In less than three weeks, some of the fastest male and female triathletes in the world will toe the start line of WTCS Abu Dhabi. When the horn sounds, they will dive into a new season which, by the time the Final in Pontevedra rolls around, will determine the best triathlete in the world.
With the world title on the line, there is one crucial question to ask. How can an athlete win the Series?
Some of the most important clues lie in the scoring.
Scoring
In 2023, there will be six regular season WTCS races. An athlete may score points at their four best events. If they race all six, their two worst scores will not count.
World Triathlon also recently announced that the Olympic Test Event in Paris will count towards an athlete’s total in the 2023 WTCS. In essence, then, there are actually seven events in the regular season, even if the Test Event is not formally called a WTCS race.
Notably, an athlete can also score points at a Continental Championship. Only Olympic distance Continental Championship races count in this respect. In the event that two Continental Championships occur during the WTCS season, the first event will count.
At the end of the season, each athlete will have a final opportunity to record a fifth score at the WTCS Final in Pontevedra.
So, if an athlete can score at a maximum of five races by the time the season ends, what are the races worth?
Here is how the points break down:
- 1250 for the World Triathlon Championship Finals;
- 1000 for the World Triathlon Championship Series events (plus Olympic Test Event);
- 400 for the Continental Triathlon Championships.
The points listed above will be earned by the winner and thereafter decrease by 7.5% for each position. Moreover, to earn points, athletes must finish within the cut-off time which will be determined by adding 8% to the winner’s time. The 8% cut-off applies to both men’s and women’s events.
One important thing to note is that the above points only apply to Olympic distance WTCS races.
At Sprint distance WTCS events, the points will 75% of the value of the Olympic distance events. That means the winner would get 750 points. In case of semi-final/final or eliminator format events, the value will be 87.5% of the value of the Olympic distance events.
This is a change from the 2021 season in which athletes received 1000 points for a win regardless of the distance.
Moreover, at the Continental Championships, the Quality of Field Factor and Top 5 Bonus will be applied which can increase the value of the race.
You can read the full World Triathlon scoring document here.
Factors to consider
The WTCS is a system and, like all systems, there are ways in which it can be gamed.
Think of it like an exam. Exams do not necessarily tell you who is the smartest or who has studied the most. Similarly, the WTCS may not necessarily tell us the best racer nor who has trained the most.
What it will tell us is the athlete that can manage their season the best. That, itself, is no simple task. It is therefore key to understand the system that the athletes will operate within.
Season layout
Let’s start with the layout of the year. Pontevedra falls in September and is the most valuable race of the season. The first race of the year, in Abu Dhabi, is over six months beforehand.
Abu Dhabi therefore presents a conundrum. Do you aim to be in shape for the first race and risk not being able to hold form for the whole season? Or do you forego being in top shape in Abu Dhabi and target the more valuable race?
The 2022 examples of Flora Duffy and Leo Bergere suggest that there is value in winning the Final; after all, both became world champions on the back of doing so.
If in doubt, then, it is better to skip Abu Dhabi in pursuit of being in prime shape at the Final. This may be part of the reason why Duffy is not racing in the season opener.
How often to race
Similarly, if only four races count for scoring, there may be diminished value in racing more often. The reward of points may be balanced out by the risk of injury through extra travel and racing.
On the flip side, a bad race may necessitate additional racing to recover any lost points.
Indeed, such is the strength of the field, one bad race could torpedo an entire season.
In 2022, a 5th place in Bermuda undermined Alex Yee’s world title attempt. A 6th place in Abu Dhabi also did the same for Hayden Wilde. By contrast, Flora Duffy was able to mitigate a 7th place in Leeds by securing additional podium finishes to remove Leeds from her scores. Wilde would not have been able to do the same given his 6th came in the Final; in another world, however, Yee could have recovered the points lost in Bermuda at another venue.
Consistency is therefore a vital factor. One non-podium finish could be enough to derail an entire campaign.
Avoiding rivals?
Nowadays, the fields are too deep to have a “weak” start list. However, there sometimes is a possibility to avoid direct rivals at some races. As a result, there could be value in being selective over which races to enter.
In 2022, WTCS Hamburg was an example of a race in which one front-runner avoided another in both the men’s and women’s fields and in doing so boosted their points. Flora Duffy raced there while her rival Georgia Taylor-Brown did not. Meanwhile Alex Yee opted against racing which left Hayden Wilde clear to win the race and secure maximum points.
However, it is almost impossible to guess where another athlete will choose to race. With the depth of the field, it would probably be too much of a gamble to select races based on where others may or may not be.
Continental Champs and Paris
On the surface, Continental Championships look undervalued. For those seeking to win the Series, that may be true. For those looking to break into the top-10 though, they could be invaluable.
This is mainly because the Quality of Field factor and Top 5 Bonus actually boost the value of the races. You can read an explanation of both here. While a Continental Championships is worth 400 points on paper, they are worth more in reality.
Take the example of Jawad Abdelmoula in 2022. By finishing 8th at WTCS Montreal, he earned 579 points. His win at the African Championships, meanwhile, earned him 510 points.
Another good example came when Leo Bergere won the 2022 European Championships; for that he received 650 points as the field was stronger. That almost matched the 677 points he received for a 6th place in Cagliari.
A good race at a Continental Championships could thus be a very valuable scoring opportunity.
It is also worth examining the Paris Test Event.
As per a number the selection policies of a number of countries (including Spain, America, New Zealand, and more), the Paris Test Event will be the primary means of automatically qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. As a result, it can be expected that the race will be one of the deepest and most stringently contested of the season.
There will be value in racing to lock up Olympic qualification. However, from a purely WTCS sense, if Paris will be overly competitive there could be value in prioritising other races.
Olympic versus Sprint
While there may be value in prioritising races other than Paris, the Test Event is one of three Olympic distance races in the regular season. It is therefore on paper one of the most valuable events on the circuit.
Few athletes with serious ambitions will be able to pass up a 1000 point race like that.
If events like Abu Dhabi, Montreal and Sunderland are only worth 750 points for a win, it may be worth chancing it in Paris.
At the same time, Sprint races are a little less physically taxing than Olympic races which could aid consistency throughout the year.
The perfect season?
Going by everything written above, perhaps the perfect schedule would be as follows:
- WTCS Yokohama – May
- WTCS Cagliari – May
- WTCS Hamburg – July
- (WTCS Sunderland – July)
- Paris Test Event – August
- WTCS Pontevedra – September
WTCS Sunderland would be included as a backup in the event one of the other races go wrong.
The above schedule would maximise Olympic distance racing opportunities (and therefore points). Indeed, the most valuable races on the calendar are all included.
It would also provide races in clusters. For instance, an athlete could race Yokohama and Cagliari and then have a six week training block before Hamburg. Sunderland and Paris would follow soon after and then there would be time for a final training block before Pontevedra.
Whether an athlete will try to “hack” the WTCS like this will remain to be seen. Either way, it promises to be a fascinating year.
