Earlier this week, we surveyed some of the athletes with history as dual sport triathletes. That is to say the individuals that competed internationally in both triathlon and another sport concurrently.
Many of the instances came while the athletes were Juniors, such as Cassandre Beaugrand, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Jake Birtwhistle and, more recently, Jule Behrens.
This led us to ask: will any WTCS athlete compete in another sport internationally in the same season?
In recent seasons, there have been some close calls.
In 2022, Hayden Wilde narrowly missed qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in the 5000m on the track. 2022 was the year he also won his first WTCS medals.
Similarly, in 2018 Alex Yee competed at the European Athletics Championships in the 10,000m. While he was an elite triathlete at that point, he did not make his WTCS debut until 2019.
Moreover, Beth Potter had the impressive distinction of racing both the 10,000m and the triathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Like Yee, though, she did not make her WTCS debut until 2019.
Only 14% of those that voted in the poll said that there will not be an athlete that races both the WTCS and another sport in the same season.
A whopping 70% of voters picked the triathlon-running combination as the likeliest way in which an athlete can be a dual sport triathlete at the WTCS level. Given the recent history of Wilde, Potter and Yee, this makes a lot of sense.
When we look at some of the fastest running splits in the history of the WTCS, there is clear indication of the running ability in the sport. Notwithstanding that not all courses will be perfectly 5000m, some of the splits are exceptional. Moreover, all of the splits have come in a triathlon. Take out the swim and the bike and the times could be electric.
For reference, Hayden Wilde entered the top-10 all time Sprint distance splits with a 14:07 5km in Hamburg. His 5000m PB is a 13:29. As such, the men that have run sub-14 or 14-low could equally be within range of a similar time on the track.
The remaining 16% of voters selected the triathlon-cycling combination. With the cycling prowess of the likes of Taylor Knibb, perhaps it would be possible for an athlete to race both the WTCS and, say, an international time trial. It is currently unchartered territory. In part, this is due to the nature of cycling as a sport.
Track cycling would require substantial time away from triathlon, as would BMX. The road cycling calendar is also incredibly crowded. The idyll for a triathlete-cyclist would be to compete at a single day World Championships (or regional championship) event. To do this, the most logical way seems to be to win a national time trial championship and then race the time trial internationally. (Easier said than done of course!)
None of the voters considered it possible that a triathlete could compete internationally as a swimmer. This broadly makes sense and swimming does appear to be the least developed discipline in the sport.
Whereas cycling and running have substantial crossover with triathlon, there is a very narrow window in which an elite triathlete could race in swimming. The open water 10km is a very different event to the 1500m swim in a triathlon. It is also unlikely anyone in the WTCS would have the speed to race internationally at anything under the 800m or 1500m.
That leaves the distance events in the pool. There have been some exceptional swimmers in the WTCS, however as an example the men’s FINA “A” cut for 2022 in the 1500 was a 15:04.64. By comparison, Vincent Luis’ personal best for the long course 1500 stands at 16:55.01.
As Luis is currently one of the best swimmers in the sport, that highlights the mountain to climb.
