Finally, we come to the six best athletes in the women’s World Triathlon Championship Series.
Each of the women here won at least two medals in the 2022 WTCS season. Likewise, each athlete will conceivably contend for a medal at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
6) Sophie Coldwell GBR
Coldwell’s first WTCS medal came in Leeds in 2021 when she was a part of the breakaway that essentially Flora Duffy’d Flora Duffy. On a tough bike course, Coldwell had the fastest split and marked herself out as one of the strongest riders on the circuit.
At the time, it would have been fair to assume that Coldwell’s best races going forwards would be in similar circumstances, on hard Olympic distance courses that play to her swim-bike strength.
Last season rather confounded that.
She won two medals, taking bronze in Abu Dhabi (2021) and Leeds. Notably, both were Sprint distance events.
At both races, Coldwell used the bike to her advantage, working with others to generate a gap to the main pack. As such, there was a resemblance to her first WTCS medal.
That being said, one thing that has stood out about Coldwell in the past 18 months is how much her speed has progressed. In part, this has been a consequence of her involvement in the British Mixed Team Relay.
However, it is to a greater extent a sign of her growth and maturing as an athlete. With a bit more run speed, she will likely be able to contend for medals at most, perhaps all, WTCS races.
One other thing to note is her consistency. Until back spasms hampered her day at WTCS Bermuda, Coldwell owned a run of eight straight top-7 WTCS finishes. She therefore combines consistency with a growing knack for winning medals which will stand her in good stead going forward.
5) Beth Potter GBR
It was a little tricky to separate Potter and Coldwell.
As with Coldwell, Potter has been on the rise for the past few seasons. Although she is the older athlete, she is much newer to triathlon having only made the jump after competing in athletics at the Rio Olympics.
At WTCS Leeds 2021, Potter achieved her first WTCS top-10 by finishing 7th. Perhaps the most impressive thing about that feat was that it came just three weeks after she was lapped out of WTCS Yokohama. The way she bounced back put her mental fortitude on full display.
Later in the year, she won two back-to-back World Cups in the autumn. The clues were there, then, that Potter was on the cusp of stepping up to a new level. 2022, though, was perhaps even better than expected.
At WTCS Montreal, she won her first medal by taking bronze. Two weeks later, she went one better by winning silver at WTCS Hamburg.
With her first two medals coming over the Super Sprint and Sprint distances, there was still a small question mark as to whether she would race as well over the Olympic distance. Potter dispelled any such doubts at WTCS Bermuda by taking the bronze medal in which she combined a strong bike with an outstanding run.
With three medals across three distances in 2022, Potter truly confirmed herself as one of the best triathletes in the world and a contender at any race.
It was not her day at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi and that saw her slip to 7th overall in the Series, one place behind Coldwell.
Her swim could also be a slight weakness compared with some of the other leading athletes.
However, the newfound level Potter displayed last season indicated that she had found her feet at the highest echelons of the sport. Going forward, it would be no surprise to see her contend for medals and even wins on a regular basis.
4) Cassandre Beaugrand FRA
Beaugrand might just be the best runner in the field, although there are a number of candidates to rival that claim. She was often the fastest runner in the women’s race, including at WTCS Cagliari where she became the second fastest woman ever over the Olympic distance.
The high point of Beaugrand’s year, though, came at WTCS Leeds. That day, she logged the fastest swim and the fastest run (in spite of a penalty) and steamrollered the field.
Two weeks later, she followed it up with a silver medal at WTCS Montreal and for a moment it looked like she would contend for the world title.
In the end, the second half of her season did not quite come together. At both WTCS Cagliari and WTCS Abu Dhabi, she lost too much time on the bike to the front group for her run to recover. Over the Olympic distance, her bike can be a bit of a liability. Furthermore, Beaugrand is yet to win a medal over the Olympic distance at the WTCS or World Cup level. Going into the Olympics, that will be something to address.
Her ability over the Sprint distance, however, more than compensates for any shortfall in the longer race. Such is her speed in the water and on foot, it would not be that great a surprise if she swept the Sprint distance races this year.
The other key point with Beaugrand is that she is only 25. Over time, she will continue to get better and, given her current level, that should worry the rest of the field.
3) Taylor Knibb USA
If Beaugrand can be thought of as the best runner in the field, there is no question about the best cyclist. It’s Knibb.
She is so much better than the rest of the women’s field (save perhaps for Duffy) on the bike it is borderline ludicrous. At the last three races of the 2022 season (Cagliari, Bermuda and Abu Dhabi) she put on virtuoso performances on the bike.
In Cagliari, she enlivened an otherwise bland course by setting such a furious tempo half the field, including Beaugrand, fell away. In Bermuda, she rode solo for most of the bike as she hunted Flora Duffy and Maya Kingma. Both races saw her win medals (bronze then silver, respectively).
Then in Abu Dhabi, she was at her destructive best as she led the front group breakaway. A bike crash towards the end may have cost her the bronze medal; nevertheless, she still took 4th place.
Nor is Knibb’s cycling anything new. In 2021, she rode the bike course at the WTCS Final in Edmonton on her own to take the win in jaw-dropping fashion. Moreover, in 2017, she became the youngest ever WTCS medallist after breaking away with Duffy on the bike in Edmonton.
She may have won fewer medals than Potter in 2022, however Knibb has shown she can shape races in a way that few can.
Knibb has the same distinction as Laura Lindemann of winning two World Junior titles and then the World U23 title in the space of three years (2016, 2017, 2018). She has therefore promised great things for a while. On the one hand, she is clearly already delivering on that proimise. On the other, she is younger than Beaugrand by a year.
That means there is conceivably even more to come from Knibb.
Considering we have yet to see “full Knibb”, we can only imagine what the future holds.
2) Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR
By any standard, Georgia Taylor-Brown had a season for the history books in 2022. She won three WTCS races and took six medals across six events.
She swam with the best, she rode with the best and she ran with the best. There is simply no weakness in her skillset. Last year, she entered the top-10 all-time women’s run splits over the Olympic distance. Twice.
In addition, Taylor-Brown was actually more consistent than the world champion, Flora Duffy, across the season as Duffy missed the podium in Leeds and took bronze in Yokohama. By contrast, Taylor-Brown’s “worst” result was silver.
Indeed, since the start of 2020, her lowest individual result at a major race is, you guessed it, 2nd.
There is consistency and then there is the level of relentlessness Taylor-Brown has discovered. It took a superhuman performance from Duffy to overhaul her in 2022.
Indeed it took Duffy’s best day to beat her in Abu Dhabi (and at the Tokyo Olympics before that). It took Beaugrand’s best day to beat her in Leeds. But both showed they can have off days in 2022. Taylor-Brown simply does not do off days. Her racing is precise, it is ruthless and it must be utterly exhausting to go up against.
At this moment in time, she has not yet surpassed Flora Duffy, but she is awfully close. Her time will come. And it will come soon.
1) Flora Duffy BER
If you had to bet your house on a race or a season, Duffy is still the athlete most would go to.
She won the past two world titles and Olympic gold in 2021. To all intents and purposes, she has been the best athlete of the past two years. Every major gong available in that time has her name inscribed upon it.
After 2021, she was hesitant over returning in 2022 and that saw her start slowly in the year. A bronze at Yokohama followed while a bout of COVID undermined her preparation for WTCS Leeds. Once she got into full swing in the summer, she summoned a vice grip on the field that she refused to release.
She rattled off wins at Hamburg, Bermuda and Abu Dhabi to seal her fourth world title. At each race, she was the fastest runner. At Bermuda and Abu Dhabi, Duffy was the fastest swimmer too (her standards evidently slipped in Hamburg where she was 4th out of the water).
Over the course of an injury-free season, the case could be made that no one has beaten Duffy since 2015.
Until someone actually beats her, she has to be ranked as the number one athlete in the world. Maybe time will do so before any rival can. Maybe Taylor-Brown will take the final step this year.
Beyond a second Olympic gold and a fifth world title, there is not really anything left for Duffy to achieve in the sport. Enjoy it. Enjoy the time she is still on the circuit. We are watching a generational talent in action. We are watching the best.
