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 locations.
Significantly, the WTC still had control of WTCS Hamburg, one of the few WTC events to remain on the current WTCS calendar.
However, Hamburg is the latest race to fall away from WTC control. Rather than losing its place in the Series, it is the WTC that has stepped away.
Next year, WTCS Hamburg will no longer be under the control of Ironman. Instead, the German Triathlon Union (DTU) will take over the event as the organiser.
As the highlight of the German triathlon calendar, there is a natural synergy between WTCS Hamburg and the DTU. Stepping in as organisers will allow for greater DTU control over the event, particularly with regards to the attendant age-group races. Such control will also help the DTU to capitalise on it as a focal point in the year, ideally boosting its profile, attention and revenue.
For instance, Laura Lindemann won a medal at the 2023 iteration of the event and is the most successful female athlete ever at the event. More so than the WTC, the DTU has an incentive to build upon such stories. Hence, from 2024, the DTU will be ideally placed to make the most of further potential home success at the event.
Meanwhile, as much as the shift marks a step forward for German triathlon, it serves as another surrendered territory for the WTC.
From the high point in which it ran two-thirds of the 2016 WTCS circuit, it is now a faded force in the short distance world, a process that has only accelerated since the conclusion of its partnership with World Triathlon.
The running of WTCS Hamburg in 2024 may show little difference on the surface then. To look a little more closely at the event, though, is to see the changing landscape of the sport continuing underfoot.
