Ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, the German Triathlon Union faced a decision.
They had managed to qualify two women for the Games, with one of the slots being assigned to Laura Lindemann. The second slot, though, remained up for grabs. To determine the recipient, a trial race over the Super Sprint distance was held. The rationale behind the trial was to find the athlete best able to assist with earning a medal in the Mixed Team Relay. Beyond Lindemann, however, hopes on the women’s individual front were limited.
In the subsequent two years, times have changed.
Since Tokyo, the strength and depth of Germany’s female cohort has improved dramatically and there is a case to be made that they could be entering a golden generation. In tandem with this development, a game of musical chairs has taken place in the German women’s team.
For two years, the identity of the leading athletes on the team has constantly shifted. Now, a little over a week out from the Paris Olympic Test Event, Germany is in a position in which any of seven women could qualify for the Games.
Winding back the clock to the trial race before Tokyo, Anabel Knoll prevailed over Lisa Tertsch to lock in her place on the team.
What made Knoll’s success all the more surprising was that she would be making her Olympic debut before her WTCS debut, itself an unusual feat.
A solid performance in the relay helped Germany to 6th place while Knoll finished 31st in the individual race in Tokyo (Lindemann finished 8th). For some, making the Olympic Games would have represented the high point of a career and seen them move on to pastures new. Knoll, though, was only getting started.
She made her WTCS debut in Montreal shortly after the Games, finishing 11th. A month later, she stepped onto the start line at WTCS Hamburg.
As Lindemann took her first ever WTCS win that day to further cement her primacy on the German team, Knoll backed up her Montreal display with another 11th place.
Meanwhile, another young German athlete also made her WTCS debut in Hamburg that day. Having won a bronze medal at the World U23 Championships in Edmonton only a couple of weeks earlier, Annika Koch stepped up and finished 20th at her native WTCS race.
As much as Koch showed promise, Lindemann and Knoll were clearly the two athletes at the top of the German table.
Over the winter, Knoll continued to progress. By the time the 2022 season got fully underway, she was a different prospect altogether.
At WTCS Yokohama, she kicked off her campaign with a 7th place. An 8th place followed at WTCS Leeds and then, at her return to Hamburg, she claimed 6th place.
In Hamburg, Lindemann finished 5th in her spiritual racing home. Lindemann had also finished 6th in Leeds to further indicate the presence of a leading duo on the German team. Yet in Hamburg, the sands started to shift.
Lisa Tertsch, the women Knoll beat to make the Tokyo team, finished 3rd to earn her first WTCS medal. Already a World Cup winner in 2019, Tertsch carried her fine form through the summer as she added a silver at the Pontevedra World Cup and a gold at the World Cup in Valencia. Lindemann and Knoll had shown plenty of running speed hitherto. Yet Tertsch showed promise of being the fastest of the lot.
After all, she had run internationally at the European Cross Country Championships as a Junior.
On the note of fast running, another name popped up at Hamburg in 2022. Nina Eim finished 10th; while that was a very good result for a young athlete, the presence of three German women ahead of her made it fly under the radar a little. However, Eim logged the second fastest run split of the field, narrowly missing the time of race winner Flora Duffy.
If Tertsch had speed to burn, so too did Eim.
Misfortune hit Knoll a month later in August. A combination of a crash prior to the European Championships in Munich and a bout of sickness compromised the end of her season. One woman’s loss was another’s gain, though.
Lindemann powered to the silver medal in Munich while Eim impressed on her way to 4th place. Tertsch also finished 13th. Knoll was still in the driver’s seat after her strong summer, yet her challengers seemed to be multiplying.
Furthermore, the situation acquired a new layer of intrigue two months later.
At WTCS Cagliari, the first race in the Series after Hamburg, Lena Meißner scored a personal best finish of 11th place. Finishing just behind her was Marlene Gomez-Göggel in 14th.
At the next race, in Bermuda, Lindemann finished 4th to again assert herself. Meißner, though, matched her 11th place to confirm her status as a rising force.
It was at the final race of the season, though, that Meißner stepped up to a new level.
At the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi, she enjoyed an exceptional swim that put her into an elite breakaway, containing Duffy, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Taylor Knibb and Vittoria Lopes. As part of the lead pack, Meißner ripped the fastest bike split of the day and propelled herself to the bronze medal.
Not only was that her first medal in the Series, it made her the first woman of the current crop of German women to win a WTCS medal over the Olympic distance. Lindemann and Tertsch had done it over the Sprint distance. Lindemann had also medalled over the Olympic distance in Munich. To all intents and purposes, though, Meißner’s bronze medal marked her out.
At the first race of the 2023 season, Meißner backed up her medal-winning performance.
In Abu Dhabi once more, she finished 5th having made the breakaway. In doing so, she solidified her place as Germany’s leading woman.
Finishing just behind in 7th was Eim as she, again, logged one of the best run splits. As much as Meißner held the upper hand, the presence of the likes of Eim meant she could not rest on her laurels.
However, just as it had with Knoll six months earlier, bad luck struck Meißner. First came a bout of tonsilitis and then injury followed to disrupt her season.
With Meißner out, Eim stepped up. She clocked the fastest run of the day at WTCS Yokohama on her way to 11th place. At the next race in Cagliari, she produced another fast run to claim 9th place, although Tertsch managed to beat her in 8th.
A quiet day followed at WTCS Montreal. Lindemann was the top performer in 11th while Meißner and Knoll were trying to find a way back to full fitness and top form and finished in 29th and 45th, respectively.
Koch also finished 33rd in Montreal after taking 24th place in Cagliari. However, having improved the colour of her World U23 medal to silver at the end of 2022, she had still not quite found a way to surpass her 20th place from her WTCS debut.
It was then Eim’s turn to be hit by injury.
As Tertsch claimed the German title, Eim had to stop in T2 after deciding not to run on a precautionary basis. She had cycled with Tertsch in the lead group but had to watch as her counterpart overcame Selina Klamt and Gomez-Göggel for the win.
If Montreal had been an underwhelming day for the German team, the return of Hamburg reignited their season.
In a classy performance, Lindemann took the bronze medal. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, was Koch as she soared to 4th place. Right behind her was Gomez-Göggel as she logged a personal best WTCS finish of 5th. With three women in the top-5, Germany could have no complaints about their day.
Knoll also finished 15th in her best result of the season and Meißner finished 17th to indicate she was likewise on her way back. A mishap in transition ultimately cost Tertsch dearly. Having been the best of the bunch at the German Championships, she now lagged behind her rivals in Hamburg.
Two weeks later, in Sunderland, Koch and Gomez-Göggel struck again. The former won the bronze medal in an outstanding performance to join Lindemann, Tertsch and Meißner as WTCS medallists. Gomez-Göggel added another 5th place to reiterate her credentials.
Less than a week later, at the weekend just gone, Koch added a win at the Yeongdo World Cup.
Over the course of the past two years, then, there have been various moments at which supremacy in the German team has shifted. Lindemann has been fairly present throughout, yet Knoll, Meißner and, most recently, Koch have enjoyed runs of impressive form while the likes of Eim, Tertsch and Gomez-Göggel cannot be discounted.
It is almost a certainty that Germany will send three women to the Paris Olympic Games. That itself represents a big improvement from Tokyo. Thomas Moeller, the German head coach, has also expressed that the individual event in Paris will be the priority over the relay given the talent available.
The question is which three names will make it.
Koch now leads WTCS rankings in 13th. However her colleagues are right behind her. Tertsch lies in 14th, Eim in 15th and Gomez-Göggel in 16th. Lindemann is also close behind in 18th while Meißner sits in 26th and Knoll in 41st.
In the Olympic qualification rankings, Lindemann is 8th, Tertsch is 12th, Meißner is 15th, Gomez-Göggel is 20th, Koch is 21st, Eim is 27th and Knoll is 44th.
A country only needs three women inside the top-30 to seal three places at the Games. Germany has six.
Pre-eminence among the team has switched so many times in the last year alone it feels impossible to say who of the German women will qualify.
Koch’s relative positions in the WTCS and Olympic rankings highlights how recent her rise has been. However, she will not get to start at the Paris Olympic Test Event which is a particularly significant detail. As per the German Olympic selection policy, a top-8 finish at the Test Event can seal a place on the Olympic team.
The form athlete, Koch, however, will not have the chance to race. Nor for that matter will Knoll who was arguably the best German woman in the first half of 2022.
A top-8 finish at the WTCS Final in Pontevedra can also earn a place on the Olympic team, so there is hope for Koch and Knoll yet. Should any spots still remain after Pontevedra, the highest ranked non-qualified athlete in the top-12 of the WTCS will be added to the team. As such, all seven of the women have great chances of making the Olympic team.
Based on the past two years, it would not be surprising if there are twists to come. Maybe Selina Klamt, the newly-crowned European U23 champion, will emerge as yet another contender. The same could be said of Tanja Neubert.
If Knoll, Eim and Meißner hit top form again after their respective injuries, they could upend the status quo.
The only thing that can be for sure is that, so long as the German game of musical chairs continues, the race to Paris will be something special.
