Save for one tiny, insignificant problem, the World Triathlon Championship Series has ignited at the perfect moment. WTCS Weihai was the final opportunity for the athletes of the 2024 Series to improve their points total ahead of the season finale in Torremolinos-Andalucia and several athletes seized that chance with both hands. As a result, there have been several eye-catching shifts in the rankings with multiple players moving within striking range of a place on the overall podium. The small problem for the men’s field? Alex Yee’s quest for perfection is showing no signs of slowing down.
As a reminder, each athlete’s three best scores across WTCS events, the Paris Olympic Games and their Continental Championships are aggregated to give their current total. Having been worth up to 1000 points, Weihai was among the most important races of the season so far. A win at the WTCS Final, though, will be worth 1250 points, creating space for even more changes to come. Read on to find out how the racing in Weihai influenced the top of the men’s and women’s standings before we arrive at the Series endgame in three weeks’ time.
The Men’s Series Rankings
How do you solve a problem like Alex? Unbeaten in the Series this year and the men’s individual Olympic champion, Alex Yee’s run has proved a weapon too great for any of his rivals to match this year. In Weihai, he produced perhaps the most complete performance of his career to continue his perfect 2024 record. With three wins and the maximum available 3000 points to his name, he has soared to the top of the men’s standings with no one else in sight. Of course, everything could go wrong for him at the Series Final and he will need to look no further than the 2023 Final in Pontevedra for a cautionary tale. However, Yee’s challenge right now does not appear to be whether he can claim a maiden world title. It is whether he can win the Final too and end his 2024 season with a flawless record.
A silver medal for Leo Bergere in Weihai has similarly guided him up the rankings. The Frenchman stood 5th in the rankings prior to the race, two places behind Yee, and has now moved up to 2nd overall. Having finished 3rd in Paris and 4th in Yokohama, the 2022 world champion has been a consistent force throughout this campaign. However, his 2572.08 points put him quite a way back of Yee and his focus at the WTCS Final may be on defending his newly-acquired position.
The great rivalry between Yee and Hayden Wilde never really got going in Weihai as the latter spent much of the bike in the chase pack and slumped to 7th place. His result stands as his third score of the season, after two silver medals, and leaves him on 2476.40 points. Wilde thus has Bergere within his sights. A first world title for the New Zealander, however, seems a remote possibility right now. WTCS Weihai was also not the day Matthew Hauser would have envisioned. Having entered the race as the Series leader, the Australian could only muster 19th place. He therefore failed to improve upon his tally of 2301.40 points and dropped to 4th overall.
There was greater joy elsewhere in the Australian camp. Luke Willian finished 6th in what matched his second best performance ever in the Series (after claiming a maiden medal earlier this year). The handy bump in points that followed has left him on 2112.24 points and a repeat of Weihai could see him overtake his esteemed compatriot, Hauser. Willian’s result also edged him past Pierre Le Corre, who finished 10th in Weihai. As Le Corre did not improve upon his tally of 2110.36 points, he slots behind Willian in 6th place overall.
Altogether, then, Yee looks to be the runaway favourite to claim this year’s world title. Any combination of two from five men, though, could join him on the final Series podium with a big performance in Torremolinos.
The Women’s Series Rankings
The women’s race at WTCS Weihai could hardly have balanced the season climax up any more deliciously. A first ever WTCS win for Lisa Tertsch was exactly the result she needed to go alongside her silver medals in Cagliari and Hamburg. At the same time, Beth Potter claimed the silver medal after winning three bronze medals already. Tertsch and Potter have therefore scythed across the gap to the Series leader, Cassandre Beaugrand, and passed Emma Lombardi for good measure.
Beaugrand’s total of 2750 points from her wins in Cagliari, Hamburg and Paris mark her out as the clear leader. Note, Hamburg was a sprint distance event as thus was worth 750 points for a win. While Beaugrand has enjoyed the same unbeaten campaign as Yee, then, she has not maximised her possible points. Potter now hovers behind her with 2636.26 points while Tertsch’s number stands at 2618.75. Although beating Beaugrand has seemed close to impossible at the biggest events of 2024, Potter and Tertsch have given themselves every chance of denying the French athlete the Series crown.
Having opted against racing in Weihai, Emma Lombardi has slipped to 4th overall. Finishes of 3rd in Yokohama and 4th in both Cagliari and Paris have earned her 2438.53 points. Considering the gap to the three women ahead and that each have won three medals this year, Lombardi faces a tall task indeed to match the overall podium finish she achieved in the 2023 season.
Meanwhile, a 3rd place finish for Georgia Taylor-Brown in Weihai has moved her up to 5th overall with 2210.01 points. Hers was a first medal in the Series since Cagliari in May 2023. Like Lombardi, Taylor-Brown faces a challenge to rise onto the overall podium, but it is by no means impossible, especially if she recaptures the form that took her to the 2020 world title, Olympic silver in Tokyo, and silver at the 2022 WTCS Final.
The countdown has therefore begun until the WTCS Final arrives and if one thing can be taken from the 2022 and 2023 Finals it is that a last dramatic twist may yet be in store. Stay up to date with all the latest developments across all World Triathlon channels.
