5 Reasons we need to pay attention to the results from WTCS Weihai

With the racing taking place in the middle of the night for those of us in North America, many triathlon fans might have missed the action at the final World Triathlon Championship Series race before the series final in Torremolinos, Spain next month, and served as a final chance for some of the folks vying for a world title to earn valuable points.

The race was dominated by Germany’s Lisa Tertsch, who was at the front from start to finish, and Great Britain’s Alex Yee, who followed a stellar swim with an impressive bike and a dominant run.

So what should we pay notice to from today’s racing?

Alex Yee sets the stage to take the world title … or does he?

Surely this must be the year that either Alex Yee or Hayden Wilde finally take the world title, and based on today’s result, Yee appears to be in a better position to do that. In 2022 and 2023, after dominating the season, Yee and Wilde managed to get pipped out of taking the world championship by two Frenchmen who came up big at the Championship final. In 2022 it was Leo Bergere who took the win, with Yee and Wilde both finishing far enough back in the standings to miss out on the win, and a year later it was Dorian Conninx who pulled out the big race on the final day.

Heading into the final in Spain, Yee will enjoy a lead of 428 points on Bergere, who finished second in Weihai, and 524 points on Wilde. With 1,250 points going to the winner, Yee will still have to have a decent race – another 30th-place finish like he had last year in Pontevedra would likely mean another year without the title. Considering, though, that his lead over Wilde heading into the final in 2023 was just 57 points, there’s a lot more leeway for the Brit this time around.

Could Lisa Tertsch take the world title?

You bet. The German and former Harvard cross country runner had a dominant performance in China today, leading the way out of the water, keeping the tempo going on the tough hill (that was repeated eight times) on the bike, then running away from the rest of the field over the 10 km run. (An even more impressive stat considering the running talents of 2016 Olympic 10,000 m runner Beth Potter, who finished second.)

Tertsch is now only 132 points behind series leader Cassandre Beaugrand, and just 18 points behind defending world champ Potter, who sits in second place in the standings. Beaugrand can still win the title if Tertsch wins in Spain and the Olympic gold medalist gets second (or possibly third), but anything less and Tertsch could see her late season surge lead to a world title.

Gwen Jorgensen has a great comeback

After winning a bunch of World Cup races at the end of last year, 2016 Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen (on the left of the group in the photo above) had struggled at the WTCS level of racing. Her sixth place finish today was an impressive result, especially since it came in her first race back after surgery on a broken collar bone at the end of July.

This certainly should give the American lots of confidence as she heads into the Grand Final in Spain next month.

It’s not always the Yee/ Wilde show

While they have provided us with some epic races over the last few years, and especially this year with sprint finishes in Cagliari, the Paris Olympics and supertri Boston, we can’t always count on a sprint to the line between the two stars. Yee had an off day at the supertri race in Chicago a few weeks ago, and Wilde wasn’t his normal self in Weihai today. So, as much as Yee’s lead in the standings heading into the Grand Final look good, the man who finished second today, Leo Bergere (the Olympic bronze medalist behind the pair), is very much in the world championship picture, too. Add to that list Aussies Matt Hauser and Luke Willian, too – the pair sit in fourth and fifth in the WTCS standings.

There’s a lot of pro racing going on … and many short-distance athletes are making their move up

At tomorrow’s T100 Ibiza we’ll see a few athletes who were at the Olympics and might normally have been at the WTCS event in Weihai: Maarten Van Riel for the men and Taylor Knibb, Taylor Spivey, Flora Duffy and Julie Derron.

We’ll likely see a few of that number at the Grand Final next month as they bounce back and forth between the distances, but it’s a sign of the times that athletes are able to excel at a variety of distances. It’s a sure sign that middle-distance racing is in for another speed-surge as more short-course athletes arrive on the scene.