Winning Olympic gold is extraordinarily difficult. More people climbed Mount Everest in 2023 alone (600 summits by 250 clients and 350 sherpas) than the number of athletes that can win an Olympic triathlon gold medal in the 21st century.
When viewed in the bigger picture, the demands of timing and then producing one’s top performance on a given day in a four year cycle are brutal.
Winning the WTCS is a different challenge. Rather than peaking on a single day, an athlete must be at their best across an entire season. More often than not, this creates a competing demand with that of succeeding at the Olympic Games.
Do you peak for that one race at the expense of all else or do you maintain your levels for months at the risk of dulling your sharpest point? The challenge is not the same and thus the requirements are difference, creating a divergence.
All of this is to say that it is extremely hard to win Olympic gold and the WTCS in same year.
Lisa Nordén almost managed it in 2012 although she was pipped to Olympic gold by thousandths of a second. The 2021 Olympic champions, Flora Duffy and Kristian Blummenfelt, actually achieved it however they were aided by the Olympics being included as a Series race due to the pandemic.
To look back through the history of the sport, though, is to see a litany of champions that did not manage the double.
In 2016, Gwen Jorgensen took Olympic gold and Flora Duffy claimed the world title. Alistair Brownlee won the men’s Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016 but Jonathan Brownlee and Mario Mola nabbed the respective world titles.
It should be noted that the WTCS started in 2009 while triathlon was introduced at the Olympics in 2000. Nevertheless, even with a single day world championships, no one managed the double.
In 2000, Olivier Marceau became the world champion but Simon Whitfield won Olympic gold. On the women’s side, Nicole Hackett and Brigette McMahon split the two titles.
Four years later, Bevan Docherty and Hamish Carter split the titles while Sheila Taormina took the world title and Kate Allen powered to Olympic gold.
In 2008, Javier Gomez Noya enjoyed a dominant season and claimed the world title. It was Jan Frodeno, though, that took the Olympic crown. Similarly, while Emma Snowsill capped a marvellous season with Olympic gold, Helen Jenkins took the world title.
We therefore have only Duffy (2021) and Blummenfelt (2021) as having achieved the double. However, the 2021 experience was unique as the Olympic Games counted to the WTCS for the first time. Due to the pandemic-induced curtailment to the regular WTCS season, the Abu Dhabi and Hamburg races were moved to after the 2021 WTCS Final and were attached to the 2022 season.
Looking ahead to the 2024 season, the range of contenders for the both the Olympic and WTCS crowns means that winning both will be a major challenge.
On the men’s side, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde have won the most WTCS races in the last two years but neither have earned the word title. Indeed, neither have medalled at a WTCS Final. Both, though, are reigning Olympic medallists and could deliver in Paris. Moreover, Yee dominated the Olympic Test Event and may be the favourite to win the Olympics.
Star names like Dorian Coninx and Leo Bergere have won the world title in the past two seasons. They have shown the ability to win WTCS Finals but their championships were often a product of consistency. Coninx and Bergere each stepped up once in 2023 and 2022, respectively. To complete the Olympic-WTCS double, though, they will have to deliver at least two magical performances this time round.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Beth Potter won the overall WTCS and the Olympic Test Event last year and so could be the favourite to do the double in 2024. Given her form in 2023, it would be hard to bet against her.
However, a returning Flora Duffy, a rejuvenated Georgia Taylor-Brown and a Cassandre Beaugrand roared on by a home Olympic crowd could trip her up on either or even both fronts.
A cursory glance over the men’s and women’s fields reveals that, in addition to the differing demands of Olympics and WTCS, the sheer depth available will make achieving the double a major challenge.
One separate point to note is that it remains to be seen whether the Paris Olympics will count towards the 2024 WTCS. The talent exists for someone to complete the double this time round. The scale of the challenge, though, cannot be underestimated.
When it comes to combining Olympic and world gold in triathlon, more people have walked on the moon than completed the double.
