Men’s Event
France will line up with strong chances here in the form of the last two world champions. Dorian Coninx (France) won the title in 2023 and was third in the test event. In the year before it was Leo Bergere (France) who finished third in 2023. They have a third contender in Pierre Le Corre (France) who won a 2023 World Cup event and was fourth in the test event. Perhaps the dominant figure over recent years is Alex Yee (Great Britain). He won silver in Tokyo and won three World Championship events in 2022, one in 2023 as well as the Olympic test event. He was beaten in Tokyo by Kristian Blummenfelt (Norway) who was also the 2021 world champion. He has spent the years since concentrating on Ironman events instead of triathlon. The other medalist in Tokyo was Hayden Wilde (New Zealand) who took bronze. He won two events in 2022 when he finished third in the World Championship and was second in 2023 after winning in Yokohama. Vasco Vilaca (Portugal) was second at the Olympic test event. He finished fourth in the 2023 World Championship and has a silver from 2020. Jelle Geens (Belgium) has two fourth placed finishes in World Championships, but they came in 2020 and 2022. Morgan Pearson (United States) won the World Cup event in Yokohama, earlier in the year. He was ahead of Matthew Hauser (Australia) who has a second in each of the last three seasons. He did win in Hamburg, the final World Cup event before the Olympics. Antonio Serrat Seoane (Spain) and Tim Hellwig (Germany) have a silver medal from a 2022 and 2023 event respectively. Csongor Lehmann’s (Hungary) best finish in an individual World Cup event was winning bronze, earlier in the season in Cagliari. He also has a 2022 European Championship fourth. Adrien Briffod (Switzerland) won bronze in the 2023 European Championship. Other podium finishers from World Cup events over the last few years are Jawad Abdelmoula (Morocco), Lasse Luhrs (Germany), Luke Willian (Australia) and Manoel Messias (Brazil).
Triathlon over recent years has lent itself to the top athletes and it would be a bit of a surprise if the medals go to anyone outside the top ten. Even Blummenfelt returning to win here would be a surprise despite his clear ability. Instead, I feel this comes down to Bergere, Coninx, Wilde and Yee. Whilst the French have got impressive-looking results, a lot of their success has come down to consistency. How well will that serve them in the ultimate one-off event? I think despite the home crowd, neither of them is strong enough to challenge Yee. It does boost them into silver though as Coninx edges Wilde on the run home.
🥇Alex Yee 🇬🇧
🥈Dorian Coninx 🇫🇷
🥉Hayden Wilde 🇳🇿
Women’s Event
Great Britain have incredible strength in depth in this event. They will be led by Beth Potter (Great Britain) who won the 2023 World Championship after winning two events and the Olympic test event. Georgia Taylor-Brown (Great Britain) was the 2020 world champion and won three events in 2022 when winning silver. She was also the Olympic silver medalist. Beating her at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Championship was Flora Duffy (Bermuda). She won three of the events that year and has begun to dabble in Ironman events. The other British competitor is Kate Waugh (Great Britain) who finished second in the 2023 World Cup in Pontevedra. France and the United States will also have strong teams. Cassandre Beaugrand (France) was second in the Olympic test event and the 2023 World Championship. She has won two World Cup events this season. Compatriot Emma Lombardi (France) was third in the World Championship. She also finished fourth at the test event, behind Laura Lindemann (Germany) who has a World Championship bronze from 2020. Leonie Periault (France) competed in the last Olympics and won a World Cup event earlier this season in Yokohama. She was ahead of Taylor Knibb (United States) who won silver in the 2021 World Championship and bronze in 2022. Taylor Spivey (United States) has come fourth for four of the last five years, winning bronze in 2021. Kirsten Kasper (United States) has two fourth placed finishes, in 2017 and 2018. Fourth placed finisher in the Tokyo Olympics was Rachel Kramer (Netherlands). Jeanne Lehair (Luxembourg) was the 2023 European Champion, finishing ahead of Lisa Tertsch (Germany) with Cathia Schar (Switzerland) winning bronze.
It feels like Duffy is on the downswing of an incredible career but a lot of the greats can still pull out incredible performances on one-off occasions. Taylor-Brown was incredible in 2022 before an injury-riddled 2023 but seems to be in a good place. Potter dominated in 2023 ahead of Beaugrand. Lombardi and Knibb are probably the next likeliest to contend, although the Germans shouldn’t be ruled out. Ultimately, I think the Brits dominate and Beaugrand takes the other podium spot.
🥇Georgia Taylor-Brown 🇬🇧
🥈Beth Porter 🇬🇧
🥉Cassandre Beaugrand 🇫🇷
Mixed Relay
Great Britain took the win in the inaugural staging of this event in Tokyo. They arguably look stronger here. They were runners-up in the 2022 World Championship that was won by France, their fourth straight title. Germany won in 2023 though, adding to a European silver in 2022 and a World Championship silver from 2019. They beat New Zealand into silver in 2023 as they improved on a fourth-place finish in 2022. The United States were the other medalist in Tokyo, taking silver. They were particularly strong in the 2022 World Cup events but could only take bronze in the World Championship before finishing fourth in 2023. Switzerland finished ahead of them to take the bronze medal. Australia also has World Championship medals, a bronze in 2019 and a silver in 2018. Spain looks weaker than they have in a few years and doesn’t have a strong record regardless. The Netherlands came fourth in Tokyo but the team isn’t particularly strong right now. Norway will rely on Blummenfelt as their star to drag them into the medals. Their best finish in recent years was fourth in 2020. Belgium were fifth at both the Tokyo Olympics and 2020 World Championships and are potential outsiders. Austria, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Mexico will also compete
The individual events show you which teams have the best individuals right now. This surely comes down to France and Great Britain who have four of the top eight athletes in both fields. I think France may be able to get the win here, roared on by fans and maybe with some of the Brits tired out after a greater battle in the individual events. The final medal should come down to Germany and the United States. New Zealand are probably the strongest country led by one triathlete but also Norway could contend on the showing of an incredible performance by their star. Overall, Germany has the strongest performers and I think this allows them to take the bronze medal, after a gap from the lead countries.
🥇France 🇫🇷
🥈Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥉Germany 🇩🇪
Comentários