At long last, we come to the big one: the six men we consider the best triathletes in the realm of World Triathlon right now.
Each of these men have numerous WTCS medals to their names. Each medalled in the 2022 season. Indeed, all bar one won a WTCS race last season.
Without further ado, let’s examine the top-6 male triathletes.
6) Morgan Pearson USA
In the past couple of years, Pearson’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Having only made the step up into the international ranks in 2018, he produced an outstanding performance at WTCS Yokohama in 2021, winning the bronze medal.
That result was enough to lock up Olympic qualification for the USA ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. In the space of one four year cycle, Pearson had risen from age-grouper to Olympian.
At his next WTCS appearance, Pearson went better still by taking a silver medal in Leeds. His running stood out at both Leeds and Yokohama as he logged the second fastest run splits of each race.
His individual race in Tokyo was not what he hoped as he finished well down in the field. However, he bounced back with a sterling effort in the Mixed Team Relay to help Team USA to silver.
An unconvincing 24th at WTCS Abu Dhabi in 2021 followed. Then, the hibernation began.
Pearson had a run of bad luck with injuries that kept him away from racing for the best part of a year. As the world seemed to move on and new challengers stepped up into the medals, he was left on the sidelines, watching, waiting.
His WTCS return came at the 2022 Final in Abu Dhabi. That day, he was nothing short of brilliant. With the fastest run of the field, he catapulted himself to the silver medal and at one point looked close to hauling in the winner, Leo Bergere.
Over the past two seasons, then, Pearson has a hit rate of three medals from four races. In 2023, he will be turning 30 and can be expected to hit his prime. So long as he can stay injury-free, more medals can be expected this year. Who knows, if he can string together more of the same, he could even become world champion.
5) Jelle Geens BEL
Jelle Geens had an outstanding 2022 season. He got things underway with a win at WTCS Abu Dhabi in 2021. Finishes of 4th in Montreal, 5th in Hamburg and 4th in Bermuda followed (plus a 5th place at the European Championships in Munich).
That second podium, though, seemed to elude him.
Then, at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi he soared to a bronze medal having logged the fastest bike split of the field. In the end, his performances saw him finish 4th overall in the Series.
Geens is a threat across all distances and is one of the best runners in the sport. There is only one reason he is not ranked higher here.
His swim.
At both of his medal-winning performances in Abu Dhabi, Geens emerged from the water way down on the leaders. At both races, he was able to make up ground over the bike which allowed him to put his run to good use.
However, his swim generally puts him on the back foot at races. As a result, his performances rely on bridging back to the main group and then putting together a big run. When that doesn’t work, such as at WTCS Cagliari where he finished 33rd, it puts him in a tricky spot.
Each of the athletes ahead of Geens is either strong in the water or at least capable of making the best of the discipline.
Moreover, the swim vulnerability is not new. In 2019, Geens won WTCS Edmonton and took bronze at WTCS Hamburg, putting the world on notice. However, he also finished 14th at WTCS Leeds, 36th at WTCS Yokohama and 25th at WTCS Bermuda. At each of those three events, his race was essentially over after the swim.
Over the past few years, Geens has improved in the water and there is every possibility that over the winter he has patched the old vulnerability. Once it is fixed for sure, he will be the complete triathlete.
4) Vincent Luis FRA
Speaking of the complete triathlete, Vincent Luis might have one of the most rounded skillsets in the men’s field. Alongside Mark Devay, he is probably the best swimmer. He is a fantastic bike rider and his running has been elite for years. Indeed, he did not become world champion in 2019 and 2020 by accident.
His 2020 triumph at the single day world championships in Hamburg was his last win before a two year fallow run. While he medalled in that time, by taking silver at WTCS Montreal and WTCS Abu Dhabi in 2021, the sharpness of old was not quite there. Indeed, with injury and heart issues hampering his early 2022 form, there was a question mark over his future.
At WTCS Bermuda, though, Luis emphatically answered that question.
He put together a near-flawless race, delivering a brilliant swim and bike before running a fast but controlled 10km to seal the win.
At the WTCS Final, Luis put in a monster effort to help Leo Bergere towards the world title. He finished 7th that day but had he been a little more selfish he could have likely contended for a medal.
In the end, Luis finished 5th in the overall Series. Like Geens, he is a great single day racer and is similarly consistent over the course of a season.
What sets Luis apart is his ability to medal or win in almost any circumstance. He can lead a breakaway or win in a sprint finish on the run. With a home Olympics on the horizon, Luis can be expected to push for a final hurrah and will likely contend for more wins this season.
3) Hayden Wilde NZL
Hayden Wilde has a legitimate claim to being one of the best cyclists in the men’s field. In 2021, he had the unusual distinction of winning an Olympic medal before winning a WTCS medal as he took bronze in Tokyo. A 6th in Montreal and an 8th in Abu Dhabi followed.
It was in 2022, though, that Wilde took himself to a new level.
A maiden WTCS medal came at the first race of the year, a silver in Yokohama. Then came his first win as he ran down a Bergere-Luis breakaway at WTCS Leeds. A silver in Montreal and a win in Hamburg ensued and, heading into the WTCS Final, Wilde sat in pole position to take the overall crown.
Ultimately, he slipped to 6th in Abu Dhabi, finishing outside of the individual medals for the only time in 2022. In doing so, he lost the world title by a matter of seconds.
Throughout 2022, he also showed himself to be one of the best runners in the field. Indeed, in Hamburg, he produced one of the fastest run splits in WTCS history.
With a new focus on his swimming capacity, he is aiming to make the front pack more often and, being born in 1997, is young enough to continue to make big strides in that area.
Why, then, is he third here?
To a degree, that is a reflection of the two athletes ahead. Wilde, after all, finished 3rd in the overall Series last year.
It is also an assessment of Wilde’s rawness. He came to the sport quite late relatively speaking, although not to the extent of someone like Pearson. That sometimes shows in his performances. On the one hand, it is part of what makes him such a captivating racer to watch. He is aggressive and daring at times and is one of the most proactive athletes in the field.
On the flip side, he is (understandably) still searching for that final polish, that final piece of the jigsaw that will help him change the stat that he has never beaten Alex Yee head-to-head in a WTCS race.
Given a little more time, Wilde could grow to dominate the field, especially if his swim comes along as he hopes. The issue for him is that there are two other men that could do so too, and right now they are one step further along.
2) Alex Yee GBR
Yee won three WTCS races in 2022, taking the wins at Yokohama, Montreal and Cagliari. Throw in his win from WTCS Leeds in 2021 and he actually has the most wins of his direct rivals (being Wilde and Bergere).
In the end, Yee finished 2nd in the Series last year after taking 4th in Abu Dhabi. That came after a 5th place finish in Bermuda. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that a bike crash in Leeds stopped him scoring there. Given Leeds came between two of his wins last year, it would have been reasonable to expect a podium that day which would have handed him the 2022 world title.
Let’s start with Yee’s obvious strength. He ran internationally for Great Britain and is probably pound-for-pound the best runner in the field. At WTCS Yokohama, he ran the second fastest split of all time and became just the fourth man to dip under the 29 minute barrier.
In a straight shoot out, Yee probably wins a running race. That being said, Geens got the better of him in Abu Dhabi so this is not to say his running is infallible.
Yee’s cycling is also an unheralded strength. Over the past few years, he has clearly worked on it and now is a very adept rider. At both WTCS Bermuda and WTCS Abu Dhabi, he played big roles in leading the chase pack.
His swim is his weakness, in the same way it has been for Wilde thus far. However, just as Wilde is young enough to improve, so too is Yee. Yee was born in 1998; if Wilde has age in his favour, then Yee has to as well.
On balance, Yee stands ahead of Wilde having never lost to him. In addition, he will absolutely be in the hunt for the world title this year. However, there is one man that currently stands ahead of him.
1) Leo Bergere FRA
At this point in time, we consider the 2022 world champion the best triathlete in the world.
There is a strong case to be made to copying and pasting Vincent Luis’ strengths here. Bergere is one of the best in the field across all three disciplines and can produce in any type of race.
His swim puts him in most, if not all, breakaways. He can ride with the very best too. On the run, there is a case to be made that Yee and Wilde are a little better.
However, if we consider that Wilde and Yee may improve in the swim given their age, we must also consider that Bergere’s run can still improve as he is in the same cohort. Indeed, if we compare “weaknesses”, Bergere’s run is significantly better than Yee’s or Wilde’s swimming, especially as he out-ran both of them at the most recent WTCS Final.
Having broken his duck at WTCS Abu Dhabi and earned his first win, Bergere looks set to improve even further.
He now has eight WTCS medals to his name and has been a consistent face at the front of the field for two years.
One thing that also stands out is Bergere’s race nous. At WTCS Leeds, he launched a breakaway on the bike that saw him win the silver medal.
The fact that Wilde and Yee led for so much of 2022 means that they are often at the forefront of people’s minds. Nonetheless, Bergere had the conviction to stay in the hunt while behind and the strategic sense to put together the race of his life in Abu Dhabi. Not everyone can deliver when the stakes are so high.
He is the most complete athlete physically and psychologically in the field and he is nowhere near his peak. If he continues on his current path, it will be impossible for him to fly under the radar any longer.
