympics and even making the Test Event will add a new dimension of pressure to the race for the French.
Race winners from 2023 abound
As mentioned above, Nicole Van Der Kaay and Hayden Wilde will be racing on the back of World Cups wins while Vetle Bergsvik Thorn also won in Quarteira.
There are several other race winners from this season already that are on the start lists.
Most recently, Max Studer won the Asia Cup in Dexing. Another Asia Cup, in Hong Kong, was won by Xinyu Lin, who will be the only Chinese athlete racing.
Emma Jackson won the European Cup in Melilla, Dominika Jamnicky won the Americas Cup in La Paz and Shanae Williams won the African Cup in Troutbeck.
Yokohama, then, will host a range of athletes that have displayed good form early in the year. Far from being a chance to blow out some cobwebs, most of the field will be at, or at least close to, top gear.
On the note of race winners, another not yet mentioned will also be starting.
Kuriackova’s adventures pay dividends
Earlier this year, Ivana Kuriackova took on a sally of four races in six weeks in Latin America. To cap off her run, she won the race in Pucon, Chile.
On the back of that run, Kuriackova vaulted herself over twenty places up the world rankings and put herself in contention to race in the Series. After only previously making two WTCS appearances in her career, she now has the opportunity to consolidate her presence at this level.
All of her hard work in racing and training over the winter has therefore come to fruition and she can enjoy this next phase.
As a fun aside, her WTCS debut actually came in Yokohama back in 2015. That race unfortunately ended with a DNF but as a stronger and older athlete, Kuriackova will be ready for a better result this time.
Asian Games qualification on the line
The Asian Games will be taking place later this year and are a centrepiece event for many countries.
The defending champion in triathlon from the 2018 edition, Yuko Takahashi, will be racing in Yokohama and will be hoping to secure her berth for the Games. To do so, she will need to finish in the top-16. After a 15th place at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi and a recent 5th place in Quarteira, she has a great shot of earning the finish she needs.
Takahashi will be joined by Minori Ikeno and Yuka Sato on the start line.
On the men’s side, the same challenge awaits Kenji Nener, Takumi Hojo, Ren Sato, Makuto Odakura and Aoba Yatsumatsu. Nener might be the favourite to hit the criteria going into the race although any of them could step up.
With home support lining the course, it will be a perfect chance for the Japanese athletes to strut their stuff.
View the men’s start list here.
View the women’s start list here.
