Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown – Too Good to Lose

Benjamin Eastman

The women’s race at the World Triathlon Championships Series Final in Abu Dhabi is a tantalising match-up. It is not just the fact that the world title is on the line. It is the contrast that Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown offer. What is there to say about Flora Duffy? The Olympic champion from Tokyo, Duffy defended her Commonwealth Games title in July, becoming the first triathlete to achieve that feat. She is the defending world champion. She is coming into Abu Dhabi with multiple wins this season. And she…

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Yee to Win Abu Dhabi but Wilde to Win the Series

Benjamin Eastman

This race originally felt a little obvious. We had all the arguments worked out for how the race would unfold but now there is a little bit of doubt. The 2022 WTCS has boiled down to a two-horse race between Olympic silver medallist Alex Yee and Olympic bronze medallist Hayden Wilde. As has been the case more often than not in 2022, it can be expected that Abu Dhabi will result in another closely fought race for the win between the two men. The obvious point that jumped out was…

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Simulate the Outcome of the Men’s WTCS 2022 Here

Benjamin Eastman

As with the women’s top-10 simulator, here you can choose where you think the top ranked men in the 2022 WTCS will finish at WTCS Abu Dhabi. The code below will then automatically update and show what the top-10 in the Series will look like based on the choices you make. Note, if you select athletes to finish in the same position, a small warning will pop up. All you have to do is adjust any athletes that share the same position and then you’re good to go. As with…

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Simulate the Outcome of the Women’s WTCS 2022 Here

Benjamin Eastman

There are a lot of different potential outcomes for the women’s top-10 in the WTCS standings going into the Final. Here, you can simulate the results in Abu Dhabi and see exactly how the Series would play out. Select the finishing race positions of the current top-10 ranked women at WTCS Abu Dhabi below. Once you select the places, you will automatically see the outcome of the Series. Note, results will only be shown for athletes that mathematically cannot be overtaken by anyone outside of the current top-10. 11th place…

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Morlec the Favourite in a Tightly Bunched U23 Field

Benjamin Eastman

The World U23 Championships are perhaps the premier opportunity for young athletes to broadcast their talents and set themselves up for a successful career in elite triathlon. Winning or even medalling at U23 Worlds is a strong marker of potential and the men starting in Abu Dhabi will be presented with a great chance to make a step forward. Paul Georgenthum is a name that automatically jumps out from the page by dint of his 2nd place finish at WTCS Hamburg in 2021 with one of the best run splits…

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Too Close to Call at the Women’s U23 World Champs

Benjamin Eastman

This year’s women’s U23 World Championships will see a very strong field take to the start line and may be of the most accomplished U23 fields of recent years. Kate Waugh is the standout athlete. She easily could have started the Senior women’s race in Abu Dhabi and pushed to consolidate a top-20 position in the WTCS Series. Her recent results certainly read like someone that could place in the top-10 in a women’s WTCS field; she came 12th at WTCS Cagliari, 3rd at the Bergen World Cup, 5th at…

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Who Could Race Up the WTCS Rankings in Abu Dhabi?

Benjamin Eastman

With only the Final left in the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series season, attention is turning to where the athletes could finish in the overall Series rankings. The end of season WTCS rankings are perhaps the closest thing the sport comes to having a bona fide indication of who the best athletes truly are. As such, plenty of pride is at stake. The athletes that finish in the top-35 in the Series will also receive additional prize money. As a result, moving up or down the Series rankings could be…

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Watch Beth Potter’s Talk at the Royal Society

Benjamin Eastman

On Monday 14th November, three-time WTCS medallist Beth Potter gave a talk at the Royal Society as part of the conference “Innovation in sport: accelerating breakthroughs in engineering, optimisation and performance“. As background, the Royal Society is the independent scientific academy of the UK. Potter starts her talk by covering her switch from athletics to triathlon in January 2017. She then discusses the overarching goal of racing, namely to be able to win all type of races. To this end, she includes analysis of different events with different race profiles,…

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How Will the Women’s 2022 WTCS Standings Shake Out?

Benjamin Eastman

Unless something shocking happens or terrible luck strikes, the 2022 women’s World Triathlon Championship Series will be won by either Georgia Taylor-Brown or Flora Duffy. Entering Abu Dhabi, the Series is perfectly poised between the pair. Taylor-Brown sits on 3925 points after two wins and two silver medals. Duffy sits on 3856 points, only 69 points behind, after three wins and a bronze medal. Such is the nature of the points system in the Final, whoever finishes first of the two athletes in Abu Dhabi will take the world title.…

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Who Needs What in the Men’s 2022 WTCS Final

Benjamin Eastman

The World Triathlon Championships Final in Abu Dhabi marks the culmination of the 2022 WTCS season and there is plenty still to settle in both the men’s and women’s fields. The men’s field became a two horse race between Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde long ago. After wins at WTCS Leeds and WTCS Hamburg, Wilde currently sits on 3850 points. He did not race at either WTCS Cagliari or WTCS Bermuda and instead has spent the past few weeks with his eyes on the WTCS Final. With a training camp…

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Take a Look Back at all WTCS 2022 medallists

Benjamin Eastman

With the World Triathlon Championship Series Final around the corner, the time has come to take a look back at this season’s medallists. Hamburg 2021 Less than two months after the Tokyo Olympic Games, Hamburg saw a host of new faces start in 2021. Ultimately it was a day for local fans to enjoy as Germany took the win in both the men’s and women’s races through Tim Hellwig and Laura Lindemann. Lindemann was joined on the women’s podium by Nicole Van Der Kaay and Summer Rappaport. Meanwhile, on the…

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Interview: Sánchez Mantecón and His WTCS Breakthrough

Benjamin Eastman

Among the several outstanding performances at WTCS Bermuda last week, one of the best came from Roberto Sánchez Mantecón of Spain. In a breakout performance, he took the bronze medal. “It is special to make a podium, and also to share it with another Spaniard,” said Sánchez Mantecón on his first ever World Triathlon Championship Series medal. “Our country badly needed such a result after the great time we had before Covid.” After a solid swim, Sánchez Mantecón ended up in the main pack, around 40 seconds down on the…

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Splits Breakdown at the Viña del Mar World Cup

Benjamin Eastman

Fastest Swimmers Men As noted in the Statistical Breakdown for the Viña del Mar World Cup, Diego Moya had a fantastic swim. His time of 8:43 was 6 seconds clear of the next best athlete and put almost 15 seconds into the third best swimmer. Two notable athletes that made the top-10 swim splits were David Castro Fajardo (joint 6th fastest split with 8:58) and Jawad Abdelmoula (joint 10th fastest split with 8.59). That the entire men’s podium had top-10 swim splits indicates at least in part that the swim was…

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Viña del Mar World Cup: Statistical Breakdown

Benjamin Eastman

The Viña del Mar World Cup saw numerous interesting performances, several of which can be seen by delving into the statistics of the race. The Men’s Swim The above graphic shows the men’s swim distribution and from that it is possible to see just how much pressure Diego Moya put on the field with his aggressive tactics. A small concentration of athletes emerged from the water around 15 seconds behind Moya. This group was then followed by a steady flow of athletes over the next 20 seconds until the largest cluster…

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Biagioli and Matute Triumph at Viña del Mar Americas Cup

Benjamin Eastman

On the same day the Viña del Mar World Cup took place, the Americas Cup race at the same location was underway. Elite Women’s Race Leading the way in the women’s field was Romina Biagioli of Argentina. Rather unusually, the race was essentially decided from the swim. First out of the water was Sophia Howell of Canada in a time of 10:46, with Cuban athlete Leslie Amat Alvarez two seconds back and Biagioli a further four seconds back. That trio, once they escaped in the water, would not be seen again…

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