Finally, we come to the end of the Top 30 triathletes and in this article we have the picks of the bunch.
At this stage in time, the six women listed below can be called the best in the World Triathlon Championship Series. All are realistic candidates to win Olympic gold and for anyone other than them to win it would be an upset (save, perhaps, for Flora Duffy who took 7th in the ranking).
Distinguishing between these athletes is no mean feat and each individual has a glittering track record. By the end of 2024, expect each to finish with multiple WTCS medals while spots on the Olympic and overall WTCS podiums are not simply hopes, they border on expectation.
6) Taylor Knibb USA (2023: 3rd)
Knibb is a two-time WTCS race winner yet had a somewhat quiet 2023. A bronze medal at WTCS Yokohama represented the sum of her short course output, although a better T2 would have feasibly put her on podium, instead of her 5th place, at the Paris Test Event.
She also finished 6th in Montreal. While that was the worst of her three 2023 results, it was also a race in which she made a two woman breakaway stick and illuminated an otherwise bland course.
With other priorities, including long distance racing, and an early season injury, Knibb was not at her 2022 or 2021 form. Nevertheless, memories of those levels linger. Everyone knows what she can do when she is on song and she sends a ripple of fear through WTCS fields whenever she hits front of a bike pack.
While it feels like Knibb has been around forever, she is surprisingly young and it would be no shock to see her continue to improve, itself a frightening proposition for the rest of the pack. On balance she is the likeliest woman to solo to victory in Paris this summer; she has the blueprint after doing it at the WTCS Final in 2021 in Edmonton.
A lack of short course output in 2023 is what cost her in this ranking. At her best, though, Knibb may just be the athlete that her rivals fear most.
5) Sophie Coldwell GBR (2023: 6th)
It was sorely tempting to put Coldwell higher in the ranking.
She won WTCS Yokohama with a crushing performance, showing a level that few could live with. On that day and in that form there might not have been a single female triathlete in the world that could have beaten her. The 2023 and 2022 world champions were not present but had they been Coldwell could probably have taken them. She was that good.
After the singular high that was Yokohama, Coldwell did not repeat her level. She finished 13th in Montreal, 20th in Paris and 7th in Pontevedra. While Pontevedra was an improvement, a season that promised so much ultimately did not quite deliver. Imagine saying finishing 5th in the world did not deliver; it is a bit ludicrous when you say it out loud so best not dwell on it.
The problem is that Yokohama raised the bar for Coldwell. Moreover, it was not the only time she did it. She unleashed a firecracker performance on her way to silver in Abu Dhabi. More than the medal she won, in Abu Dhabi she gained extra kudos for the panache with which she raced. Knibb might not have been around much in 2023 but in her place Coldwell showed herself to be the athlete capable of ripping entire fields apart on her own.
She was ultimately out-duelled by Beth Potter on final lap after a huge clash in Abu Dhabi. Although it might be a little controversial to suggest, Coldwell could have won without her (seemingly illegitimate) swim penalty. Potter was the last woman to make the pack and was helped by Coldwell waiting in T1. After leading the swim, had Coldwell been able to get out ahead with the breakaway, Potter might not have made the group and Coldwell would be discussed as a double race winner. On small moments can things turn.
Either way, Coldwell’s performances in Abu Dhabi and Yokohama confirmed her as a potential Olympic champion. She has to make the stacked British team but assuming she does, she could surpass everyone at the real thing.
4) Emma Lombardi FRA (2023: 10th)
Lombardi claimed two silver medals in the WTCS last year, in Cagliari and Sunderland, respectively, to go with the bronze she earned in Cagliari in 2022.
Finishes of 4th in Paris, 6th in Pontevedra, 9th in Yokohama and 8th in Abu Dhabi cemented her in 3rd place overall in the Series. Alongside her compatriot Cassandre Beaugrand, she thus became the first French woman to ever make the overall podium.
What stands out about Lombardi right now is her consistency. Across her two-season WTCS career, she has finished outside the top-10 once. She placed 46th in her second ever appearance in Hamburg but otherwise has not looked out of place. However, in 2024 she will still be eligible for the U23 ranks.
Her brilliance therefore belies her age. Heading into her third season, it is not unreasonable to expect Lombardi to push for a medal at every race she attends. Given that she finished 4th in Paris last summer – she was edged out by Laura Lindemann in a sprint finish – Lombardi will almost certainly be an Olympic medal contender.
Everyone ahead of her in this ranking (and a few athletes behind her) is a WTCS gold medallist. Going forward, that is the standard Lombardi must hit. Still, Lombardi is three years younger than Knibb. Born in 2001, she has the greatest headspace to improve of any leading female triathlete and if she does she will become truly formidable.
The 2021 World U23 champion has also already dropped a lightning 10km on the road to open 2024. Without a WTCS gold medal, Lombardi might not get the same attention as some of her rivals early in the season. Make no mistake, though, she will be a contender for Olympic gold and the world title this year.
3) Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR (2023: 2nd)
Even in a difficult year, Taylor-Brown still won WTCS Cagliari in a superlative performance. In Sardinia, she was at her masterful best as she dominated the race (via a breakaway) from start to finish.
Aside from that, she did not hit her top form on a regular basis and missed the all-important races in Paris and Pontevedra. However, one injury-hit season cannot wipe away that consistency at the top of the sport.
At the start of last season, Taylor-Brown lost her streak of 8 consecutive WTCS medals that stretched back to the Lausanne Final in 2019. Far from fretting about losing her streak, the simple existence of it should stand as a reminder of what she is capable of producing.
She was the 2020 world champion, Olympic silver medallist in 2021 and finished 2nd overall in the WTCS in 2022 after taking three wins (in Yokohama, Montreal and Cagliari).
As the reigning Olympic silver medallist, Taylor-Brown will go for gold this year. Like Coldwell she first has to make the team yet it seems unfathomable that she would be left at home.
She has overcome a hard year and will be in a better state in 2024. Those that suffered behind her in Cagliari will double-take at the thought that Taylor-Brown might be even better than she was that day. If everyone clicks once more, she could just prove unbeatable.
2) Cassandre Beaugrand FRA (2023: 4th)
Beaugrand had a career best season in 2023 and ended the year ranked 2nd in the WTCS.
She won multiple WTCS races for the first time, taking the wins in Hamburg and Sunderland. She claimed her first ever WTCS medal over the Olympic distance with her silver medal in Paris; she would later add a bronze medal in Pontevedra. And she reasserted her status as the second quickest runner ever in the Series.
By every possible metric, then, the French athlete was fantastic.
Finishes of 4th in Cagliari and 6th in Abu Dhabi also spoke to a consistent season. Significantly, she twice got the better of the world champion, Beth Potter.
Prior to 2023, it had already been the case that, on her day, Beaugrand could beat anyone. In that regard, her win at WTCS Leeds in 2022 was more than ample proof. The Beaugrand of last year, though, was clearly a step up in almost every department.
One point of continuity was her running speed. Beaugrand had the fastest run split at four WTCS races (although not at Paris and Pontevedra) and was a constant threat in the third discipline.
Having combined greater consistency with her race-winning abilities, she will no doubt contend for the overall WTCS this year. Looking back at how she has improved over the past few seasons, a final step forward may be on the cards this year. Should she manage that, a potential coronation at a home Olympics may await.
1) Beth Potter GBR (2023: 5th)
After the year she had in 2023, what is there left to say about Potter?
Four wins in the WTCS made her a dominant world champion while her victories at the Paris Test Event and WTCS Pontevedra render her the provisional favourite for Olympic gold this summer. In Pontevedra, she was clearly the best athlete in the women’s field and won in style.
However, it would be remiss to suggest her season was a walk in the park by any stretch. In Abu Dhabi, where she claimed her first WTCS win, she had to fend off an inspired performance from Coldwell. In Montreal, she was pushed all the way to the line by a Leonie Periault firing on all cylinders. Then, in Paris, she had to take down Beaugrand in front of a baying home crowd and it was only in the final stages that Potter pulled away.
That Potter was able to overcome essentially every obstacle thrown at her was as big a statement as her world title.
She was not flawless, as silver medal when sick in Hamburg and a 6th place in Cagliari showed. Nevertheless, it is impossible to name a world champion that won every WTCS race they attended in the past half dozen years and so not winning every race cannot be held against Potter.
Hamburg came over Beaugrand’s favoured distance which made a win particularly tricky. Moreover, while Potter missed the breakaway in Cagliari, she made it in Abu Dhabi. As such, she did not necessarily show any greater vulnerability to such moves than most of her fellow Olympic gold contenders.
All things considered, Potter was as close to perfect as could be in 2023. The question is, can she repeat it in 2024?
Exciting to see what Beaugrand and Lombardi can do at their home Olympics!