Yesterday we surveyed some of the men that could win their first WTCS medal this season and today we are doing the same for the women’s field.
Winning a medal at a WTCS event is one of the chief ambitions of rising short course triathletes and the examples of last year offer plenty of encouragement for such athletes heading into 2024. Three women won medals for the first time last year. Among the first time winners was Kate Waugh, an individual identified as possible medallists at the start of the season. (No duplicates from the 2023 list are included below and you can see last year’s names here.)
While the list below is not designed to be exhaustive, it contains names that have become consistent figures on the WTCS as well as a couple of younger athletes that could also enjoy a breakout performance.
Nina Eim GER (1998)
As things stand, Eim is the only qualifier on the German Olympic team to have not yet won a WTCS medal. After finishing 9th overall in the WTCS last year, she seems set to change that.
Last year, Eim finished 6th at the Paris Olympic Test Event, which stands as her personal best finish in the Series. In Paris and at several other WTCS races, her running speed proved her calling card. For instance, Eim was the fastest runner at WTCS Yokohama last year.
Given how fast she was on multiple occasions, Eim’s objective this year will simply be to manoeuvre her swim and bike in a way that enables her to unleash her run and fight for medals as opposed to simply top-10 finishes.
When it comes to achieving podium finishes, Eim also won the Rome World Cup and finished 2nd at the Valencia World Cup. She therefore has enjoyed nascent success at the world level and could soon carry it forward to the WTCS.
Of all the races on the calendar, Yokohama could be the place at which Eim makes it onto the podium. The fairly flat course should play to her running speed (as seen last year). She will have be watchful for any breakaways (as materialised at the race in 2023) but, so long as she remains within striking distance, Eim could claim a medal.
Jeanne Lehair LUX (1996)
Lehair had a great season in 2023, finishing 8th overall in the WTCS. She came close to winning a first medal as she logged finishes of 4th in Montreal and 5th in Cagliari. Having come so close, Lehair will only need a minor improvement to make the breakthrough.
Similarly to Eim, Lehair has the requisite running speed. In Cagliari, she logged one of the fastest run splits in WTCS history and was consistently among the top runners in last season’s Series.
In Montreal last summer, it seemed like experience was the missing piece holding her back from a podium place. After all, she had not been in the hunt for a WTCS win before. Entering 2024, she can now utilise that experience. Having been in that situation, she will likely be even tougher to beat the next time she has the opportunity to compete for a medal.
Moreover, Lehair became the European champion last year and won a maiden World Cup medal in Miyazaki. She is therefore building up momentum in a way that suggests a WTCS medal could be around the corner.
Having locked up Olympic qualification for Luxembourg, Lehair will have little incentive to peak too early this season. As a result, she can be expected to be at her best around the Games. Of all the WTCS races, Hamburg may be the best medal shot on her radar as it falls a couple of weeks before Paris.
Famed for its fast course, Hamburg will likely play to Lehair’s running prowess and coincide with her season peak.
Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto COL (1997)
Velasquez could be this season’s Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal and catch a few people off-guard as the next WTCS medallist from the Americas. Those that have paid attention to her progress in recent times, though, might not be so shocked.
The Colombian athlete has been a serial winner in the Americas. She also ended her season last year with a silver medal at the Pan American Games. Furthermore, Velasquez made an assured WTCS debut in Montreal, finishing 10th.
Velasquez combines excellent cycling strength with a fast run and could soon rise in the WTCS. As a World Cup medallist – she finished 3rd in Vina del Mar in 2022 – she is also no stranger to world-level podiums.
While it is tempting to say a return to Montreal will pay dividends for Velasquez, it could be the case that Cagliari is where Velasquez strikes. Right now, she is equally adept over the Sprint and Olympic distance so the change in format won’t hurt her. In the past two years, the women’s race in Cagliari has resulted in a breakaway and, in this respect, Velasquez’s cycling ability may stand in her favour.
If the break comes later in the race, such as in 2022, she could be primed to exploit the situation.
Tilda Månsson SWE (2004)
As the youngest athlete in either the men’s or women’s lists, and the only U23 athlete, Månsson has not yet fully cracked the WTCS. To date her best finish is her 32nd place from Sunderland last summer. However, last year Månsson was still a Junior athlete and the fact that she is already competing in the WTCS is remarkable.
When considering her World Cup form, it is not out of the realms of possibility that she might make a big stride forward this year.
Månsson has two World Cup wins to her name already and added another medal in Tangier last autumn. A super runner, as demonstrated by her Swedish Junior records on the track, Månsson has the speed to threaten any field on her day.
Her swimming remains a vulnerability, although that makes sense given her age. At the same time, she likely has the greatest headspace to improve over the winter, as young athletes are prone to do. The key point, though, is that Månsson does not need every race to go her way. Rather, she only needs one race in which everything comes together. In light of how that has already happened for her at World Cups, it may be a matter of time before she translates her golden touch to the WTCS.
All things considered, Månsson may just strike at the first race of the Series. She is on the start list for Abu Dhabi and the flat Sprint distance course should lean towards her running prowess. Furthermore, she is in the hunt for Olympic qualification and will need a fast start to the season. As such, it could follow that she hits the ground running this year.
It has been a long time since someone so young has medalled in the Series. Then again, stranger things have happened.
Bianca Seregni ITA (2000)
Seregni is the best swimmer in the WTCS field and after earning a hat-trick of World Cup wins in 2023 she seems ready to make the next step in her career.
Crucially, she appears to have worked out a race-winning method. Of greater significance is that it can be transferred to WTCS (namely because the likes of Cassandre Beaugrand and Matthew Hauser have proven it can be done).
With her swim speed, Seregni is almost always at the front of the field. Sometimes she strikes out alone. Sometimes she has a group with her. What matters is that she is in a position to dictate the terms of the race. Whenever her swim fires, then, she will be in a position to medal. By contrast, those that tend to rely upon their running speed will have fewer opportunities to medal as a bad swim can compromise their day.
Right now, a breakaway seems the likeliest way through which Seregni will win a first medal. Last year, the first three races of the WTCS season yielded breakaways; should anything like that materialise this year, the Italian athlete will have plenty of bites at the apple.
Looking across the season, perhaps Malaga will be Seregni’s best chance of a medal. It is risky to predict a medal in the Final, not least given how topsy-turvy they can be. Nevertheless, Malaga could be one of the best opportunities for Seregni to detonate the swim and break up the field. It will be a new course and will possibly have some hills to help keep a breakaway ahead.
Should she make it onto the podium through a breakaway, she would be mimicking how Lena Meißner won her maiden medal at the Abu Dhabi Final in 2022.
If there is going to be an athlete to succeed through a swim-driven breakaway this year, chances are it will be Seregni.
