France is a powerhouse in the triathlon world. At every level of the sport, they are flush with talent. From the WTCS all the way to Junior racing, at any given event, there is a good chance that the French team could put forward a medallist.
Yet the French colours are often fleetingly seen at the various levels of the sport. For a country with as much depth as France, why do they rarely send a full quota of athletes to events from the WTCS to World Cups to European Cups?
The WTCS provides a good example. On both the men’s and women’s teams, France limits its selections to a particular core. Among the women, that group is primarily comprised of Cassandre Beaugrand, Emma Lombardi and Leonie Periault. Meanwhile, for the men, the core trio of late has been WTCS gold medallists Dorian Coninx, Vincent Luis and Leo Bergere, with Tom Richard and Pierre Le Corre cycling in and out.
World Cup medallists Sandra Dodet, Audrey Merle and Mathilde Gautier seldom race in the Series. Likewise WTCS silver medallist Paul Georgenthum has not really had another look-in since his dazzling debut in Hamburg in 2021.
In almost any other country, those four athletes alone would have realistically notched at least a dozen WTCS starts between them over the last year. Yet they have barely been seen.
Even when there’s only one French woman on the start list (as seen this season in Yokohama where only Emma Lombardi started and will be the case in Montreal where only Leonie Periault is due to start) the federation chooses not to send more athletes. France has the slots available to add names. However they do not.
The main reason for this is that at almost every level of international racing, the French Federation are fairly stringent on who gets to race. One of the big guiding forces in selection is the levels system France has in place. You can see the full document containing the levels here.
Results in 2023 count towards an athlete’s level until the end of 2024, and so forth. For level 1 and 2 (plus level 3 for U23 athletes), the level is valid for two years (so 2023 performances would hold until the end of 2025).
Essentially, the levels can be broken down as follows.
To be a level 1 athlete, you either need to be a medallist in the overall WTCS (not just at a race) or viewed as a medallist at the upcoming Paris Olympics. Level 2 then covers athletes that either finish in the top-8 of the final WTCS standings or could finish in the top-8 at the Olympic Games.
Level 3 drops a degree further, with an overall WTCS top-16 or Olympic Games top-16 forming part of the criteria. Among the other factors are a medal at the Olympic distance European Championships, a top-12 at the Paris Test Event or a top-12 at the WTCS Final in Pontevedra.
Some U23 athletes can make it into level 3 if they win a medal at the World U23 Championships.
The philosophy behind level 4 is essentially to obtain Olympic spots, or otherwise earning a top-30 slot in the Olympic rankings. To that end, the criteria include results such as a top-8 at the Olympic distance European Championships or a medal at the Super Sprint European Championships.
U23 athletes can also make level 4 with a finish in the top-8 at the World U23 Championships.
Junior athletes can insert themselves into level 5 with either a medal at the European Junior Championships or a top-8 finish at the World Junior Championships.
In addition, several of the levels/access to races are guided by performance indexes. These indices are used by the French Federation to weigh the average ranking of the best ten athletes on the start list of any given race.
To race in the WTCS in 2023, and athlete would either need to be in level 1, 2 or 3 (elite, not U23 for level 3) or they would need a WTCS top-8 finish from 2022 or 2023 as long as the race hit a performance index of 12.
For reference WTCS Yokohama had an index of 6.8 for the men and 7.5 for the women. Cagliari, meanwhile, had an index of 5.5 for the men and 6.6 for the women.
The main takeaway is that to race in the WTCS an athlete basically has to have already performed in the WTCS. However that athlete first has to get into the WTCS to perform in the WTCS. But to get into the WTCS to perform well enough to get into the WTCS, an athlete first has to perform in the WTCS.
Confused yet? So are we.
The only real exceptions to starting in the WTCS via WTCS results are to medal at the European Championships or at the World U23 Championships. Alternatively, you can finish in the top-12 at the WTCS Final in- no, wait, hang on, that’s the WTCS again.
There are some discretionary elements to an athlete being able to race in the WTCS. Sometimes a level 3 (U23) athlete can be added to a race, as can athletes with medals at races with a performance index under 25. However, these cases are discretionary whereas the criteria listed before earn the right to start.
It is a similarly difficult story at the World Cup level.
To race at World Cups in 2023, levels 1-4 are eligible to start as well as those with the following exemplar results:
- A WTCS top-20 finish from 2022 or 2023,
- A World Cup or European Cup top-8 (if the performance index is below 30)
By way of example, the New Plymouth World Cup earlier this year had an index of 30.6 in the men’s race (which was won by Hayden Wilde) and 42.4 in the women’s race. A top-8 in New Plymouth would therefore not have counted towards a future World Cup starting right for a French athlete.
It is also rare for a European Cup to have an index below 30 so the criteria of a top-8 at such a race is close to redundant.
A big problem with the performance index is that athletes can drop out at the last minute and alter the index. In doing so, they can affect the index and suddenly the race is not worth attending for the French athlete.
When athletes do not know what the index will be until the last minute, it makes it harder to plan their events.
To look a level lower, even racing at European Cups can be a challenge. As an example, an athlete will require a top-20 at a World Cup or European Cup with an index under 60 to start at that level.
Only one women’s European Cup has been under 60 this year; that came in Quarteira which had an index of 32.1 (when Casasandre Beaugrand won). The lowest men’s European Cup index of the year also came in Quarteira. The race, won by Vetle Bergsvik Thorn, had an index of 73.3.
Therefore, outside of the women’s race in Quarteira, a top-20 finish at the events in Melilla, Caorle, Olsztyn and the African Cup in Yasmine Hammamet (which was included in the French index) would not have been enough to earn the right to start at another European Cup.
In the French system, then, it is hard to move up through the levels in large part because the requirements to stay at any given level are such a challenge. So many races ultimately do not count due to the index which restricts an athlete’s window to earn a higher starting right.
Athletes can also start at European Cups if they are French National Championships medallist from 2022 or 2023 or have earned a top-10 at a French Grand Prix race.
Even if an athlete gets onto a European Cup start list, making the jump to World Cups and then to the WTCS is a real challenge under the French model.
To put it bluntly, without a medal at the World U23 Championships in an athlete’s career (or perhaps a European Championships medal), there is almost no chance an athlete can earn the right to start in the WTCS.
It is therefore no surprise to see so few French athletes race when the conditions to start are so severe.
