Priester Primed To Claim European Super Sprint Title

Benjamin Eastman

The European Championships over the Super Sprint distance will be taking place in Balikesir, Turkey, this weekend. Over two days, the athletes will take on a semi-final and a final to award the second European crown of the season. After the Olympic distance affair ended up as a duathlon, the organisers in Balikesir will be hoping for a smoother weekend. An additional layer will shape the racing as the Senior and U23 field will compete together although the latter will have a separate classification after the race. Athletes born in…

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Birtwhistle: Sunderland Swim Should Have Been Cancelled

Benjamin Eastman

Jake Birtwhistle has revealed that he has struggled with sickness since WTCS Sunderland. The reason for his illness, though, appears to be a fairly open and shut case. He shared that the E.coli (Escherichia coli) levels in the water in Sunderland dramatically exceeded the permitted levels for athletes to safely compete. Similar information was also shared on Twitter by Tim Heming. On 26th July, three days before the racing, the E.coli levels stood at 3900 (colonies/100ml). Although there had no been indication of such high levels in the weeks leading…

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What Happened With The WTCS Stockholm Settlement?

Benjamin Eastman

Nestled in the notes of the Financial Statements of World Triathlon for 2020 and 2021, is an interesting reference. As per the 2021 Statement, the “pending situation with the Stockholm WTS agreement has been resolved and the amount allocated in Short Term Provisions (STP) ($272,645 USD) exceeded the final amount payable ($162,533 USD) by World Triathlon.” On the one hand, this meant that World Triathlon could declare over 100,000 USD as Extraordinary Income which helped it end the year in profit. The more interesting point, though, is the amount payable…

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Koch Looking To Maintain Exceptional Form In Yeongdo

Benjamin Eastman

The women’s race in Yeongdo looks likely to come down to a clash between two World Cup winners. Annika Koch will arrive in South Korea on the back of an exceptional run of form. A 4th place at WTCS Hamburg in July represented a major step up for the World U23 silver medallist. Only two weeks later, she went one better as she landed 3rd place at WTCS Sunderland. The combination of her Hamburg and Sunderland results have vaulted her to 13th in the WTCS standings, making her the top…

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Maiden World Cup Win Could Be On The Cards At Yeongdo

Benjamin Eastman

Having been postponed from its original slot in May, the Yeongdo World Cup will take place this weekend. Fresh of a personal best WTCS performance in Sunderland, where he finished 11th, Valentin Wernz may be the man to beat. Prior to that, Wernz had set a personal best WTCS finish in Cagliari through his 13th place. Wernz has had a slightly inconsistent year to date as finishes of 40th at WTCS Abu Dhabi and 42nd at WTCS Montreal will attest. On his day, though, he will be a match for…

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World Triathlon Declared Profit For 2020 and 2021

Benjamin Eastman

Last week, World Triathlon released its Financial Statements for 2020 and 2021. The statements were audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, more commonly known as PwC, and reveal that World Triathlon finished the 2020 and 2021 financial years in a position of profit. In this article, we will delve into the numbers and show how World Triathlon makes its money, where its major expenses lie and how it turned a profit during the pandemic. Note, all numbers listed below are in USD. Main Income The Olympic Games remains short distance triathlon’s primary source…

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The Statistical Breakdown of WTCS Sunderland 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Over the Sprint distance, there is only so much time for the race to unfold. Being around an hour long, it finds itself in a curious space of sharing traits with the Super Sprint and Olympic distances without quite fully resembling either. At the shorter, sharper affair of WTCS Hamburg, decisive moments tended to happen at once rather than over the course of sustained periods of pressure as often seen with the Olympic distance. WTCS Sunderland was somewhere in the middle of the two types. Swim The men’s swim time…

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How Far Do The Obligations Of Elite Triathletes Extend?

Benjamin Eastman

Under the surface of WTCS Sunderland, it was possible to detect a very clear current of dissatisfaction. The locale had certainly bemused some athletes yet there was a deeper frustration at play. News earlier in the week that British Triathlon would be dropping out of hosting a WTCS stop in 2024 did not help. On the British front, perhaps some were trying to reconcile the rank hypocrisy of the narrative surrounding Sunderland itself. On the one hand, the story went that Sunderland’s local council had decided to host the event…

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Breaking Down the Splits at WTCS Sunderland 2023

Benjamin Eastman

Swim Chase McQueen and Diego Moya were the top performers in the sea at WTCS Sunderland, logging times of 8:48 and 8:49, respectively. Picking up where he left of at WTCS Hamburg, Brock Hoel was also among the fastest swimmers in Sunderland as he hit a time of 8:52. Jonas Schomburg and Márk Dévay matched Hoel and had a good swims. Although, for the second straight event, Dévay was not the first man out of the water which was a slight surprise given his form over the past two years.…

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How Do The WTCS Rankings Look After Sunderland?

Benjamin Eastman

After winning the bronze medal at WTCS Sunderland, Hayden Wilde has assumed the leadership of the men’s World Triathlon Championships Series. Sunderland was the penultimate race (and last WTCS event) of the Series before the Final in Pontevedra in September. Next up will be the Paris Olympic Test Event in August, a race that will be worth up to 1000 points. Pontevedra, meanwhile, will offer 1250 points to the winner. With both Paris and Pontevedra forming large parts of the Olympic selection criteria for multiple countries, the races will likely…

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The Debuts and Personal Bests at WTCS Sunderland 2023

Benjamin Eastman

The Debuts Two months after officially changing his sporting nationality to British, Max Stapley made his WTCS debut. He therefore had the opportunity to make his first start at a home event and make the most of the domestic support. Stapley swam well and managed to make it into the breakaway on the bike. From there, he pulled several turns and was regularly towards the front of the pack. His efforts on the bike told a little as he drifted to 31st over the course of the run. Nevertheless, he…

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How To Earn Your First WTCS Win Like Pierre Le Corre

Benjamin Eastman

Pierre Le Corre was nothing short of brilliant on his way to victory at WTCS Sunderland. With an electric run split, the fastest of the day, that culminated in a sizzling sprint finish to beat his teammate and the world champion, Leo Bergere, Le Corre produced something close to a perfect race. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Le Corre’s performance was that it delivered his first ever gold medal in the WTCS. Moreover, he last won a WTCS medal six years ago (a bronze in Stockholm). At thirty-three years…

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WTCS Sunderland a Walk in the Park for Beaugrand

Benjamin Eastman

WTCS Sunderland turned out to be little more than a leisurely day by the seaside for Cassandre Beaugrand. Although Therese Feuersinger took control of the swim and led the field into T1, it was Beaugrand that led the way out of transition. Feuersinger clamped onto the French woman’s wheel and the pair set about building a small lead. A pack of five women had formed behind, containing Olivia Mathias, Annika Koch, Emma Lombardi, Lizeth Rueda Santos and Vittoria Lopes. By the end of the first lap, they had bridged to…

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Le Corre Upsets The Odds With Astonishing Sunderland Win

Benjamin Eastman

It all looked so simple. When Hayden Wilde, the only male WTCS race winner of 2023 in the field, moved into the lead early in the run, the race seemed settled. As the best runner in the field on paper, Wilde had been expected to do well on what was a fairly tame course in Sunderland. With the form, the superior run speed and the lead on the road in Wilde’s pocket, the narrative seemingly wrote itself. Just as they had at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi last year,…

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Selection Decisions Await Ahead of the 2023 World U23 Champs

Benjamin Eastman

The World U23 Championships are less than two months away and several countries have made early moves in selecting their teams. Bradley Course and Charlotte Derbyshire locked up automatic selection for Australia based on their medal-winning performances at the Oceania Championships in Port Douglas. Under the German selection policy, the top eligible male and female finishers from the European Games (that also finished inside the top-30) have earned selection. On that front, Selina Klamt finished 4th and Simon Henseleit finished 7th. The next German place was allocated to the top…

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