As the first ever indoor World Cup, Lievin will be a step into the unknown for the athletes racing this weekend. However, one athlete will start in the men’s field with an advantage over his rivals.
Vincent Luis won the event when it was a European Cup back in 2022. As such, he has invaluable experience to fall back upon. An injury-hit 2023 season prevented him from showing his top form. However, it should not be forgotten that he finished 4th at WTCS Abu Dhabi last year and won WTCS Bermuda in 2022.
A recent silver medal at the Quarteira European Cup also indicated that he is in good form. Combining his experience over the indoor multi-round format with his recent form and established class, it is hard to look past Luis for the gold medal.
Moreover, he will have a point to prove. Luis is locked in a race with Leo Bergere, the 2022 world champion, for the final berth on the French Olympic team. Every race counts in this hunt and a win on home soil would do his hopes no harm.
However, Luis will have to overcome plenty of rivals. Hugo Milner, the man that bested him to the gold in Quarteira after dropping a lightning fast run split, will be a prominent threat. A World Cup winner last year, Milner has all the running speed to trouble the field. One question mark, though, will be how he copes with the shorter distances. Without a 10km run to reel in the likes of Luis, who can be expected to build a lead early on, Milner may not have space to shut down any gaps that could form.
From the WTCS scene, it is also impossible to ignore the credentials of Tim Hellwig and Csongor Lehmann. Hellwig claimed the silver medal at the WTCS Final last season and is truly arriving as a world level contender. He is already a WTCS winner in his short career (he took gold in Hamburg in 2021) and won two World Cups in 2023.
Given his form and rising profile, Hellwig should be considered a favourite to take a third consecutive World Cup win. Lehmann, another World Cup winner, likewise has the skillset to cause Luis, Milner and more all kinds of problems.
Norway’s coming man, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn, will be another to watch. Thorn’s success over the shortened race formats in the Bundesliga in 2023 (namely in Kraichgau and Hannover) demonstrated his abilities over abbreviated events. He also has two World Cup medals to his name and will look to earn a first win. Crucially, Thorn’s sprint finish may be the best in the field (alongside Hellwig), making him especially dangerous over such a short race.
Finally, Mitch Kolkman could be a dark horse. The World U23 medallist proved his Olympic distance chops with his display in Pontevedra last September. Yet it may actually be over the Super Sprint distance that he has truly thrived. At the World Mixed Relay Championships in Hamburg (in both the Senior and U23/.Junior races), Kolkman was lethal.
He has the top-end speed required to cause a shock over the indoor format and cannot be discounted.
As a result, while Vincent Luis appears to be the favourite to take the win before a home French crowd, the strength of the field means that the race could come down to milliseconds.
TriStats Predictions
- Vincent Luis
- Tim Hellwig
- Vetle Bergsvik Thorn
- Mitch Kolkman
- Csongor Lehmann
