In December, we looked at the athletes that made the biggest improvement in WTCS race position from 2021 to 2022. One thing we flagged at the time was that looking at raw improvements in race finishes penalises athletes that started from a higher point. After all, it is impossible to make a twenty place improvement when your best finish is already 9th.
Therefore, today we are looking at the biggest improvements from 2021 to 2022 in percentage terms.
Men
Matthew Hauser, the man chosen by TriStats readers as the breakout athlete of 2022, had the biggest improvement of any athlete in percentage terms. After he recorded a best 2021 WTCS finish of 18th in Montreal, he jumped to 2nd in Hamburg in 2022. That gave him an improvement of 88.9%. That performance in Hamburg was part of what led Hauser to be nominated for Male Athlete of the Year at the Global Triathlon Awards.
The next biggest improvement in the men’s field came from Manoel Messias. Messias made an improvement of 85% after rising from 20th in Montreal (2021) to 3rd in Cagliari (2022). 2022 was, in many respects, a breakout season for Messias. The 2015 World Junior Champion won his first World Cup race in Valencia and showed a clear improvement in all facets of his racing.
His seventeen place improvement was also close to making the top-10 raw improvements for 2022.
We then come to one of the athletes that benefit the most from viewing the improvements in percentages. Hayden Wilde had a best 2021 WTCS finish of 5th in Leeds. At the same race in 2022, he took the win, which helped him to improve his finish by 80%. Wilde would also go on to win WTCS Hamburg 2022 too, to show that Leeds was no fluke.
Roberto Sanchez Mantecon also had an improvement of 80%. In 2021, his best finish was a 15th in Abu Dhabi. A year later, he improved that dramatically by winning his first WTCS medal with a bronze in Bermuda.
At fifth in the improvements is an old hand. Jonathan Brownlee has won WTCS races throughout his career. However, in 2021 his best finish was a 9th in Leeds. In 2022, he made a 77.8% improvement when he won silver in Cagliari after a tactical breakaway on the bike paid dividends.
Lasse Lührs had strong start to the 2022 season after finishing 13th in Hamburg (2021). The rest of his season went better than perhaps even he expected as his best result improved by 76.9% after finishing 3rd in Leeds. With Lührs also finishing 4th in Cagliari, 2022 was his best season yet and he will be an athlete to watch in 2023.
Next up is the first athlete in the top-10 improvements that did not win a medal. Joao Silva is another experienced athlete with plenty of success to his name. In 2021, his best WTCS finish was 26th in Leeds. In 2022, he finished 8th in Hamburg, giving him a 69.2% improvement.
As one of the most experienced athletes in the men’s field, Silva may have a challenge in qualifying for the Paris Olympics given the form of some of his countrymen. However, his 2022 form showed that he is still more than up to the challenge and will be in with a very strong chance of making the Olympics.
Prior to 2022, Léo Bergere had a best WTCS finish of 3rd, which he achieved in Montreal (2021). He improved that by 66.6% as he stormed to victory in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
Similarly, Gianluca Pozzatti also made a 66.6% improvement. His best 2021 finish was a 21st in Montreal whereas his best WTCS race in 2022 saw him place 7th in Cagliari.
The final man to make the top-10 is Matthew McElroy. His best 2021 finish was a 29th in Leeds. In 2022, he improved that by nineteen places to take 10th in Abu Dhabi, an improvement of 65.5%.
The biggest raw improver, Jamie Riddle, ended up 11th overall in percentage terms. His jump from 43rd at Abu Dhabi (2021) to 15th in Hamburg (2022) was an improvement of 65.1%, just shy of McElroy.
Women
After a brilliant performance in the 2022 WTCS Final, Lena Meißner had the biggest percentage improvement in the women’s field. By jumping from 19th in Hamburg (2021) to 3rd in Abu Dhabi (2022), she earned an improvement of 84.2%.
In a similar fashion to Hayden Wilde, Cassandre Beaugrand had her best 2022 finish in Leeds. That day, she won the race on the back of the fastest swim and run of the field. Her best 2021 finish was a 6th place in Abu Dhabi and, as a result, Beaugrand improved by 83.3% in 2022. As a prior WTCS race winner, her Leeds performance represented a return to the top as opposed to a new peak in her career.
Lisa Tertsch’s best WTCS races in 2021 and 2022 both came in Hamburg. In 2021, she finished 17th. The following year, she finished 3rd to earn an improvement of 82.4%. In many respects Tertsch had the same trajectory as Meißner although there remains a slight question mark over whether Tertsch can also medal over the Olympic distance in the WTCS.
Beth Potter is fourth in this ranking after making a 71.4% improvement in 2022. After finishing 7th in Leeds in 2021, Potter won a silver medal in Hamburg in 2022. On paper, Potter made the same five position gain as Beaugrand. However that extra step on the podium elevated Beaugrand’s relative percentage.
Matching Potter’s percentage was Alberte Kjær Pedersen. Pedersen was actually the biggest improver to have not won a medal in 2022. In 2021, she finished 14th in Hamburg but in 2022 she boosted that to 4th in Montreal. That gave her a 71.4% improvement and she will be an athlete to watch in 2023.
Surprisingly, a third athlete had an improvement of 71.4%. After finishing 35th in Hamburg (2021), Emy Legault jumped to 10th in Hamburg (2022). Her twenty-five place improvement was the best raw jump of any woman and matched the 71.4% of Potter and Kjær Pedersen.
Next on the list is Vittoria Lopes. Lopes improved by 68.4% after jumping from 19th in Leeds (2021) to 6th in Abu Dhabi (2022). As one of the better swimmers in the field, Lopes often puts herself in prime breakaway opportunities. When they stick, like in Abu Dhabi, she can produce some impressive results.
After finishing 38th in Montreal in 2021, Eva Daniels finished 16th at the same venue in 2022. That gave her an improvement of 57.9%.
The final woman in the top-10 is Georgia Taylor-Brown. Taylor-Brown improved by 50% from 2021 to 2022 after jumping from 2nd in Abu Dhabi to 1st Yokohama. It is interesting to note that an identical 50% jump made by Vincent Luis (after finishing 2nd in Abu Dhabi and then 1st in Bermuda) was not enough to make the men’s top-10.
