Having assessed the top performances by athletes in each discipline, today we are turning to the leading all-round performances of the year. In 2023, there have been a plethora of amazing displays by female triathletes and narrowing down the range to double the size of this list would have been a challenge.
As with the top ten swims, bikes and runs of the year, a couple of guidelines govern how the top ten has been produced. An athlete’s performance at one event cannot be included in multiple lists. As such, anyone with a top ten in the swim, bike or run categories shall not be repeated here. In addition, an athlete cannot appear twice within the same list, even if they have multiple worthy performances.
While medals and winning margins and more can be factored into the discussion (and they will be), ultimately the primary aspect that unites the below performances is how they made people sit up and take notice of what was happening before them.
As always, such evaluations are subjective by nature and each entry can be debated in favour of someone else (or a different performance by the same athlete). After all, there is no single metric for determining a great performance. This is also not a ranking of performances, but rather a collection of efforts in no particular order.
Ilona Hadhoum – Hamburg World Junior Championships
Ilona Hadhoum was supposed to be good. Back in March, she officially became the fastest French Junior woman on record at the national performance tests. Later in the year, she claimed the European Junior title with a fantastic display. In between, though, came the high point of her season and a race in which she made good look like a woeful understatement.
At the World Junior Championships in Hamburg, Hadhoum corralled all of the potential she had garnered over the previous months and unleashed it all at once to blow her rivals away.
When she emerged from the water, she led by 20 seconds. Such was her dominance in the swim, it could easily have been among the top ten performances of the year. Hadhoum, though, was not done.
She then rode in a lead pack of six that stayed clear until the penultimate lap of the bike. To cap things off, she dropped a field-leading run split to power to the gold medal. At every stage of the race, then, Hadhoum appeared to be in complete control. Her race in Hamburg was nothing short of masterful was one of the most dominant performances of 2023.
Cassandre Beaugrand – WTCS Hamburg
As it happened, one of the other best showings of the year also came in Hamburg. In the WTCS race, Cassandre Beaugrand was simply untouchable over the course of the weekend.
In each round, she made her swimming prowess known. From logging the best split of her qualifier to leading the way in the first round of the final, she was a constant presence at the front of the race. Thereafter, she navigated the bike without a moment of difficulty before making each of the run splits look easy.
Indeed, Beaugrand did not appear to fully exert herself until the third and final round in Hamburg. When she did, she was simply untouchable.
Her final split of the event was the quickest of the weekend by 8 seconds and only one woman managed to run within 10 seconds of her time. The Super Sprint format evidently suited the French athlete and Hamburg was one of the few races this season in which the winner was never really in any doubt.
Sophie Coldwell – WTCS Abu Dhabi
The start of the WTCS season feels like a long time ago. One athlete, however, stood above the rest when it came to igniting the Series.
Sophie Coldwell might not have won in Abu Dhabi – she settled for the silver medal – but her buccaneering performance was among the most entertaining of 2023.
Her race had a bit of everything. A field-leading swim split got things off to a good start, although she was hit with a swim penalty for an early start. After the event, questions arose as to the validity of the penalty yet Coldwell nonetheless served her 10 seconds in T1 and had to watch as an initial breakaway group formed, one that her swimming had essentially created.
Not one to be left behind, Coldwell charged into the lead pack and set the tone as it stayed clear of a large chasing group. Her efforts saw her claim the second fastest bike split of the day. Then came the run.
As Beth Potter slowly suffocated the breakaway, the pack fragmented. Coldwell was the last to slip behind on a slight rise and that, it seemed, was that. Yet Coldwell rallied and from nowhere closed to gap to Potter. Suddenly, the rise was alive one more and either of the two Brits could have claimed a maiden WTCS win.
In the end, the gold medal eluded Coldwell. Her first gold would come at the next WTCS stop in Yokohama in a performance that also could have been included here. In Abu Dhabi, though, Coldwell was an absolute firecracker and almost single-handedly turned an otherwise sleepy race into one of the most exciting of the year.
Katie Zaferes – St. Peters Americas Cup
Further down the field at WTCS Abu Dhabi, Katie Zaferes made her first international start since returning to the sport after a maternity break. A solid day followed. A little over a month later, she produced a performance that matched the pyrotechnics of Coldwell’s display in the Middle East.
At the Americas Cup in St. Peters, Zaferes earned a 21 second lead in the water after dropping an excellent swim split. She then added the fastest bike split in the field to extend her lead as she launched an audacious solo breakaway. While the quickest run split escaped her, she nonetheless won the race by 50 seconds.
It should be acknowledged that there is a considerable difference in level between Continental Cups and the WTCS. However, Zaferes’ performance in St. Peters was among the most notable of the season. It was the first time the former world champion really looked like the force of old and as such was a major moment in her comeback. Being so early in the season, it was not yet abundantly clear what to expect. Zaferes dropped a superb performance all the same.
What really separated Zaferes’ display in St. Peters from others is the panache with which she raced. Triathlon is not a sport that generally rewards style (a topic for another time) but if it did Zaferes’ race would have scored highly. It was perhaps the best (female) solo breakaway of the season and that cements its place inside this list.
Fanni Szalai – Caorle European Junior Cup
On the European scene, the Caorle European Junior Cup was in essence the third championship of the year. Alongside the World Junior Championships and the European Junior Championships, it provided the stiffest competition of the Junior season. Indeed, an argument can be made that it was actually the deepest Junior field of the year outside of the World Junior Championships in Hamburg.
As the European Junior Qualification Event for Hamburg, at which national federations could earn their World Junior Championships slots, it attracted near-full strength teams from just about every federation on the continent. On the Friday, the semi-finals took place to slim to the massive fields. Then, on the Saturday, the final took place; both races were contested over the Super Sprint distance.
With incredible fields (five of the top-10 finishers in Caorle would make the top-10 in Hamburg) and the heightened pressure to perform for their federations, Caorle was a tough race. Few observers, then, expected one of the youngest women racing to stun the field.
Fanni Szalai of Hungary was marvellous in the first women’s semi-final, winning by 25 seconds. Being so young (born in 2008), a question mark remained as to how she would cope in the final. Far from being cowed, she led the swim in the final and rode aggressively at the front of the race. When she took her first step out of T2 to take on the 1.9km run, she had Hadhoum and Manon Laporte, the World Junior Championships gold and bronze medallists, beside her.
Szalai simply ran away from them.
She thus claimed a first international win with a virtuoso, and a frankly shocking, performance. While she would add another European Junior Cup win in Tiszaujvaros and claim the European Youth crown, it was in Caorle that Szalai announced herself as a star in the making.
Georgia Taylor-Brown – WTCS Cagliari
Georgia Taylor-Brown did not have the easiest start to the season. Amid personal issues, she struggled at both WTCS Abu Dhabi and WTCS Yokohama, missing the breakaways and finishing below her usual illustrious standards.
At WTCS Cagliari, however, she returned with a vengeance.
An improved swim saw her make the breakaway of six women and from there it was like muscle memory kicked in. Whatever had come before in the previous rounds melted away as Taylor-Brown showcased all of her best racing qualities.
When it came to the run, only Emma Lombardi could live with the Brit; that was until the efforts to hang with Taylor-Brown became too much and the French athlete fell behind. With Lombardi over 20 seconds back, Taylor-Brown could relish in her first victory of the year as she served a potent reminder of her abilities.
After her compatriots Potter and Coldwell had claimed the plaudits in the opening rounds of the season, Taylor-Brown’s showing in Cagliari reasserted her credentials. Alongside being a perfectly executed, then, her race was significant for the way she bounced back and dealt with the pressure of her national rivals and their stellar starts to the season. It was a point in the year in which Taylor-Brown would either sink or swim.
When put like that, in hindsight could it really have gone any other way?
Mathilde Gautier – Balikesir European Championships
Mathilde Gautier may be one of several French athletes to suffer under the strictures of her federation’s selection policies. At the European Super Sprint Championships in Balikesir, though, she demonstrated exactly what she can do when given the opportunity.
The world military champion rose above the pressure and stormed to victory by the slimmest of margins. After a tactical race in the semi-finals, Gautier pipped Selina Klamt to the European crown by 1 second.
The fastest swim of the final got Gautier off to the perfect start before she took over the small front pack that emerged at the front of the race. Coming out of T2, she held the lead and had to fight off Klamt over the final 1.7km run. Even with her German rival breathing down her neck, Gautier had the presence of mind to see out the race.
Over the Super Sprint distance, Gautier could not afford to put a foot wrong and she was in fact flawless in Balikesir. In the wider context, she also could barely afford a mistake. With WTCS starts under the current French system, it was a rare chance for her to grab the spotlight and she did so with style.
Selina Klamt – Pontevedra World U23 Championships
Klamt may have been pipped to the European Super Sprint title by only a second but she made sure to avoid the same outcome at the World U23 Championships. Arriving as the European U23 champion (by dint of her silver in Balikesir), Klamt clocked the fastest swim of the field in Pontevedra and put herself in pole position to capitalise upon it.
A smart bike followed as she overcame the breakaway attempt of Jessica Fullagar and the swelling of the lead pack. Over the final 10km run, she then slashed through the field until only Maria Tomé remained.
What stood out most about Klamt’s finish in Pontevedra was how it was shaped by what had come before. As she went stride for stride with Tomé, it was easy to recall how Lisa Tertsch had overpowered her at the German Championships and how Gautier had defeated her at the last in Balikesir. The ghost of a third silver medal therefore stalked her every step.
However, Klamt would not be beaten again. With a ferocious final sprint, she broke clear of Tomé to claim the World U23 title. Pontevedra may have shown Klamt to be skilled across all disciplines. What it showed most of all, though, was how mentally resolute she had become over the season. As she will now know more than most, sometimes the smallest winning margins are the most satisfying.
Solveig Løvseth – Krakow European Games
When Solveig Løvseth settled onto the bike at the European Games, she was confronted with a deficit of well over a minute to the race leaders. For a lot of athletes, their race would have been over, not least considering the calibre of rival that lay ahead.
However, Løvseth did not waver. A series of powerful punches on the bike brought the gap down to a minute, then half of that and then smaller still. With assistance from Nora Gmür, Julia Hauser and Lotte Miller, Løvseth eventually found herself among the leaders and the race turned on its head.
A series of small digs at the front enabled Løvseth to sap her rivals’ legs before the run began. Out of T2, she quickly made it into the group of ten athletes that ran clear. Then, after biding her time, she attacked.
Her move may have come a little earlier than her rivals had expected for no one really responded. Equally, it could have been the case that no one had the capacity to respond.
Over the final few kilometres, Løvseth was simply too good for the field and paired a field-leading run split with the best bike split of the day. As come from behind victories go, there weren’t many that could stand up to Løvseth’s wonderful effort.
Beth Potter – WTCS Montreal
To paraphrase the angel Gabriel, do not be afraid! Beth Potter has not been forgotten amid all the considerations of top performances in 2023.
Such has been the quality of her displays this season, the real challenge lies in determining which of her races was her best. Perhaps it was her showing in Abu Dhabi. She logged top-6 splits in all three disciplines, including the fastest bike. As her first WTCS gold medal, it had a lot of personal value too.
Her win at the Paris Test Event saw her overcome home favourite Beaugrand and plant her flag as an early favourite for Olympic gold. Likewise, her win in Pontevedra earned her a maiden world title and showed her to be the class of the 2023 field. Separately, Potter’s run in Pontevedra could have made the top ten runs of the year (although she was out-split by Alvarez).
Overall, though, it was her performance in Montreal that takes a slot here as among the ten best of the season. It was after winning in Montreal that Potter began to think that she could win the world title. In many ways, her showing laid the groundwork for what was to come.
After Abu Dhabi, Coldwell and Taylor-Brown’s wins had shifted the limelight away from Potter. She was good in Cagliari but missed the podium and there seemed to be a faint risk that her moment would already pass. When she lost time in the water in Montreal, that concern momentarily intensified. All the promise after Abu Dhabi seemed to be on hold as others were hitting their stride.
Yet Potter did not panic. She dragged herself back to the main pack on the bike and then logged the joint-fastest run of the day as she out-duelled Leonie Periault for the win.
Her second WTCS win offered proof that she could sustain her level in the Series. It cemented her credentials as a world title contender in the minds of others as well as her own. Most importantly, it showed that she could win when things did not go her way. More than anything, Montreal was a display of immense mental fortitude and it was perhaps the most significant domino to fall of those that led to Potter’s world title.
