In 2023, only two women and four men managed to win more than two medals in the World Triathlon Championships Series. At the next rung down in the sport, the World Cup circuit, fewer athletes still matched the feat of winning more than two medals.
Moreover, in total fourteen athletes won multiple WTCS medals this season. At the World Cup level, that number stood at eleven.
Of course, one factor behind this is that the WTCS is structured to incentivise repeated attendance at the race. To be in contention for the world title – or even a high enough finish to earn a prize money pay-out – an athlete must realistically have at least five starts. With extra starts come additional opportunities to win medals.
By contrast, there is no equivalent incentive to appear at multiple World Cups. Hayden Wilde for example, made a one-and-done appearance as he won in New Plymouth. That being said, with fourteen events on offer in 2023, there were significantly more chances to medal in World Cups than at WTCS events this year.
In this article, then, we will cast an eye over the multiple medal winners of this year’s World Cup races.
Women
After claiming four wins in 2023, it should be little surprise that Gwen Jorgensen leads the way with the most medals. Her total of six (four gold, two silver) is actually the most of any athlete at the world level. Combining WTCS and World Cup medals, Beth Potter (four gold, one silver in the WTCS) and Hayden Wilde (one World Cup gold, two WTCS gold, one WTCS silver, one WTCS bronze), come in next with five world-level medals apiece.
With six medals, then, Jorgensen made the most trips to world-level podiums in 2023.
A silver in Huatulco got her started. In the autumn, she then won three races in a row in Valencia, Karlovy Vary and Tongyeong. Another golf came in Vina del Mar after she had added another silver in Miyazaki.
One woman that came close to matching Jorgensen’s tally of gold medals was Bianca Seregni. The Italian athlete ended her season with three World Cup gold medals.
She won in Weihai, Chengdu and Miyazaki in almost identical performances. At each, Seregni crushed the swim, let the main pack form around her on the bike and then ran away to victory.
Only one other woman won three World Cup medals in 2023. Marlene Gomez-Göggel won bronze medals behind Jorgensen in Valencia and Karlovy Vary. To cap her season, she added a silver medal in Rome.
At both Valencia and Rome, Gomez-Göggel also finished behind a fellow German athlete. Nina Eim took the silver in Valencia and won in Rome, giving her two World Cup medals for the year. Having also sealed Olympic qualification at the Paris Test Event, it has been a particularly successful year for Eim.
Only one other woman won multiple World Cup medals in 2023. Like Gomez-Göggel, Ilaria Zane won both of hers behind a compatriot. In Weihai and Chengdu, she claimed the bronze medal while Seregni won.
Men
Six men won multiple medals in 2023 but only two of them managed to end their season with three medals.
Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen and Lasse Nygaard Priester each finished 2023 with a World Cup silver and two bronze medals. Notably, they were the first World Cup medals that Peñaflor had ever won.
The Mexican athlete took a maiden medal by finishing 3rd in Huatulco. Later in the year, he would add a silver medal in Chengdu and another bronze in Vina del Mar.
Meanwhile, Priester won a bronze medal in Weihai, a silver medal in Valencia and then capped things off with another bronze in Miyazaki.
Priester’s German teammate, Tim Hellwig, was the only man to win multiple World Cups in 2023. He came away with two gold medals from his two appearances. Having also won a silver medal at WTCS Pontevedra, he actually matched Peñaflor and Priester’s three medals. Furthermore, Hellwig was in a rare group of athletes to medal at both the WTCS and World Cup level this year. The others to do so included Wilde, Pierre Le Corre and Manoel Messias.
Hellwig won in Chengdu and Tongyeong in contrasting styles. At the former, he won in a running race whereas at the latter he won in a breakaway.
Two athletes ended the season with one World Cup gold and one silver medal: Miguel Hidalgo and David Cantero del Campo.
Like Peñaflor, Cantero won his first World Cup medal in 2023; he did so by winning the event in Valencia. Thereafter, he added a silver medal behind Pierre Le Corre in Tangier. In his first year out of the Junior ranks, it represented a super return.
Hidalgo claimed his first World Cup win on home turf in Brasilia in October. A few weeks later, he followed it up with a silver in Vina del Mar behind Manoel Messias.
The final multi-medallist of the circuit was Ricardo Batista. But for a late penalty in Miyazaki that relegated him to 5th place, he might have ended the year with three medals. As it was, he finished the season with two.
He started things off with a bronze medal in New Plymouth. Over half a year later, he won a silver medal in Tongyeong.
