The chase to become the women’s 2023 World Triathlon Champion began in the heat of WTCS Abu Dhabi back in March, taking in eight scoring races in total across seven months of action: six Series events plus the Championship Finals and the Paris Test Event.

Just two nations shared the top of the podium in all of those, as Great Britain and France dominated the women’s medals all year, but the story doesn’t begin and end there, as the entertainment flowed and reputations were forged right down the results sheets.

While Britain’s Beth Potter (4), Sophie Coldwell (1), Georgia Taylor-Brown (1) and Cassandre Beaugrand (2) of France won all the golds between them in 2023, USA, Germany and Mexico stars also featured among the medals, but there were two athletes very much in the box seats as the season reached its zenith and a Pontevedra showdown.

Victory in the Championship Finals for Potter or Beaugrand would guarantee either the title. The pair were locked together on lap one of the swim, before the French star found a little daylight on lap two. But Potter was back alongside her rival by the end of the first bike lap and then pulled clear over the run to deliver a famous first world title, Beaugrand with overall silver, Emma Lombardi the bronze in only her second year at the top level. Here’s how a rollercoaster 2023 season played out…

Potter and Coldwell kick off season in style for GB

Straight into the front pack out of the first swim of the Series was exactly the kind of start that Beth Potter would have been aiming for, Beaugrand uncharacteristically dropping back into the chasers with Taylor-Brown and unable to haul themselves into contention as Potter pulled clear of Coldwell to win her first Series gold.

It would be Coldwell’s turn to get a first taste of Series gold in Yokohama, where Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX) ran her way to silver, Taylor Knibb (USA) bronze, before Taylor-Brown made it three-from-three for British athletes with a now familiar gold in Cagliari, Emma Lombardi (FRA) and Taylor Spivey (USA) joining her on the podium.

Beaugrand’s star on the rise

WTCS Montreal saw another GB-France-USA podium, this time Potter taking gold after edging out Leonie Periault down the blue carpet, Summer Rappaport with bronze. That was Beaugrand’s cue to begin her assault on the medals, firstly with an imperious trio of super-sprint races to win WTCS Hamburg gold ahead of Potter and Laura Lindemann (GER), then soaring to WTCS Sunderland gold ahead of Lombardi and Annika Koch (GER).

Victory at the Paris Test Event both took Potter into the lead in the hunt for the world title and delivered the precious confidence boost of out-running Beaugrand over the final stages that cannot be measured in terms of Olympic preparations, Lindemann in third.

All on the line for Spanish showdown

The Championship Finals Pontevedra remained a straight shootout for the world title between the two women who had dominated the 2023 Series, and again it was the steely determination of Beth Potter that helped her see out the win, Kate Waugh right with her all the way to the final few hundred metres and winning a first Series silver, Beaugrand just falling short in third, retaining overall Series silver.

It was Emma Lombardi with the Series bronze and a major move towards securing her place on the Paris 2024 start line alongside Beaugrand as they start their preparations for the massive occasion of a home Olympics.

With no fewer than four Para Series events, 8 Para Cups, World Championships Pontevedra and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Qualification Period opening on 1 July, it was a huge 2023 on the blue carpet for the world’s para triathletes, with new faces looking to mix it with the more established names as a huge 2024 pulled into view.

The USA dominated the Series podiums with 36 medals including 12 golds, but no fewer than 18 nations won at least one WTPS medal in 2023. When it came to Para Cups, the number of nations to medal was 31, France topping the list with 60 in all including 22 golds.

When it came to the World Championships in Pontevedra, eight nations shared the titles, France and USA with three apiece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Great Britain and Netherlands all taking home one gold on an outstanding day of racing back in September.

POWERHOUSES IN PONTEVEDRA

The round up starts in September and the north-west of Spain, where the Para World Championships got the elite racing at the Championship Finals Pontevedra underway in grand style on a tough course.

Britain’s Dave Ellis B3 scored a sixth world title in the men’s visually impaired category, while there was a career-first for Italy’s Francesca Tarantello B3 in the women’s race, as she beat local hero Susana Rodriguez B1. There was another surprise as Geert Schipper H2 took advantage of a Jetze Plat H2 puncture to win a first men’s PTWC title, Lauren Parker H1 defeating Tokyo 2020 rival Kendall Gretsch H2 in the women’s race to earn a fourth straight title.

Victory for France’s Jules Ribstein showed why he will be among the favourites for PTS2 gold at a home Games in Paris, likewise the irrepressible Hailey Danz (USA) and the hugely experienced Daniel Molina (ESP), who showed his familiar run speed to win a fifth PTS3 title, Elise Marc (FRA) winning the women’s title.

Unbeaten in 23 races, yet another PTS4 title for Alexis Hanquinquant extended a win streak he will want to continue all the way to Paris and beyond, the mighty Kelly Elmlinger winning her second title for USA, teammate Grace Norman likewise in an impressive women’s PTS5 win with Martin Schulz reclaiming the men’s title.

PARA RELAY RETURNS

With a view to the format’s future Paralympic inclusion, only the second ever Para Mixed Relay wrapped up the Pontevedra action, with six nation teams - USA (2), France, Brazil, Australia and Spain - and two world teams that also included athletes from Mexico and Japan, all taking to the start line. It was to be the USA Team I who triumphed, the combined talents of Kendall Gretsch, Grace Norman, Kyle Coon and Carson Clough bringing home the gold.

CURTAIN GOES UP ON 2023 IN ABU DHABI & DEVONPORT

But back in March it was the Para Cup Abu Dhabi that got the season underway, before things really heated up at the first Series event of the year, WTPS Devonport, Australia. It was no surprise to see the likes of local legends David Bryant, Lauren Parker, Nic Beveridge H1 and Sally Pilbeam making the most of a domestic race and taking home medals. Howie Sanborn H1 and Mohamed Lahna of the USA also scored excellent results, along with Japan’s Yukako Hata who took her fourth straight win in the city.

BACK TO JAPAN

Onto WTPS Yokohama, Parker continued her huge win streak since that dramatic sprint finish in Tokyo, finishing a minute ahead of the Gretsch. USA’s rising PTVI talent Owen Cravens B3, still only 20 years old, earned a first WTPS gold of his career, and home favourite Jumpei Kimura H1 finally won his first WTPS gold and what better place to do so than on the streets of Yokohama.

Following on from the firmly established Para Cups of Besancon and A Coruna – the latter kicking off the Paralympic Qualification Period with stacked fields - the Series moved on to WTPS Montreal where a second Series gold for Howie Sanborn, a first for the 2017 World Champion Maurits Morsink (NED) and silver to his PTS3 compatriot Nico Van Der Burgt were among the standout performances.

Irish star Chloe Maccombe B3 also stepped on her first WTPS podium, adding a silver medal to the one she earned at the Commonwealth Games, while the men’s race saw the return to the WTPS podium of Spain’s Paralympic silver medallist Hector Catala Laparra and USA’s fresh talent Carson Clough made it three silvers in three in the PTS4.

NEW VENUES AND FORMAT CHANGES

A first Para Cup stop in Long Beach, California in mid-July saw Canada’s PTVI star Jessica Tuomela B1 and Austria’s PTWC athlete Florian Brungraber H2 back among the golds, then it was on to WTPS Swansea, where huge storms and strong winds forced the race to be switched to an aquathlon format for safety reasons.

Mona Francis (FRA) kept her cool to win the women’s PTWC gold, Allysa Seely the PTS2 gold and fellow American Emma Meyers – at just 17-years-old – brushed off the tricky conditions to win her first WTPS gold in the PTS4 ahead of GB’s returning Hannah Moore.

There was a change in format at the Para Cup Paris, too, where irregularities in the water test results meant a duathlon was necessary, the athletes still able to get a good look at next September’s Paralympic course. Familiar names topped the podiums including Dave Ellis, Alexis Hanquinquant, Jetze Plat, Grace Norman and Lauren Parker all firing out warning shots to their Paris 2024 rivals.

Following on from Pontevdra, the Para Cup circuit came to a close with Portugal’s stunning Alhandra, Malaga – as a preview of the 2024 World Championship course in Spain, and the Italian city of Taranto, where the likes of French trio Paul Lloveras B2 (PTVI), Heloise Courvoisier B3 (PTVI) and Thibault Reby (PTS5), GB’s Henry Urand (PTS3) and home favourite Giuseppe Romele H1 (PTWC) were among the golden winners helping their push to Paris.

The World Triathlon Cup circuit broke new ground in 2023, with a race held on all five World Triathlon continents in one season for the first time ever across the 14-date feast of action, all beamed live to the planet on TriathlonLive.tv.

That meant Tangier (MAR) and Brasilia (BRA) making their hosting debuts alongside Rome (ITA) and Yeongdo (KOR), all four locations providing scintillating new courses and unique atmospheres on and off the blue carpet.

Add in the return of old favourites like New Plymouth (NZL), Weihai and Chengdu (CHN) to the calendar and longstanding classics Tiszaujvaros (HUN), Karlovy Vary (CZE), Huatulco (MEX), Tongyeong (KOR), Miyazaki (JPN) and Valencia (ESP), it all added up to a classic year on the circuit, rounding out in Vina del Mar (CHI).

There were huge home wins for Miguel Hidalgo, Hayden Wilde and Csongor Lehmann among the standout moments, nail-biting sprint finishes including Gwen Jorgensen versus Rachel Klamer (Karlovy Vary) and Tilda Mansson versus Noelia Juan (Tiszaujvaros), and an emotionally charged Rome victory from Vasco Vilaca in the wake of his Pontevedra world title disappointment.

German athletes scooped more medals than any other nation across the season, with 15 in total shared among nine athletes and including five golds from Nina Eim, Lisa Tertsch, Tim Hellwig (2) and Annika Koch. USA won a total of nine medals (also including five golds from Jorgensen (4) and Morgan Pearson) and Italian and Mexican athletes appeared on no fewer than seven World Cup podiums, Alice Betto with a brilliant Brasilia gold for Italy, Anahi Alvarez Corral and Crisanto Grajales with Mexico’s golds. 

Britain’s Hugo Milner (Miyazaki), Brazil’s Manoel Messias (Vina del Mar), Pierre Le Corre of France (Tangier), Takumi Hojo of Japan (Yeongdo) and New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay (New Plymouth) complete the names of World Cup winners in 2023… so after all of that, here’s a swift breakdown of the men’s and women’s 2023 World Cup season.

Remarkable resurgent Gwen Jorgensen wins four golds

USA legend Gwen Jorgensen’s return to the blue carpet was on everyone’s lips ahead of the first outing of 2023 in New Plymouth, where she finished outside the top 10 but still delivered the third fastest run of the day. From there, it was a near-constant build for the Rio 2016 Olympic Champion.

Her silver in Huatulco suggested that magic was coming, and arrive it did in the form of a trio of back-to-back World Cup wins in Valencia, Karlovy Vary and Tongyeong, before rounding out the year with a second silver, this time in Miyazaki and gold in Vina del Mar, Chile.

In Japan, Jorgensen had finished behind Bianca Seregni, who also topped the podium in Weihai and Chengdu to score an impressive hat trick in 2023 that leaves hers 20th in the Olympic rankings at the end of the year and looking all set for a Paris 2024 debut.

Other multiple women medallists this season were Germany’s Marlene Gomez-Goggel (silver and two bronze) and Nina Eim (gold and silver), Sweden’s Tilda Mansson (gold and bronze), Noelia Juan (two silver) of Spain and Italy’s Ilaria Zane (two bronze).

Tim Hellwig only man to win multiple World Cup golds in 2023

After scoring WTCS Hamburg gold in 2021, Tim Hellwig then endured a tough 2022 before a supremely consistent campaign this year saw the 24-year-old not only taking a pair of World Cup wins in Chengdu and Tongyeong, but also earning a Mixed Relay world title and a place on the German Olympic squad at Paris 2024 with Championship Finals silver.

Another young German talent, Lasse Nygaard Priester, and Mexico’s Aram Michelle Penaflor Moysen scored the most overall medals with a silver and two bronze apiece, while Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo and Spanish newcomer David Cantero del Campo both won a gold and silver this year.

With even more venues set to be added to the calendar for the 2024 season and the final opportunities for Olympic qualification points starting in New Zealand in March, the World Triathlon Cup action is only going to get more exciting over the next 12 months. Tune in to it all on TriathlonLive.tv.

The 2024 World Cup calendar: (as at 22 November 2023)

24-25 February - Napier (NZL) – Sprint
23-24 March - Hong Kong (HKG) - Sprint
30 March - Lievin (FRA) - Indoor
20-21 April - Wollongong (AUS) - Sprint
29 Apr - Chengdu (CHI) - Standard
17-19 May - Samarkand (UZB) – Standard
17-19 May - Huatulco (MEX) – Sprint
6-7 July - Tiszaujvaros (HUN) - Semifinal/Final
7-8 September - Karlovy Vary (CZE) – Standard
21-22 September - Valencia (ESP) – Sprint
27 September - Weihai (CHN) - Standard
5-6 October - Rome (ITA) – Sprint
12-13 October - Tangier (MAR) – Sprint
26-27 October - Brasilia (BRA) – Standard
2-3 November - Vina del Mar (CHI) – Sprint
9-10 November - Miyazaki (JPN) – Sprint