The end is nigh.
Of the year, that is: for guidance on when to expect the end of the world, please confer with your local cult leader.
Before attention completely turns to 2024 and the blockbuster schedule laid out, it is time to take a look back at some of the highlights of the past year. In this article, we will kick things off with a review of the ten best swims in triathlon this year.
Given the disparity between courses and events, what constitutes a best swim is a little vague. The time itself is not particularly useful as conditions play such a big role in open water. Rather, factors such as the distance gained over the nearest swimmer, the extent to which the rest of the field was dropped, and the degree to which an athlete enlivened a swim feed into the designation.
For what of a better expression, we are looking for the kinds of swims that made us sit up from the sofa. The swims are in no particular order and this is is more of a collection than a ranking.
Before we begin, there are some disclaimers to note. The first is that in this series of top-10 performances, an athlete cannot be nominated for multiple categories in the same race. As a result, some displays that could be mentioned here might not be as they may be picked up elsewhere. Moreover, this is a subjective judgement. Given the number of brilliant showings this year, there will always be athletes that could have made the cut but did not.
The final point to note is that an athlete cannot be named twice in the same list of best performances. Here, this will be known as the Bianca Seregni rule.
Bianca Seregni – Paris Olympic Test Event
The reason for the Bianca Seregni rule is simple. The Italian athlete has been hands down the best swimmer in international triathlon this year. Such has been her performance level, half of the ten best swims could be taken up by her alone (which is why her rule has been instituted).
Among her possible entries that have missed out are the Tiszaujvaros World Cup, where she put half a minute into Zsanett Bragmayer and Jolien Vermeylen, and the World Cups in Weihai and Chengdu, where she gained over 20 seconds over both fields.
The “peak Seregni” moment of 2023, though, actually came in Paris where she threatened to rip the Olympic Test Event apart.
Thirty-four women, or over half the field, exited the water over a minute behind Seregni. The Test Event was arguably the most impressive start list of the year yet Seregni made most of her rivals look like they were doing a different sport. Indeed, her swim could have drawn the same reaction as the famous line from The Italian Job: “you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off”.
Unlike some other races, Seregni was not completely alone heading into T1 in Paris. The way she broke the field into pieces, though, still stands in the memory.
Carter Stuhlmacher – Sarasota North American Junior Champs
Carter Stuhlmacher was not playing around at the North American Junior Championships. Wearing one of the most dazzling tri-suits of the field, he had to produce a performance to match his attire. In the swim, he did not disappoint.
He pulled out a lead of 14 seconds over the next closest man as he crushed the field. To put it simply, fifty men took to the water in Sarasota. Only eleven managed to stay within 45 seconds of Stuhlmacher over the 750m.
Although he would later be pipped to a medal and settled for 4th place, the young American turned the race on its head.
A shout out also needs to go to Stuhlmacher’s swim at the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana where he dropped another monster swim split and came away with the silver medal, the first of his international career. After Sarasota, however, it was a little more expected and the shock factor of his first swim takes the cake.
Brock Hoel – WTCS Hamburg
Before WTCS Hamburg, it has been almost two years since a man not called Vincent Luis or Márk Dévay had led out the men’s field in the WTCS (at races where at least one had started). Cue a young Canadian athlete.
First up, Hoel clocked the fastest split in the opening qualifier (which was the best of any athlete in the qualifiers), beating Dévay. Then, he went even quicker in the repechage. Hoel thus ended the weekend with the two fastest swims of the WTCS event and officially became the man that ended the swimming tyranny of the Luis-Dévay axis.
Hoel’s best split was only 2 seconds better than the next fastest men in Hamburg (Dévay and Matthew Hauser). Notwithstanding the short distance, it was not as eye-catching a gap as some of the other swims in this list. In besting Dévay at the WTCS level, though, he earned a spot here.
Tara Sosinksi – Lianyungang Asia Cup
Tara Sosinksi obliterated the field at the Asia Cup in Lianyungang back in April. Her success started in the water.
It should be noted that Lianyungang hosted a particularly small field; only fifteen women started. Nevertheless, the way Sosinksi smashed the field, gaining 39 seconds over her closest rival, jumped out.
Sosinski also gets additional credit for the circumstances around her swim. The race was her first international event outside of Oceania and was only her fourth international start. Furthermore, it was her first international Olympic distance race. It would have been easier, then, for her to conserve her energy and stay with the field. Instead, she went big and came away with a maiden international win.
The combination of her large time gap and the gutsy approach given the context makes Sosinski’s swim all the more impressive.
Britney Brown – Nelson Mandela Bay African Junior Cup
Britney Brown straight up bullied the field at the Nelson Mandela Bay African Junior Cup in March. She took on the best southern Africa had to offer, including South Africa’s World Junior Championships representatives and Maja Jeanne Brinkmann, Namibia’s subsequent African Junior champion, and was simply too good.
Over the 750m swim, Brown gained 32 seconds over Brinkmann and 45 seconds over Kadence Ribbink of South Africa. A super solo bike effort followed as she powered to victory. Her win, though, was built in the water.
Jamie Riddle – Tangier World Cup
It has not been the easiest season for Jamie Riddle and races have not always gone his way. One high point, though, was his swim at the Tangier World Cup.
As the field fought with the waves, Riddle cruised into the lead. Over 750m, he opened a gap of 9 seconds to the closest man. It was the manner of his swim, rather than the time gained, that stood out, though.
On the way back to the beach, Riddle’s advantage was such that he could afford to roll onto his back and look for his rivals. In many ways, he evoked memories of the former dominance of his compatriot Henri Schoeman in the water. Indeed, the sprinkling of backstroke was straight out of Schoeman’s playbook from a WTCS Edmonton of old.
In Tangier, Riddle made a difficult swim look easy, and not a lot of athletes can do that. The class of his performance therefore warrants inclusion among the best swims of the year.
Therese Feuersinger – WTCS Sunderland
Feuersigner had a run of big swims this season. At the Karlovy Vary World Cup, she led the way (emerging ahead of Seregni) and helped to create the initial small breakaway.
Her best swim, though, probably came at WTCS Sunderland. In uncomfortable sea conditions – and no, we’re not talking about the unsafe bacteria levels – Feuersinger looked thoroughly untroubled. She clocked the fastest swim of the field, besting Vittoria Lopes and Cassandre Beaugrand, and helped set up another breakaway opportunity.
The stand out element of Feuersinger’s swim was the class of athlete she beat. In addition to Beaugrand and Lopes, she out-swam Seregni, Vermeylen, Bragmayer, Lena Meißner and Emma Lombardi, each of whom can contend for top swim splits on their day. In addition, only three women stuck within 10 seconds of her. Over 750m in a WTCS field, that represents quite a notable spread.
Feuersinger therefore stepped up to beat some established fast swimmers and she did so in comprehensive fashion.
Lea Marchal – French Grand Prix Metz
Here we will take a slight deviation away from the international scene and the reason for doing so is simple. Lea Marchal was such a force in the water in the French Grand Prix it would be remiss not to mention her.
The Tri Val de Gray athlete enjoyed multiple good swims in 2023 but her high point came in Metz. In a super showing, she gained 10 seconds over her nearest rival and put the main pack out of sight. A small breakaway would then form around her, although it was later caught.
Although Marchal actually earned a bigger lead in Fréjus at the first race of the Grand Prix, Metz scattered the field a little more and gave a final confirmation of her supremacy in the water.
The key over-arching point, though, is that Marchal was a near-constant source of fast, aggressive swimming in the Grand Prix. In Metz, she was simply too good for the field.
Zalán Hóbor – Tabor European Junior Cup
It is back to the Junior ranks for the next top swim which comes courtesy of Zalán Hóbor. Fast swimming has become the signature of the young Hungarian. From forming the breakaway at the World Junior Championships to logging a top-3 swim split on his World Cup debut, the water has been his natural environment.
At the Tabor European Junior Cup, Hóbor arrived after a run of races in which breakaways had not quite yielded the end results he had hoped. His solution was simple: do the exact same thing again.
He ripped another field-leading swim, with only one man staying within 10 seconds of him. From there, it was rinse and repeat as he utilised his breakaway strategy once more. This time, the plan worked and Hóbor won the race.
His swim therefore stands out not only for its speed, but for the persistence to keep going after the strategy.
Emma Jeffcoat – New Plymouth World Cup
The tenth and final swim goes to an athlete that missed most of the season. If we cast our minds back to the start of the year, all the way back in February and March, there was one dominant aquatic force in the triathlon world.
Emma Jeffcoat was the leading athlete in the water in the swing of Oceania Cups. She led the way into T1 on a regular basis and several of her swims could be considered here. Her performance at the New Plymouth World Cup, though, was a kind of swimming art.
It was not that she led the way – she did, although that was a given for her at that point – or that she earned a big lead. She did not particularly break the field up in a noteworthy way; eight women stuck within 10 seconds of her and a lot of her non-Oceania rivals had not raced as often as she had by that point.
What separates Jeffcoat’s swim is something much more ineffable. There are no real numbers to support it. It’s the way that she barely seemed to take a hard stroke. While everyone thrashed in the waves around her, she looked in second or third gear with plenty left in reserve. It’s the way the rest of the field looked for her at the start and seemed desperate to get onto her feet. No one really got ahead of her. The goal was to find Jeffcoat and cling on.
After weeks of bossing the Oceania circuit in the water, it was the kind of swim by an athlete that was at the top of her game in a specific part of the sport. In hindsight, it makes her later absence all the more of a shame because she was swimming so wonderfully in the early season.
Essentially, Jeffcoat’s swim in New Plymouth was the culmination of an aura, of a vibe, and that made it special.
