With each new year, new athletes become ineligible for U23 competition. As they age up, they enter a new phase in their career and some make the step look easier than others.
Here, we look at some of the athletes that will be making the step up into the Senior ranks in 2023 and look at what would constitute a successful first year out of the U23 level.
Women
Kate Waugh (GBR)
A good athlete to start with is Kate Waugh. After she won the U23 world title in 2022, Waugh is one the biggest young names to watch this year.
Waugh has been on a good run since the end of the 2021 season. After finishing 9th on her WTCS debut in Hamburg in 2021, she went on to win two World Cup silver medals that autumn. In 2022, she followed that up with a bronze medal at the Bergen World Cup and then came 12th at WTCS Cagliari, her best finish over the Olympic distance in the WTCS.
Moreover, in the summer of 2022 she was part of the winning British Mixed Team Relay in Hamburg.
Looking ahead to this season, an obvious goal would be to push for more hardware. With World Cup medals to her name already, winning additional medals would help to demonstrate a level of consistency that younger athletes can sometimes struggle to find.
In addition, she could become a key cog of the British relay. As it stands, Britain can be confident of qualifying three women to the Paris Olympics. Waugh can certainly be in the conversation for the third slot. At this point in her career, if Waugh were to make it to Paris, it would likely be as a relay specialist.
Ahead of her, the likes of Sophie Coldwell, Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are multiple WTCS medallists. By contrast, a first WTCS top-8 would be a great achievement for this year for Waugh.
We might see her on a few more relays and could well see her quietly putting herself in a position to make the Olympic team in 2024.
Annika Koch (GER)
The next prominent female athlete to age up in 2023 is Annika Koch. The U23 silver medallist in Abu Dhabi, Koch finished 2022 with a World Cup gold from Huatulco and a silver from Tongyeong.
After also winning silver at the Senior European Championships in 2021, she has demonstrated that she can compete at the Senior level.
Her current best WTCS performance is a 20th in Hamburg (2021). An obvious goal for 2023 can be to develop on the WTCS level and improve her best finish. With her running talent, she can be a contender at the end of races. To put herself in such positions, she may need to develop her swim a little.
One thing to note is her nationality. Germany had three women in the top-15 of the 2022 WTCS and four in the top-20. They had three WTCS medallists in the 2022 season: Laura Lindemann, Lena Meißner and Lisa Tertsch, who finished outside the WTCS top-20, while another woman, Nina Eim, had a strong performance at WTCS Hamburg in both 2021 and 2022. In total, six German women made it into the top-30 of the 2022 WTCS. Even Britain, America and France could not match that.
With such depth, it will be a challenge to make it onto WTCS start lines.
That depth will also affect relay selections. Koch could definitely be an asset on a relay if a spot became available. However, making any relay will be tricky. Lindemann has been a fixture in the relay and Anabel Knoll took the second spot in Tokyo.
Koch may have to make the decision whether to go all-in on the relay as her best chance of going to the Paris Olympics or to prioritise the Olympic distance and her individual development.
Marta Pintanel Raymundo (ESP)
Marta Pintanel Raymundo finished 2022 in a strong run of form. She finished 4th at the Viña del Mar World Cup and came 9th at the U23 World Championships.
Currently, she has one WTCS appearance to her name. On debut, she finished 32nd in Cagliari so an obvious goal for 2023 would be to gain more experience on the WTCS stage and improve her best finish.
At the same time, though, there is another factor that may be a bigger ambition for Pintanel Raymundo this year.
There is a second women’s spot available in the Spanish women’s team. Miriam Casillas Garcia has the first locked up but Pintanel Raymundo will likely be in competition with Ana Godoy Contreras and Sara Perez Sala. Whichever of them takes that second women’s spot could become an important piece of a Spanish Mixed Team Relay.
Thus far, Spain has not made great strides in the Mixed Team Relay. The men’s side certainly has the depth with WTCS medallists Mario Mola, Antonio Serrat Seoane and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon to call upon. It is the second women’s spot that needs filling.
Pintanel Raymundo is a strong runner and could be an asset to the relay. With the strength of Casillas Garcia and the Spanish men, it feels like Spain are just one piece away from a team that can compete for medals. Might Pintanel Raymundo become that piece of the puzzle this year?
In addition to the above names, Solveig Løvseth, Matilda Offord and Anne Holm will also be ageing up from the U23 category. Each has WTCS experience and can look to improve their best finish in the coming season.
Men
Tim Hellwig (GER)
Tim Hellwig stormed to victory at WTCS Hamburg 2021. It was a brilliant performance that served notice of his talents and came after he won a silver at the U23 World Championships in Edmonton. After also playing a big part of the German relay that won gold in Hamburg (2021), Hellwig seemed primed for a big 2022.
The rest of his season did not quite live up to that high and he slipped to 21st in the Series. However, with a 12th in Abu Dhabi (2021) and a 20th in Leeds (2022) there were still indications of his potential.
At this point, Hellwig seems to be a little more suited to the Sprint distance. WTCS Hamburg 2023 would therefore appear to be a perfect opportunity to return to form.
It is completely normal for athletes’ form to ebb and flow at young ages; it would not have been reasonable to expect Hellwig to win everything after Hamburg, there had to be some kind of drop off. The key now will be to recapture momentum and showcase what he is capable of once more. A top-10 at a WTCS race is a challenge in itself and if Hellwig can achieve that this year, it will have been a good season.
If he can also find some consistency on the World Cup circuit, he will likely be able to put himself in a strong position heading into 2024.
As with Koch, Hellwig may have Mixed Team Relay aspirations. Lasse Lührs seems to have sewn up the first relay slot after a brilliant 2022 in which he won his first WTCS medal. As a result, Hellwig will be competing against the likes of Justus Nieschlag, Lasse Nygaard-Priester and Simon Henseleit for the second men’s slot on the German team.
With depth to choose from, the German team will likely come down to form. If Hellwig gets this season right, he could put himself on the path to Paris.
Vasco Vilaca (POR)
Vasco Vilaca had his breakout performance in 2020 when he won a silver medal in the single day World Championships in Hamburg. Since then, he has recorded numerous WTCS top-10s finishes and finished 8th overall in 2022 Series.
He’s been a precocious talent for a few years now having gained prominence after winning the European Junior Championships and finishing 2nd at the World Junior Championships in 2017.
His sole appearance at the World U23 Championships yielded a 4th place in Lausanne in 2019. That was his first year after ageing up from the Junior category and within 12 months he had essentially out-grown the U23 level.
With a few years of WTCS experience and a well-rounded skillset across all disciplines, Vilaca could realistically aim for a WTCS medal in 2023. His silver in Hamburg 2020 came at a strange time after months of lockdown. Nevertheless, he beat a lot of strong athletes that day and has the ability to do so again.
Like Hellwig, his best bet to medal may be in Hamburg but he could also be a dark horse at WTCS Abu Dhabi or WTCS Sunderland.
Csongor Lehmann (HUN)
As the World U23 champion from 2021, Lehmann has had the most success of the men listed here at the U23 level. In 2022, he displayed several signs of getting even better.
In September, he won his first World Cup in Karlovy Vary. That came after a summer in which he finished 15th at WTCS Leeds and 14th at WTCS Hamburg. Then, in October, he made it into his first WTCS top-10 after finishing 9th in Cagliari.
A World Junior Champion back in 2018, Lehmann has the classic trajectory of someone that can be expected to make a big impact in the sport.
Thus far, his best performances have come over the Olympic distance. At the European Championships in Munich, he took 4th behind an all-French podium. His strength over the Olympic distance should stand him in good stead this year as there are only three Sprint events in the WTCS and no Super Sprint races.
In 2023 he should be looking for more top-10 WTCS finishes. He has been developing in the right direction and has all the ability to do so. With only four scoring races from a possible five, he still finished 22nd in the 2022 Series.
Indeed, in a few years we might be talking about Lehmann as a winner of the overall WTCS. This year may therefore be the year that he becomes a bit more involved at the front of WTCS races. Even if racing aggressively doesn’t always work this year, the experience will pay dividends in the future.
Several other men will be ageing up from the U23 ranks in 2023, including Maxime Fluri, Max Stapley, Tjebbe Kaindl and Vetle Bergsvik Thorn.
