Hauser Picked as Male 2022 Breakout Athlete in TriStats Poll

Benjamin Eastman

When we asked TriStats voters to pick their breakout male athlete of the 2022 season, we were not sure as to which man would win. After a season in which multiple men have won their first WTCS medals and recorded breakthrough seasons, it was no mean feat to decide upon them. Ultimately, Matthew Hauser of Australia was voted as the breakout man. While his winning margin was not as comprehensive as that of Miriam Casillas Garcia in the women’s poll, his final share of the vote was 36%. Hauser had…

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Holm and Garabedian Win Close Races in Dakhla

Benjamin Eastman

The final African Cup race of 2022 took place in Dakhla, Morocco, with multiple athletes starting in the hope of securing crucial world rankings points. The first half of the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification window closes in May 2023. As such, strong performances in Continental Cups now can be highly important in boosting an athlete’s ranking and getting them onto World Cup and WTCS start lists before the May in the hope of securing precious points. Men’s Race Racing over the Olympic distance, the men’s field had a couple of…

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TriStats Voters Pick Casillas Garcia as Breakout Athlete

Benjamin Eastman

Earlier this week, we asked readers to pick who they felt was the breakout athlete of the women’s WTCS season in 2022. After an overwhelming influx of support from Spain, the choice was clear: Miriam Casillas Garcia. Of the five names we suggested, Casillas Garcia was the only athlete to not win a medal in 2022. However, what should not be overlooked is her tremendous consistency. Casillas Garcia had her best ever finish in the WTCS with a 5th place in Cagliari. In addition, she was a regular in the…

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Interview: Hayden Wilde and Swimming to the World Title

Benjamin Eastman

Hayden Wilde joined our call on a cold Belgian morning, with a positive COVID test on his mind and uncertainty over incoming rain. If nothing else, it was a far cry from the intensity of the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi just one week prior. His positive test has forced him to actually rest and take a semblance of an off-season. After four days, he’s already bored. As much as he has the prospect of a European Christmas and skiing to look forward to, sitting still does not really seem…

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Poll: Who was the Breakout Male Athlete in the 2022 WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

After we asked for your votes over which woman had the biggest breakthrough in the WTCS this season earlier this week, today we’re doing the same for the men’s field. The rules are the same. We consider an athlete as having a “breakout” if they had not won a WTCS medal before this season. Unlike the women’s poll, the men’s options consist exclusively of athletes that won their first medals in the 2022 season. Such was the depth, great athletes like Roberto Sanchez Mantecon have not been listed. However, if…

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Should Discretionary Selections Be Allowed in the WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

As highlighted in our article on the WTCS selection policies of some of the elite triathlon nations, discretionary selection clauses are rife in the sport. The use of such discretionary picks in the spot, however, creates as many problems as it solves. Discretionary selections have two traditional benefits. They help to re-introduce athletes that have suffered injury and hardship into the sport and they open a route into the elite end of the sport for prodigious talents with little by way of performance profile. To a degree, there is a…

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What Does it Take to Start in the World Triathlon Series?

Benjamin Eastman

When we watch the World Triathlon Championship Series, we see the best triathletes in the world go head to head. For a number of junior athletes across the world, watching the WTCS comes with the aspiration of one day joining the ranks of the triathlon elite. As a result, there is an important question to ask. What does it take to make the start list of a WTCS race? Having surveyed a number of the elite selection policies of some of the best countries in the world, this article sheds…

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Interview: Helen Jenkins on Comebacks and Commentary

Benjamin Eastman

For most viewers of the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi, trying to keep up with what was happening and the permutations of every move was no mean feat. To commentate on the races in real-time, and doing so in the Abu Dhabi heat, was an entirely different proposition. That challenge was taken up by three-time Olympian, Helen Jenkins. In 2021, Jenkins became a more consistent part of the World Triathlon commentary team after sporadic commentary experiences towards the end of her career. Abu Dhabi, though, presented one her of her…

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Poll: Who was the Breakout Female Athlete in the 2022 WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

There were plenty of fantastic performances in the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series. Today we’re asking the question of which female athlete had the biggest breakthrough of the season. To qualify as a “breakthrough”, we are only considering athletes that had not won a WTCS medal prior to the 2022 season. Some of the first-time medallists in 2022 include Beth Potter and Emma Lombardi. However attention also needs to be drawn to athletes that also performed above and beyond in 2022. For example, Miriam Casillas Garcia achieved her best ever…

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Who Sponsors the World Triathlon Championship Series?

Benjamin Eastman

The phrase “money makes the world go round” was attributed to the author Paul van der Merwe and the world of elite triathlon is no exception. For the sport to function, particularly on a global level, it is highly dependent on external sponsorship. By itself World Triathlon does not have the funding or means to foot the bill for the WTCS. As a result, it has entered into a series of sponsorship arrangements for its flagship product. The question is: who actually sponsors the Series and who is putting money…

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Who Won the Most Medals in the 2022 WTCS Season?

Benjamin Eastman

The 2022 season saw a number of great performances however one thing that stood out was the range and diversity of the medallists. 13 different women and 16 men won at least one medal, representing one of the deepest seasons on record. On some level, this is indicative of the growth of the sport as it matures. The Women Georgia Taylor-Brown led the way in the women’s WTCS with 6 medals from 6 starts. Taylor-Brown had a frankly astonishing season with a worst result of 2nd place and was the…

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The Statistical Breakdown of the 2022 U23 World Champs

Benjamin Eastman

The Swim One thing stands out above all else: the dominance displayed by Bianca Seregni in the water. After she exited, you can see a drop of 20 seconds until another athlete left the water. Such was her pace, it took almost 30 seconds after Seregni finished the swim for more than one swimmer to exit the water together. At the 40 second mark, we can see a small concentration of women that had also generated a bit of a gap. Normally, the first such spike in the density of…

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What is the ASICS World Triathlon Team?

Benjamin Eastman

Following the conclusion of World Cup racing for 2022 at Viña del Mar, we thought it would be a good idea to shine a light on a little-known aspect about the race. Viña del Mar was the third of three World Cup races in 2022 designated for the ASICS World Triathlon Team. The Team was created with a view to providing a developmental pathway for athletes in parts of the world without the infrastructure or an established route into elite triathlon. Indeed, it is one of World Triathlon’s leading initiatives in growing…

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Fact or Cap: The Loophole in Athlete Marketing

Benjamin Eastman

Have you ever noticed over the years that World Triathlon Championship Series medallists step up onto the podium within minutes of finishing their race? There is certainly no time to change into any other attire and so the athletes step up in their race suit. Some have barely caught their breath. That itself is similar to road cycling, where it is customary in the Tour de France, for example, for athletes to take to the podium in the same kit as that in which they have just raced. Other sports,…

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How Important Were the 2021 Races in the 2022 WTCS?

Benjamin Eastman

The 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series was unique insofar that for the first time ever the Series took place over two years rather than one. Following the uncertainty and postponements amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021, the planned races in Hamburg and Abu Dhabi were rescheduled for September and November, after the Final in Edmonton and the conclusion of the 2021 season. Such scheduling left the races in a strange place. They could not count for 2021 if the Final had already passed and to not assign them to…

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