After the Paris Olympic Test Event marked the first opportunity for athletes from multiple countries to qualify for the Olympic Games next summer, Pontevedra offered a new chance. A handful of men inked their names in to start at the Olympics next year after hitting their respective national criteria.
Dorian Coninx and Tim Hellwig, the gold and silver medallists in Pontevedra, had already booked their places in Paris. The bronze medallist, Pierre Le Corre, was therefore the first man to stamp his ticket at the WTCS Final.
Having finished 4th in Paris, Le Corre had to finish on the podium to seal his place. Until the final second, he even looked in with a shot of winning the race.
Le Corre has enjoyed a brilliant season. In addition to his sensational WTCS form, he won the World Military Championships, dabbled in a variety of long distance races and was a major player in the French Grand Prix. It is hard to pinpoint an athlete that looks like they have had more fun than Le Corre in 2023.
He will have to prove his fitness in 2024 to lock in his place on the French team. Such is the momentum behind him, he will likely manage that with comfort.
Lasse Lührs was the next man to qualify after finishing 5th. He therefore became the second German man to earn a place at the Games after Hellwig.
Lührs had to finish in the top-8 in Pontevedra and going forward he will need to stay in the top-30 of the Olympic Qualification rankings. Germany will still try to qualify a third slot for the Games, although in Hellwig and Lührs their men’s team are looking in rude health.
Matthew Hauser then became the first Australian triathlete to qualify. After Miguel Hidalgo’s disqualification was overturned, Hauser was relegated to 8th place. He also only finished 5 seconds ahead of Tyler Mislawchuk so, in the end, securing the top-8 he needed proved a little tighter than expected.
Either way, Hauser achieved his objective of confirming his place on the Australian team.
Some men missed out by the slimmest of margins in Pontevedra. In being pipped to the podium, Leo Bergere missed out on qualification in Pontevedra.
Furthermore, Lasse Nygaard Priester finished 11th after needing a top-8 finish.
Vasco Vilaca slipping from the overall podium also proved costly. Had he ended the season on the overall WTCS podium, he would have confirmed his place on the Portuguese team. As it stands, he is highly likely to qualify for Portugal anyway. Still, he could have made it certain already.
Notwithstanding the conditions still to be fulfilled for some athletes, such as being in the top-30 in the Olympic rankings for Germany, the list of qualified men now stands at seven names.
- Alex Yee
- Dorian Coninx
- Morgan Pearson
- Tim Hellwig
- Pierre Le Corre
- Lasse Lührs
- Matthew Hauser
