Triathlon is getting ever quicker. In 2023, four women ran under 33 minutes at an Olympic distance WTCS race and the level required to medal, let alone win, is constantly evolving.
Here, we take a look at how the top splits of 2023 stack up against the fastest run splits of all time in the WTCS.
Olympic distance
Gwen Jorgensen remains the only woman to have run under 32 minutes in a WTCS race. Her split of 31:41 from WTCS Stockholm in 2013 remains the gold standard and, as yet, no one has come within half a minute of her time. Jorgensen also has the second fastest split ever courtesy of a 32:15 run in Yokohama in 2016.
Cassandre Beaugrand entered the all time top-10 last season and this year almost matched her previous best of 32:16 in Cagliari. At the same event in 2023, she produced a time of 32:25 to take the fourth fastest split ever.
Beaugrand’s 32:25 just edged out Non Stanford’s 32:26 (Stockholm 2013) and Flora Duffy’s 32:27 (Abu Dhabi 2022) as they make up the rest of the top-6.
Jorgensen then returns with two further splits in the top-10 (32:26 and 32:43). Georgia Taylor-Brown remains in the top-10 as her split of 32:43 in Cagliari in 2022 ties Jorgensen for the tenth fastest in WTCS history.
The remaining two top splits – the eighth and ninth fastest ever – were also run in 2023 at WTCS Cagliari. Jeanne Lehair clocked 32:40 while Beth Potter managed 32:41.
Sprint distance
In a similar story to the men’s Series, the 2023 women’s WTCS did not see any new entries in the fastest ever Sprint distance run splits.
In keeping with her Olympic distance supremacy, Jorgensen also has the fastest Sprint split with a 15:31 from 2013. To go with that, she also has splits of 15:44, 15:45 and 15:46 (all in Hamburg) to complete the top-4.
Beaugrand is again the next quickest woman in WTCS history; she ran a 15:48 in Hamburg in 2018. Hamburg has proven to be a fast course over the years as the next two fastest splits also came at the venue.
Two Australians, Erin Densham and Emma Jackson, uncorked times of 15:50 and 15:55 in the German city. Vicky Holland also shares the eighth quickest split ever as she dropped a 15:57 in Hamburg in 2015. Jorgensen then rounds out the top-10 with a 15:57 and a 16:00.
Based on the speeds attained at Olympic distance events, it seems likely that in the near future we will see further sub-16 minute splits in the women’s WTCS. Moreover, we may even see an additional sub-32 minute Olympic distance split. As the sport continues to grow, expect boundaries to be pushed and the speed at the highest level to enter territories hitherto unseen.
