With four individuals visiting a WTCS podium in 2023, the Americas women were behind only the European women and the European men when it came to the number of individual medallists this year. Much as the top male performer in the region was the athlete that won two WTCS medals, leading the charge on the women’s side was the only multi-medallist.
Taylor Spivey (USA)
At the start of the season, the American’s women’s team was among the deepest in the sport and the race to make the Olympic squad represented one of the fiercest of any country. With WTCS race winners and returning world champions in the mix, someone needed to make an early statement.
Taylor Spivey did just that, setting her stall out by becoming the first Americas medallist of the year with a bronze at WTCS Abu Dhabi. Another bronze followed at WTCS Cagliari, making her the only woman to win two medals in the Series.
At both events, Spivey expertly navigated the breakaway to make it onto the podium. Indeed, she showed herself to be something of a breakaway merchant in the first half of the year. She was the only woman to make the breakaway in all of the first three WTCS races of the season.
The consistency to which most observers have become accustomed was also on full display. Between Abu Dhabi and Cagliari, Spivey added a 4th place at WTCS Yokohama. Thereafter, she went on to finish 9th in Montreal, 7th in Hamburg and 10th in Paris. She therefore made it into the top-10 at all of her in-season races.
A 16th place at the WTCS Final in Pontevedra ended her run of thirteen consecutive top-10s that dated back to 2021 but was nonetheless enough to help her secure 4th overall in the Series.
Honourable Mentions
Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal came extremely close to nudging ahead of Spivey in a year that saw her win a maiden WTCS medal, a first World Cup medal and the Americas Championships over the Olympic distance. Her win in Veracruz was actually the first of her international career and therefore represented a major milestone.
With a bronze medal at the Pan American Games thrown in, Tapia had a wonderful year and was the second Americas women to make the overall WTCS top-10 (she took 10th place). Spivey’s extra WTCS medal and greater consistency kept her ahead this time around. Such has been the rate of Tapia’s improvement, though, the positions could flip in the coming seasons.
Gwen Jorgensen won the most World Cup medals of any athlete in 2023, taking a whopping four golds and two silvers. Some of her performances, such as her win in Valencia, were straight out of her world-dominating vintage and should give her rivals pause for thought as the race to make the American Olympic team enters its final stages. Although she did not have the WTCS results to match the likes of Spivey or Tapia, she had a hugely successful year and enjoyed a brilliant comeback to the sport.
Summer Rappaport takes the third and final honourable mention after claiming her first WTCS medal since 2021. She made the most of a two-woman breakaway in Montreal to earn the bronze medal. Her companion in Montreal, Taylor Knibb, also won a bronze (in Yokohama).
However, Knibb only raced at three short distance races in 2023. If you add up Rappaport’s top-3 WTCS results of 2023 (3rd, 4th, 7th), they equal Knibb’s three showings (3rd, 5th, 6th). Seeing as Rappaport added two further top-10s (taking 10th in both Hamburg and Yokohama), she moved ahead of her compatriot.
Once again, then, the Americas women showed themselves to be one of the strongest cohorts in triathlon and will be among the leading candidates to make the Olympic podium in 2024.
