This is the big one.
After much anticipation, we arrive at the final step: the six best male triathletes in the world.
The men listed below are at this time the likeliest candidates to make either the Olympic podium, overall WTCS podium or both this year. All won multiple WTCS medals in 2023 and all will treat Olympic gold as their objective in the coming months. To succeed in 2024, they will not have to make any great leap from their current state. Rather they will simply have to maintain the levels they have already shown and hope the roll of the dice goes their way.
Without further ado, let’s find out the names that occupy the top spots.
6) Matthew Hauser AUS (2023: 13th)
We expected Hauser to progress into the top-10 last year and he made the step up look easy.
He had already proven himself as a strong single-day racer in 2022 after he claimed the silver medal at WTCS Hamburg. However, consistency held him back. In 2023, he showed his racing qualities had only grown while he added a new level of consistency.
His win at WTCS Montreal was the obvious high point of his year. In a dazzling performance, Hauser clocked the fastest swim and run of the day to overpower the field. While a select group gathered to determine the medals on the run, the Australian simply cut them loose with a classy finishing attack.
To go with that, he claimed a silver medal at WTCS Yokohama.
Finishes of 5th in Hamburg and 8th in Pontevedra helped Hauser to 7th overall in the Series. That put him a slot behind Pierre Le Corre, an athlete with whom Hauser shared a lot of similarities last season. Both won a WTCS race and added another medal. Le Corre was the more consistent athlete although Hauser missed the Paris Test Event with COVID-19 and was still feeling the effects in the build-up to Pontevedra.
Without the COVID positive, Hauser possibly could have surpassed Le Corre in the final standings. Given that he is clearly still improving as well, it is fair to expect an even higher performance level this season.
A notable aspect of Hauser’s race in Pontevedra was that he led out the swim. He was thus one of the few athletes to lead out more than one (Sprint or Olympic) WTCS race in 2023 and his first discipline is a weapon that may actually be better than all of his rivals.
Last year we said Hauser will probably become a world champion at some point and last season only enhanced that view. The next, and possibly final, step for him to take will be stepping up as an athlete that can win three, four or even five WTCS medals in a season. The signs are that Hauser is close to becoming that individual. Indeed, he might even become the leading man in the post-Paris cycle.
5) Leo Bergere FRA (2023: 1st)
No one else has won more WTCS medals since the Tokyo Olympics than Leo Bergere. With nine medals, he has one more than his closest rivals in either the men’s or women’s standings and his tally speaks to his incredible consistency.
If there is a WTCS race, it is almost a guarantee that Bergere will be in the hunt for the podium.
After the highs of 2022, in which he claimed the world title in startling fashion with a win at the WTCS Final, he dropped back a little in 2023. Two medals represented the sum of his output. Although he claimed the bronze in Cagliari and silver in Sunderland, at times it seemed like he was forcing matters. Attacks on the bike at Abu Dhabi and Sunderland, for example, looked great but maybe cost more than they were worth. Perhaps the weight of being world champion added extra pressure in his first few races.
Nevertheless, Bergere is still the athlete ranked number 1 in the world rankings and ended the 2023 WTCS in 3rd place overall. If 2023 can be called a quieter year for him, that simply alludes to how ridiculous his standards have been since 2021.
It should also be noted that Bergere did not have a bad race in 2023. Aside from his medals, he finished 6th at WTCS Abu Dhabi, 5th at WTCS Yokohama, 5th in Paris and 4th in Pontevedra. One common theme was that he kept getting out-sprinted for a medal; most notably it happened in Paris and Pontevedra. It was also how he lost the gold medal in Sunderland.
With different fortunes, Bergere could have won at least two more medals and upgraded a silver to a gold. One argument could be that he needs to address his finish. However the main takeaway should be that Bergere has been extremely close to the top and with a very minor adjustment can return to collecting medals like stamps.
4) Vasco Vilaca POR (2023: 11th)
“It feels like another medal for Vilaca is only a matter of time.”
That is what we said regarding Vilaca’s prospects this time last year. He had claimed a medal at the single day world championships in 2020 and had a best 2022 WTCS finish of 4th in Leeds. As such, it seemed a reasonable prediction. After the year that Vilaca had, we have a new outlook: it feels like a gold medal for Vilaca is only a matter of time.
The Portuguese athlete claimed four WTCS medals in 2023, the joint-most of any man. But for sickness at the WTCS Final, he might have ended the year as the world champion. His race in Pontevedra came undone on the run but up to that point he was the likeliest beneficiary of Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee going missing in action.
Vilaca opened his season with a silver in Abu Dhabi and then took a bronze in Yokohama. Further silvers followed in Hamburg and Paris. As a result, he rose from 8th overall in the Series to 4th in 2023. Vilaca is thus trending in the right direction to make a big impact this year.
After his Pontevedra disappointment, he claimed a World Cup win in Rome. A couple of important details can be teased out from that win. For starters, it was his first world level win which will be an important confidence boost. Having actually completed the action of winning such a race, he will have an extra invaluable piece of experience for similar scenarios this year.
The more important detail, though, goes beyond the win itself. In Rome, Vilaca showed he is part of the absolute elite of male triathletes that can dip into a World Cup and take away a win without much nuisance. Pierre Le Corre did it in Tangier. Hayden Wilde did it in New Plymouth. When Vilaca did it, he served confirmation that he is essentially too good for the World Cup level and that the WTCS/Olympic podium is his real level now.
Injury-permitting, it is almost a certainty that he will fight for a medal on the blue carpet at the Paris Olympics. Once he gets a first WTCS win under his belt, the only question that will remain will be just how far can he go.
3) Hayden Wilde NZL (2023: 3rd)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was Hayden Wilde’s season in 2023.
There was plenty for Wilde to take away from last season. A win at WTCS Yokohama, his first over the Olympic distance, confirmed his status as one of the very best triathletes in the world. Moreover, a win at WTCS Hamburg, his first over his great rival Alex Yee, confirmed that he was able to beat anyone on his day.
Taken together, Wilde’s Yokohama and Hamburg performances offered all of the requisite evidence that he could become Olympic champion.
A silver medal in Cagliari came after he pushed Yee every step of the way while he also added a bronze in Sunderland. A dominant victory at the New Plymouth World Cup also served up another sight of Wilde at his bullying best. Such was his supremacy, he made a World Cup look like a glorified training session.
Amid all of the positives, though, came a barrage of bad luck. A mechanical at WTCS Abu Dhabi wrecked that race. A crash before the Paris Test Event stopped him from eventually finishing. A penalty from dropping his swim cap at Pontevedra proved costly, although it should be noted that Wilde had already missed the key pack out of the water.
Still, a case can be made that, with minor tweaks to 2023, he could have ended the season as world champion. After finishing 3rd overall in 2022 and 2nd overall in the Series last year, perhaps he will make the final step up in 2024.
There are two reasons that held him back from taking the top spot in the Top 30 this time round. The first is that his sneak attack in Hamburg likely won’t work at the Olympic Games or in a WTCS Final. Hamburg was contested over the Super Sprint eliminator format which lent itself to Wilde’s late move and flying T2. Over the Olympic distance, the gain of 5 seconds likely won’t decide the race in the same way.
Wilde therefore needs to find a tactic that can defeat Yee, in particular, over the Olympic distance. Despite a near-perfect race in Cagliari, Wilde could not get the better of the Brit. As much as he has officially defeated his rival, then, we would need to see him win over the distance that will determine a major title.
The second reason also concerns the major titles. At two consecutive WTCS Finals, Wilde has let the world title slip through his fingers. The same charge can also be levied at Yee. He is an Olympic medallist and can obviously perform when it counts. However he has not won a race when it counts. In effect, it is almost the contrast of Bergere earlier in the rankings; Bergere has won less often than Wilde but his came when it mattered most.
Wilde is too good not to correct these two doubts over the coming season. The final 0.1% shift, though, will determine whether he ends the year with the major golds or more “minor” medals.
2) Alex Yee GBR (2023: 2nd)
No male athlete has won more WTCS gold medals in the current Olympic cycle than Yee. Wins in Abu Dhabi, Cagliari and Paris last year went with the hat-trick of victories he earned in 2022.
The last of his 2023 triumphs, at the Paris Test Event, was more overpowering than the aroma of a Parisian cheese shop. No one else made a win look quite as easy in the WTCS last year as Yee did that day. Given that it came on the Olympic course, the omens are extremely promising for the Games.
Being such a consistent winner in the Series – he also won in 2021 in Leeds – there is only so long he can go with winning WTCS races and being denied the world title.
However, therein lies Yee’s problem. His performance in Pontevedra was his worst in the Series for years. Like Wilde, he has also never medalled at a Final. Like Wilde, he has botched two straight world title shots.
On balance, it feels like Yee is actually more cut in the shape of his compatriot Alistair Brownlee. He is a great single-day racer, as proven in the Series and with his Olympic silver. However, he has not proven himself to be a Series racer like Javier Gomez Noya. Yee seldom races often enough in the Series and so when something goes wrong, like in Bermuda or Abu Dhabi in 2022 or Pontevedra in 2023, he has no recourse. (Then again, he could have raced every event in 2023 and Pontevedra still would have doomed him).
Weirdly, then, it feels safer to predict Yee becoming the Olympic champion than it does the world champion. When he is on song, his run is irrepressible and he will claim plenty of gold medals. Will he claim the Series crown this year? Considering the primacy the British system assigns to the Olympics and Yee’s history, maybe he’s not the lock his gold medals would suggest.
As a result, Yee can probably be regarded as the best single-day racer in the world of triathlon. However, the hesitancy around his world title prospects means he is narrowly denied the top spot.
1) Dorian Coninx FRA (2023: 16th)
As was the case last year, the reigning world champion takes the top spot. However, Coninx has not done so simply because he won the world title. Rather, he is listed as number 1 here because of the way in which he won the world title.
Let’s start with the ground work. Coninx did not have an off-day in 2023. This time last year, consistency was the primary issue that held him back and he was coming off a rocky 2022. However, he kicked 2023 off with his worst result, a 5th place in Abu Dhabi, and then finished 4th in Yokohama and Cagliari.
Coninx then went all in on Paris and Pontevedra and it paid off handsomely as he won bronze and gold, respectively. Measured in terms of average finish, Coninx was the most consistent athlete in the men’s Series (with a full quota of races) and that consistency is a huge boon. Like Bergere, he could have taken a couple more medals with a better sprint in Yokohama or a more dynamic final lap in Cagliari. Rather than the medals, though, it was the relentless high finishes that counted.
Then we come to Paris and Pontevedra. At the former, he showed that he will absolutely be in the conversation for a medal at his home Olympics. At the latter, he showed why he will be in the conversation for the gold. When the pressure was at its highest, Coninx stepped up. He showed that, when on his top form, he is one of the best in the business.
His victory went with wins in 2019 (in Bermuda) and 2021 (in Montreal). Given how contrasting his previous two wins were, a case truly can be made that Coninx can win on any course and on any day. Now he has shown he can win at the biggest moment.
As the only male medallist from both Paris and Pontevedra, he instils the greatest confidence in forecasting a possible Olympic gold and world title double. Even if he doesn’t manage to win both, he has asserted himself as the likeliest to at least medal in both.
Coninx has consistency, the ability to perform under pressure, the ability to win WTCS races and he does not have a weak discipline. No one else in the men’s field combines those four qualities in the same way. Henceforth, it is Coninx that will start the 2024 season as the man to beat.
