The men of the Americas delivered some incredible performances in 2023. Three different individuals won the gold medals at the Pan American Games and the Americas Championships over the Olympic and Sprint distances while there were four different World Cup winners from the region.
Only one man, however, made it onto a WTCS podium this year. Then he did it again. The Americas Male Triathlete of the Year was thus the athlete that enjoyed the greatest success at the highest level of the sport this year.
Manoel Messias (BRA)
Manoel Messias got his season started with a bang as he won the bronze medal at WTCS Abu Dhabi. Although he then followed it up with a DNF at WTCS Cagliari, he was soon back on the podium as he improved to 2nd place at WTCS Montreal.
Across his performances in Abu Dhabi and Montreal, he became the only man in the Series to log two entries in the eight fastest 5km splits of the season, confirming his status as one of the best runners in the sport.
A few difficult races then followed but then he finished his season on top form once more as he won the Vina del Mar World Cup. In addition to being the only WTCS medallist of the Americas men and one of the fastest runners in the WTCS, then, Messias matched the top achievement (a World Cup win) of his leading rivals. He therefore claimed the mantle as the leading Americas man in 2023.
In Chile, Messias also went up against two athletes that earned honourable mentions here and out-gunned them over the 5km run. Such has been his form over the shorter distance, when Messias has been in contention for a medal he has been almost impossible to count against.
Honourable Mentions
Miguel Hidalgo very nearly pipped his compatriot to the title here after ending the season with a win at the Brasilia World Cup, a win at the Pan American Games and a silver medal in Vina del Mar. Furthermore, Hidalgo became a consistent force at the WTCS level. He finished 7th in Hamburg, 8th in Paris and 6th in Pontevedra, making him the only Americas man with three top-10 finishes.
While Messias’ WTCS medals proved the point of separation, Hidalgo is shaping up to be a rising force on the world stage.
Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen ended 2023 as one of two men to win three World Cup medals. He won his maiden medal in Huatulco (finishing 3rd) and would then add a silver in Chengdu and a bronze in Vina del Mar. While his compatriot Crisanto Grajales made it to the top of a World Cup podium in Weihai, it was Peñaflor’s greater consistency on the circuit that stood out.
Tyler Mislawchuk likewise made it onto a World Cup podium, winning a silver in Huatulco. To go with that, he showed signs of rediscovering his best WTCS form as he earned top-10 finishes in Hamburg and Pontevedra. He finished 9th at both races. But for a penalty, he might have also added another top-10 in Abu Dhabi (he ended up taking 12th place).
Crucially, 2023 was one of Mislawchuk’s most consistent seasons of recent times. With finishes of 15th in Yokohama and Montreal and 13th in Paris, he never finished outside of the top-15. He was thus rewarded with a 12th place overall in the WTCS and was only a single place behind Hidalgo who was the top overall Americas man in the Series.
With plenty of rising talent in several countries, the Americas may just contain a potential male medallist at next year’s Olympic Games.
