After two breathless editions of the format in Montreal in 2021 and 2022, World Triathlon will bring the first ever Super-Sprint World Championships to Germany as the centrepiece of the 2023 WTCS Hamburg action running from 13-16 July. The four-day programme also includes the Elite, Jr/U23 and Age-Group Mixed Relay World Championships, Junior World Championships and Age-Group Sprint World Championships, as well as the hugely popular traditional open races that fill the city streets.

The elite races are part of the ongoing qualification process for Paris 2024, with the 2023 Mixed Relay World Champions automatically securing two female and two male berths for next year’s Games (rolling down to the runners-up if the already-qualified Team GB win).

The famous WTCS Hamburg course will be cut back for the Super-Sprint World Championships, now a 300m swim in the Binnenalster lake, a tight and technical 3-lap, 7.5km bike through the city centre and 2-lap 1.6km run in front of the Rathaus.

Qualifiers and Repechage races will see the fastest 30 men and 30 women through to the Saturday’s three-stage finals. There, the last 10 across the finish line will be cut from the next stage’s start, until just 10 athletes are left to battle it out for not only the golds, but precious Series points and the first Super-Sprint world titles.

“The Super-Sprint format has shown to be another unique test of the world’s best triathletes, where tactics are as crucial as their remarkable powers of endurance and recuperation. As part of World Triathlon’s long-term strategy seeking to introduce additional individual medal events to the Olympic program, the World Championships follow two hugely successful outings at WTCS Montreal,” said World Triathlon President and IOC member Marisol Casado.

“We are delighted to be able to stage the format’s first World Championships alongside the Mixed Relay World Championships for Elite and Jr/U23, the Junior World Championships and the Age Group Sprint and Mixed Relay World Championships in Hamburg, all of which will add huge entertainment to what was already one of the most popular stops on the Series.”

Last year’s men’s winner in Montreal, Alex Yee (GBR) will return to do battle with the likes of Hayden Wilde (NZL), Matthew Hauser (AUS), Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) and no.1 Vasco Vilaca (POR) as the race for the 2023 world title continues to look wide open.

The USA boast the current women’s no.1 and no.2 in the Series, Taylor Spivey and Summer Rappaport, both having had top 5 finishes over the elimination format, one that also saw Beth Potter score her first WTCS podium, and the Brit hits the start as the only woman with two Series golds so far in 2023.