The World Triathlon Podcast: Recent Episodes
World Triathlon
The official podcast of World Triathlon brings you exclusive weekly stories and insights from the world's top triathletes and coaches, from World Champions and Olympic contenders to the new faces breaking out onto the world scene. Never miss a moment of the action with www.triathlonlive.tv!
The WTCS Hamburg weekend cooked up plenty of thrills and spills across the Championship Series, Para Series and Mixed Relay World Championships action. In this episode we go back into the mix, from pre-race penalties to unexplained pull-outs, transition crashes to super-sprint thrashes, as well as previewing the WTCS London on 25 July and saluting an all-time great as Flora Duffy announces her retirement.
With this weekend marking 25 years of top-tier triathlon action in Hamburg, the podcast welcomes back Will McCloy and World Triathlon's Kris Gemmell - themselves no strangers to the dangers of the infamous swim tunnel of despair - to preview the fifth stop of the 2026 Series and Mixed Team Relay World Championships. Unique insight, attempts at foresight, and a little friendly bite, it's the one-stop-shop for all your Hamburg preview needs before the action gets underway from 1.15pm CET on 11 July on TriathlonLive!
We take a spin through all the action from the WTCS Quiberon weekend, where Dorian Coninx's win couldn't stop Vasco Vilaça's stranglehold on the Series getting a little tighter and Cassandre Beaugrand made it four from four on home soil before the Mixed Relay took charge in fine style on the Sunday. From course question marks to the moto drafting drama and what is next for Alex Yee, the return of Tilda Mansson, rise and rise of Jolien Vermeylen and much more, it's all here on the World Triathlon Podcast as we continue the march through the 2026 Championship Series and look ahead to Tiszy!
We recap an action-packed weekend of Huatulco World Cup and European Championship Tarragona racing, and look ahead to the fourth stop of the 2026 World Triathlon Championship Series in Quiberon, where Cassandre Beaugrand headlines a home race, Alex Yee tries to reel in men's leader Vasco Vilaça, and the first Serie Mixed Team Relay takes over on Sunday.
You can watch all the WTCS Quiberon action with a Race Pass on TriathlonLive.tv
Ahh Sardinia. Home of some high triathlon drama over the years, and the third stop of the 2026 World Triathlon Championship Series lived up to that reputation every which way at the end of May. Will McCloy and Belinda Granger join Doug Gray to pour through the racing and what impact it all has on the world title chase, with some big guns like Matt Hauser and Alex Yee mis-firing and Cassandre Beaugrand sending out a chilling message to her title rivals!
Watch all the action back on TriathlonLive.tv
After another yahoo in Yokohama, the team sets its sights on WTCS Alghero, where the mouthwatering prospect of Matt Hauser, Alex Yee, Hayden Wilde, Vasco Vilaça and countless others will go toe-to-toe for the first time this year.
Series commentator Belinda Granger and World Triathlon's Kris Gemmell give their reflections on the brilliance and guts of young Tilda Mansson's sprint finish against Beth Potter, and the rise of Australia and the art of the breakaway.
Tune in to TriathlonLive.tv for guaranteed fireworks in Alghero from 11am CEST on 30 May!
After 9 podiums, we get the run down on the first Series gold of his career from the man himself, Vasco Vilaça, as the 'Little Man' demands a showdown with commentator Will McCloy...
The World Triathlon Championship Series was back with a bang at the weekend with two firing WTCS Samarkand races that saw Vasco Vilaça scoop a gritty first Series gold and Beth Potter back to her best with a consummate 10km off a hot and hard 40km bike.
Will McCloy and Belinda Granger are also back to give their view from the commentary booth, Marton Kropko dials in to tell all about his triple breakaway and injury blow up, and we talk bottle flips and Vuckets at the T100 Singapore...
Watch all the action back over on TriathlonLive.tv
Fresh from his mammoth debut World Triathlon Championship Series win in Karlovy Vary, Germany's latest triathlon talent Henry Graf joins Doug Gray and Tommy Zaferes for a full run-down of the latest and greatest Battle of Bohemia!
📈 Being nearly two metres tall in an era of smaller, faster triathletes
🍿 Winning your debut the same day as Ironman short-distancers light up Nice – shouts to Casper Stornes, Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt and friend Jonas Schomburg
💪 Taylor Spivey’s mega bike effort to catch onto Maya Kingma’s mega bike effort
🐠 Oliver Conway’s impressive debut with 4th place new talent coming off the GB production line
💥 Beth Potter back on top of the podium and Jeanne Lehair bouncing back from bashing the barrier
🦿 Hitting the KV roads hard with breakaway boys Tjebbe Kaindl and Mark Devay
✍️ Hayden Wilde’s pre-race car incident, Swim behaviour penalties, John Reed clocking the rapid runs, prospects for a Series podium and his chances of taking Csongor Lehmann’s crown in Tiszy
Third in the world heading to WTCS Karlovy Vary on 14 September, it was in the south of France last weekend that Jeanne Lehair ripped up her coach's notes and took the race to Cassandre Beaugrand at WTCS French Riviera.
Photographer Tommy Zaferes is back on the podcast this week as we pick through the ashes of that race and look ahead to the penultimate action of the Series ahead of the Championship Finals Wollongong, where the moves were made that decided things in Frejus and the 'what if' of whether Jeanne could she have found one more push to hold off the Olympic Champion in her back yard.
The newly crowned European Sprint Triathlon Champion, Belgium's Jolien Vermeylen is one of the sport's great characters, and heads to Istanbul at the end of August chasing a huge continental double with the Olympic Distance title.
On episode 105, the 31-year-old opens up about having her post-Paris 2024 words twisted and the pain of a resulting social media pile-on, putting her 70.3 ambitions on hold to chase a career-best Series ranking in 2025 and soaking in the arc of taking up the sport after reading the Brownlee book on holiday in Corfu and then winning supertri gold for Brownlee Racing in Toronto a decade later.
"You can read subtitles on my face. If I like something I show it and if I don’t you’ll know it. But maybe for racing I need it!"
In recovery after suffering a bad bike crash at WTCS Hamburg in mid-July, Roksana Slupek is our guest this week, and the Poland number one shares her reflections on the highs and lows of her journey to the Paris 2024 Olympic start line.
From attacks of self doubt and depression to ultimately qualifying for her life’s dream, and the harsh realities of racing on – and crashing out of – the world’s biggest triathlon series, the 26-year-old shares an eye-opening hour of life as an elite athlete, and how recent events have made her re-evaluate her attitude towards her fellow competitors on the World Triathlon Championships Series.
A second individual gold in the 2025 World Triathlon Championship Series strengthened Matt Hauser's grip on the Series Rankings after WTCS Hamburg marked the halfway point of the season. The 27-year-old followed it up with one of the greatest Mixed Relay legs you will see as he reeled in a 20-second deficit to 2023 World Champion Dorian Coninx and helped secure Australia their first World title since 2017.
Now it's all eyes on France and the WTCS French Riviera at the end of August to see if he can take the maximum 3000 points into a home Championship Finals in Wollongong, Australia, in October, where he will look to become the country's first men's world champion for 20 years.
MIXED RELAY HIGHLIGHTS
MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
The first Brazilian to win a World Triathon Championship Series gold in the modern era, Miguel Hidalgo now has his sights set on a first World Championship title, but knows all too well just how far there is still to go if he is to be challenging in October's finals in Wollongong, Australia, against the likes of home favourite Matt Hauser.
If you achieved your dream double of becoming Olympic and World Champion in the same year, what would you do? For Alex Yee, the answer was simple. Test himself over running's marquee distance on one of the biggest stages of them all: The London Marathon.
We headed to Brockley, south London, just a few miles from that start line, to speak to one of the most understated, unflappable and, quite simply, impressive triathletes of all time and hear about the emotion and exhaustion of the day as he strived for something remarkable.
From the training loads to the heat of battle and what lies ahead, Yee is the epitome of relaxation and ambition as he recounts the journey from the backyard of the house he grew up in.
FOLLOW HIS RACE ON STRAVA: https://strava.app.link/iZJX5Kxn2Sb
[00:00:00] Post-Marathon Reflections
Yee reflects on the surreal experience of finishing 14th in the marathon and the emotional significance of the start line.
[00:03:00] Marathon vs. Triathlon Pain
The unique physical challenges of marathon running—mental endurance vs. muscular fatigue.
[00:05:00] Purpose Beyond Olympic Success
Seeking purpose and new challenges post-Olympic and World Championship victories.
[00:09:00] Training Volume and Adaptation
The training details - up to 600km/month- with triathlon elements still retained.
[00:16:00] Philosophical Perspective and Gratitude
Maintaining internal motivation, gratitude, and broader perspective after his serious crash in 2017.
[00:20:00] Emotional Finish Line at London Marathon
The powerful emotions and pride of his hometown Marathon
[00:26:00] Performance Analysis and Heat Impact
The performance dip in the final 8km and hitting the data, including heat and heart rate drift.
[00:29:00] Collaborative Coaching Approach
Just how he and coach Adam Elliot worked with experts across disciplines to prepare for the marathon.
[00:39:00] Physiological Learnings from Marathon
The unexpected physical adaptations and how they may influence future triathlon training.
[00:45:00] Triathlon culture and his Blue Carpet Future
Where next for the Marathon Man as he builds towards defending his triathlon title at LA 2028
A very special guest joins the podcast to mark the 100th episode, the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon Champion Cassandre Beaugrand!
It is a deeply honest hour in the company of our Olympic and World Champion, each story revealing a little more about just where all the grit, determination and competitive spirit that has taken the 27-year-old to the very top of the sport came from.
Cass explains why she so cherished the support of teammate Leonie Periault, even when she was being ‘a nightmare’ to train with, why she was so envious of the cool, calm spirit of Andrea Hewitt, and why she threw up all over her feet next to Georgia Taylor Brown in Paris.
SHOW NOTES
02:20 – 'All change' - Why she is joining coach Glenn Poleunis in Girona and saying goodbye to Loughborough
13:17 – ‘How success feels’ - Releasing the pressure, the 5km French record and Lievin
19:40 – ‘Early years’ - Growing up in Paris, losing her mum, moving to Antibes
23:50 – ‘All change’ - Leaving her father as coach and moving to Montpelier
27:45 – ‘Bad mindset’ - Being hard to coach and pushing too much in training
31:37 – ‘Good people’ – Support of Stephanie Gros and Leonie Periault
33:25 – 'Christmas present’ – Being the youngest woman at Rio 2016
37:20 – 'Shattered dreams' – The trouble with Tokyo
41:40 – 'I need a plan' – The move to Loughborough
45:26 – 'Pain threshold' – Pain and gains in WTCS Cagliari
52:08 – 'Paris panic' – The rain returns on Olympics day
57:00 – 'Lost at sea' – Turning it around in Torremolinos
A new perspective with World Triathlon's Kris Gemmell.
Welcome to the start of a revealing new series that takes a wider look at the World Triathlon ecosystem as we head towards the LA 2028 Olympic Games, with insights from New Zealand Olympian turned Head of Commercial at World Triathlon, Kris Gemmell.
Just days after winning the first new-look T1 Indoor World Cup, we cover the rise and rise of Cassandre Beaugrand to becoming the best triathlete in the world, what could be the irresistible lure of a home Games for Taylor Knibb and USA Triathlon, rules, regulations and something of a 2025 Championship Series exclusive...
PODCAST #100 INCOMING WITH CASSANDRE BEAUGRAND
Don't forget to email podcast@triathlon.org with any questions for the Olympic and World Champion, our very special guest on podcast #100, for a chance to win a year subscription to TriathlonLive.tv.
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LINKS & RESOURCES
WATCH CASSANDRE BEAUGRAND WIN IN LIEVIN over on the World Triathlon YouTube channel
Where you will also find the channel's most watched video featuring a certain Kris Gemmell.
Before Beth Potter and Cassandre Beaugrand go toe-to-toe for the first time this year at the supertri E World Triathlon Championships, watch back the highlights of their 2024 battle!
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🚨 RACE WEEK! 🚨
Two of the stars of the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon - and indeed Tokyo 2020 - Hayden Wilde and Morgan Pearson (Morgan's bit starts from 20m30s) look ahead to the weekend's big season opener WTCS Abu Dhabi. They talk title chances, the young contenders ready to try and ramp the run pace up even further in 2025, and the prospect of some big T100 debuts.
It's just a taster people! Stand by for full the in depth interviews coming to a screen near you soon! And of course episode 100 of the World Triathlon Podcast! Thanks for listening 💪
📺 WATCH WTCS ABU DHABI ON TRIATHLONLIVE.TV
15 February from 2pm
The second Olympic Qualification Period saw a meteoric rise to the Paris 2024 start line for Sweden's Tilda Mansson. From 2022 Junior World Champion to multiple World Cup podiums in the space of a whirlwind 12 months, the 20-year-old has bypassed U23 racing entirely and heads for a remarkable third Championship Finals of a young career in Torremolinos.
With LA 2028 the next major target, the interim years will be earmarked for refining her talent, but the memories - and stories - from the Paris swim and beyond still have plenty of time to be told...
- Watch Mansson's brilliant Bergen World Cup win
USA's John Reed heads into this year's U23 World Championships on a mission to crown what has already been a brilliant breakthrough 2024. The rising star discusses his debut Series appearances, first World Cup win in Karlovy Vary and a sparkling WTCS Weihai, and hits his last U23 start line knowing that if he can take home a medal, it would catapult him into the next Olympic cycle and towards a huge home Games at LA 2028.
We catch up with Great Britain's defending Paralympic Champion in the PTS5 Triathlon Lauren Steadman, USA's PTS2 medal hope Mohamed Lahna and compatriot and Rio 2016 PTS5 champion Grace Norman fresh from the swim familiarisation in the Seine River ahead of their big races on 1 September.
She is just 28 years old, but Veronica Yoko Plebani has already squeezed more into her young world than most do in a lifetime. Contracting bacterial meningitis at 15 could have been the end, too, but instead the appalling illness signalled a new beginning, one that has taken her on to representing Italy at three Paralympic Games in snowboarding, canoeing and triathlon, grace the cover of Italian Vogue and write a celebrated novel telling the story of a young woman whose life is altered but refuses to lie down. Now she heads to Paris 2024 with a second triathlon medal in her sights.
Two stars of the Para Triathlon visually impaired class, Italy's 2023 World Champion Francesca Tarantello and Australia's Continental Champion Sam Harding are ready to hit their first Paralympic Triathlon start lines on 2 September, and reveal their rapid rises through the ranks to the sport's biggest stage: Paris 2024.
PARK RUN TO OLYMPIC PODIUM VIA DUATHLON WORLDS
As the Multisport World Championships hit Townsville, we rewind to Ibiza last year with Great Britain's Georgia Bell, when she became Age Group Duathlon World Champion before embarking on an Olympic odyssey that saw her win 1500m bronze in one of the most nail-biting Paris 2024 finishes since... well, Yee vs Wilde. Hear why she credits cycling and duathlon racing with her staying power on the track, and how she was able to turn the tables on broken dreams and return to the biggest stage of them all, having thought world-class racing was behind her.
Sunday sees the first day of familiarisation on the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon course and a chance to catch up with some of the men ready to do battle on 30 July at 8am in the heart of the French capital.
0m50s - KENJI NENER (JAPAN)
5m35 - JAMIE RIDDLE (SOUTH AFRICA)
14m06 - MARTEN VAN RIEL (BELGIUM)
19m37 - SAM DICKINSON (GREAT BRITAIN)
26m05 - ELOI ADJOVAN (TOGO)
33m30 - JEAN GAEL LAURENT L'ENTETE (MAURITIUS)
Saturday is Day One of Paris 2024, and we take a trip to Poissy, 30 minutes west of the French capital, to catch up with defending Olympic Triathlon Champion Flora Duffy and one of the favourites for the men's gold, Hayden Wilde. Then we head across the city to a cafe in La VIllette and get the full men's and women's race previews with TriathlonLive.tv commentary team Trevor Harris and Helen Jenkins.
1m10s - Hayden Wilde
10m10s - Flora Duffy
20m20s - Trevor and Helen men's preview
30m45s - Trevor and Helen women's preview
With just hours to go to the Opening Ceremony, we look ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon events with the expert analysis and insight from Norway's Casper Stornes, revealing the complexities of the Paris Olympic course from swim to bike to run, and why you should never write off Kristian Blummenfelt... or the French.
Australia's Matt Hauser joins us for a rewind across the comings and goings of an almighty WTCS Yokohama that finally got the 2024 Series underway in dramatic style, and a look ahead to WTCS Cagliari, the final race of the Paris 2024 Qualification Period. The 55 men and 55 women are soon to be finalised, and the races to become Olympic Champions in the French capital are heating up already!
Reunited full-time with his coach Joel Filiol, back on extended training camps with nothing more to think about than form and focus, the enormous carrot of a home Olympics now just five months away, the two-time World Champion Vincent Luis is ready to pounce on every opportunity 2024 sends his way.
Dialling in at the end of four weeks in Lanzarote and ready for the season opener in Abu Dhabi, Luis is open about the likelihood of this being his last full season of short course racing. The blue carpet will undoubtedly miss one of the greats but, as the 34-year-old reflects on his career on the latest episode of the World Triathlon Podcast, the feeling will be mutual.
Before any discussion of retirement can begin, there is a season for the ages ahead of him. Injury may have seen him a mere spectator as teammates Dorian Coninx, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre hoovered up the prizes in 2023, but the experience has also left him hungry. Three spots available, four world-class athletes competing for them, one huge decision ahead for the selectors. All Luis wants to do is produce the results that mean, purely based on form, he can still be one of them.
Standing at #32 in the Olympic Rankings at the start of 2024, Kiwi Dylan McCullough looks set to join Hayden Wilde on the New Zealand team for Paris 2024 if he can continue the form he produced in 2023. He talks team tactics for the big races, becoming Youth Olympic Champion and going face to face with Justin Bieber.
We continue our look back at some of the names breaking out in 2023 and with ambitions set fully on Paris in the company of Hungary’s exciting talent Marta Kropko.
Still only 20 years old, this season saw Marta cement her place in the Hungarian Mixed Relay squad after what was a tough debut in Leeds in 2022, this time helping the team to 5th place at the World Championships in Hamburg, 3rd at the European Games Krakow and now suddenly eyeing an Olympic qualification spot that would guarantee two men and two women on the Paris start lines.
The U23 Aquathlon World Champion after winning in Ibiza, Marta scored a first World Cup top 10 in Weihai in August and is now hunting a first WTCS start in 2024, all fitting around an Economics degree in which she is in her third year at Budapest University.
With a huge Olympic year ahead it is the perfect time to look back at some of the younger names that made an impact in 2023 and suddenly have Olympic places in their sights.
We get underway with 22-year-old Cathia Schar, who anchored the Swiss Team to Mixed Relay World Championship bronze in Hamburg, took 4th place in the U23 World Championships Pontevedra and then crushed her first World Cup podium with bronze in Rome.
Currently 33rd in the Olympic Rankings, Paris 2024 is suddenly a very real prospect for both the individual and mixed relay, so we get to grips with the journey there, overcoming self-doubt and proclivity for a party to emerge from the COVID years as a new force in Swiss triathlon.
OLYMPIC-SIZED AMBITION
He has only been in the sport for two years, but at 6'4" tall and with his first World Cup win already secured in Miyazaki, could Hugo Milner be the Next Big Thing in British Triathlon? He honed his run skills in Harvard, his swimming in Nottingham and his bike handling in Derby, and it looks like the fist test of a WTCS start line could be heading his way in 2024.
In 2013, Dorian Coninx became Junior World Champion in London, beating two rising British talents on their own patch. A decade later, the Frenchman went into the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Finals as a long-shot title prospect, fifth in the rankings, the much-fancied Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde among those ahead of him. Once again, the underdog title suited him down to the ground, but now Coninx must prepare for a home Olympics in Paris next year as the new World Champion and the name on everyone's lips. He has learned and matured enormously since the dark days of his Rio 2016 campaign, but how will the 29-year-old cope with going into Paris as a favourite?
In September, Great Britain's Beth Potter capped a phenomenal year with a World Championship-winning display in Pontevedra. With her 2024 Olympic Games place now also booked thanks to that title and victory in the Test Event, Potter now has the freedom to plan her perfect Paris build up. Tune in for a revealing 45 minutes in her company as she dissects life on and off the blue carpet, including pre-race insomnia, post-race elation and how she plotted her way past Cassandre Beaugrand to become world champ at the 2023 Championship Finals.
Could Vincent Luis be a CrossFit Champion? Who are the ultimate athletes - triathletes or CrossFitters? Could you row a marathon?
Hailing from San Diego, California, Lauren Fisher is a 7 x CrossFit Games athlete and former Junior national weightlifting champion in the US who tuned in to the world of CrossFit from a young age initially to help with her basketball training. The multi-dimensional fitness competitions soon took over as her sport of choice, however, and after a decade competing at the top level, she now also runs her own signature fitness programmes and retreats for those looking for a slice of the Lauren lifestyle. Lauren hit her first Olympic distance triathlon in Hamburg's open races and thinks there could be more crossover potential between the sports.
Listeners can receive a 50% discount for Lauren's Grown Strong fitness programme for women using the code worldtriathlon
Will McCloy is best know to triathlon fans as the commentary voice behind the Arena Games and Super League, for whom he has been calling races for over five years. The Australian took a first dip into Age Group World Championship racing in Hamburg in mid-July, where he puked, fought walls and raced actual former elite champions. McCloy reveals the importance of testing himself, the power of preparation and the potent competition to be found among middle-aged men on an AG triathlon start line.
Rasmus Henning (DEN)
Two-time top 10 Olympic triathlete ✅ Multiple World Cup and Ironman winner ✅ One of Denmark’s most successful triathletes of all time ✅
Back in 2010 he joined an elite club of male athletes to complete a sub-8hour Ironman and posted one of the fastest ever times at Challenge Roth, a four-time Kona vet, he could most recently be seen rolling back the years and tearing up the course at the WTCS Hamburg Age Group Sprint World Championships, winning silver in the 45-49 category. He is also the CEO and performance director of Triathlon Denmark after recently working with the Danish Olympic Committee.
Denmark's triathlon titan Rasmus Henning found his competitive edge was as sharp as ever as he returned to the blue carpet in Hamburg. After picking up silver at the AG World Championships as legends like Daniel Unger and Stuart Hayes took to the opportunity to get back to competition, the Great Dane relives the Hamburg magic, the unique tussles of the $200,000 Hy-Vee race and missing out on winning a Hummer.
We take a look ahead to the fourth stop on the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series - WTCS Montreal - with former World Champion Non Stanford and Tommy Zaferes, to figure out just where the race can be won and lost - and by whom. The chase for World Championship points continues over a demanding sprint-distance course, Vasco Vilaça of Portugal and USA's Taylor Spivey wear the golden #1 and look to continue their chase for the 2023 world titles.
After switching from representing the tricolor of France to the tri-suit of Luxembourg in 2022, Jeanne Lehair has been in the form of her life, seizing the new opportunities that have come her way to post career-best Series finishes and become the Triathlon Champion of Europe. She gives us the lowdown on squaring off that difficult decision to switch ahead of Paris 2024, the battle in Madrid and her targets for the rest of what is already a season for the ages.
You can watch her race in June's French Grand Prix and WTCS Montreal over on TriathlonLive.tv.
A four-month goal achieved together - France's Marjolaine Pierre and Clement Mignon took Ibiza by storm as they won the 2023 World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in May. Taking the tape just minutes apart, it was an iconic finish to two outstanding races by the couple that have been together since racing the Junior National Championships back in 2018. That was the end of a long and difficult road for both of them, but now the ambitions are turning to Nice and Kona.
Portugal's Vasco Vilaça heads to WTCS Cagliari as the world number one after an electrifying start to the 2023 season saw back-to-back podiums in Abu Dhabi and Yokohama. We catch up with him and World Triathlon photographer Tommy Zaferes from his base in Sardinia to find out what makes him tick on and off the blue carpet and who is the FIFA king of the JFT training crew.
episode notes
02'50 - FIFA wars - Vilaça vs Geens vs Bicsak
08'50 - Natalie Van Coevorden - passenger imposter
11'50 - Swim cap crying - losing the coveted no.1 cap
15'35 - WTCS Yokohama rewind - cramping capers, Hauser pounces
20'10 - Battling the waves in Cagliari - tips from a former lifesaver
31'40 - Sprint finishers - who you got, Coninx or Bergere, Wilde or Yee?
34'35 - Eagle versus Falcon
25'20 - Race no.1: passing the time on the starting line
38'00 - Pre-race nerves and the power of the nap
43'00 - Abstinence among athletes
45'30 - Fantasy Triathlon League: Tommy kiss of death obstri.com/fantasy
51'50 - What's next in 2023 and Paris 2024 plans
The USA's Erika Ackerlund spoke out recently about the paralysing nerves she felt at the start of the 2022 season, and where the pressure she had unwittingly placed on herself had put her mental health. The 26-year-old reveals what helped her through it, and how she hopes to channel her nervous energy into something positive in 2023.
Hans Christian Tungesvik has played his own part in Norway's triathlon explosion in recent years, an Ironman and Norseman champion who made the switch to Winter Triathlon in 2021 in triumphant fashion, winning individual and relay golds on his championship debut. With the 2023 World Championships being held in his native Skeikampen, we catch up with one of the favourites for this year's title and hear just what it takes to become an extreme tri world champion, and how Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have reshaped Norway's triathlon landscape.
It was one of the most gripping climaxes to a season possible as a dramatic final 500m of the men's 2022 World Triathlon Championship Finals saw Leo Bergere eventually emerge with gold and the world title at the end of a hard-fought campaign. Ahead of his return to the desert for the 2023 season opener, we caught up with Bergere in Girona to hear how he finally got the better of Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde and what makes the French squad such aa force to be reckoned with heading in to the new year of racing.
Watch WTCS Abu Dhabi on 3 March on TriathlonLive.tv
With the start of the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series just around the corner, World Triathlon met up with Vincent Luis in the Girona hills where he lives and trains. This bonus episode is a short excerpt from the full interview with the two-time World Champion, and will be available to watch soon exclusively on TriathlonLive.tv along with all of the new season's action from the blue carpet. Stand by for the season launch on 17 February.
In mid-December, the word was finally out - Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Gwen Jorgensen was coming back to World Triathlon racing in 2023. A seven-year break from the blue carpet, two children and some serious marathon running since she hung up her tri-suit, one of the best of all time is back and eyeing a spot on the USA Mixed Relay squad for Paris 2024. Hear how it all came about and why on the latest episode of the World Triathlon Podcast.
Netherlands' Maya Kingma kicks off the new season of World Triathlon podcasts, the rising talent who fought through the pain barrier at the end of 2022 to help determine the outcome of WTCS Bermuda, was caught up in a bike crash in Abu Dhabi, and is looking to ease into the new year fully fit and ready to consistently hit the heights she has shown over the past two campaigns. After a little glitz at the first ever Global Triathlon Awards!
Gillian Sanders and Tommy Zaferes join the podcast to give their own inside takes on a season that has had it all, and look ahead to the big one - the 2022 Championship Finals Abu Dhabi, where the headline battles between Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee, Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown for the men's and women's world titles are set to provide the season's final chapter of unmissable action!
Ahead of his first race back from an injury that has kept him off the blue carpet since Abu Dhabi 2021, we are in Chile to speak with USA's Morgan Pearson at the Vina del Mar World Cup and catch up on where the Olympic Mixed Triathlon Relay silver medallist is at mentally and physically as he builds back towards the all-important Paris 2024 campaign.
For 2022 World Coach Day, we catch up with Brazil Triathlon's High Performance Manager Rodrigo Milazzo and Tibor Lehmann, coach of Hungarian hotshot Csongor Lehmann, and hear how they are determined to convert years of work into Olympic success at Paris 2024, and exactly what it might take to realise those dreams over the next two seasons on the World Triathlon blue carpet.
Ahead of an hotly anticipated first World Cup in their hometown of Bergen, Norway’s triathlon totems reveal the secrets of the City of Seven Mountains and just how they manage to keep pushing each others limits and buttons during training. From Iden’s mortal fear of birds to the sneakier side of Blummenfelt’s race tactics and the prospect of a complete overhaul of their Olympic formula for Paris 2024, it’s a brilliant hour in the company of the two great friends and rivals.
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New Zealand's Craig Kirkwood began working with Hayden Wilde back in 2016 and has since helped develop a raw multisport talent into an Olympic medallist and world title contender. On this episode, he reveals how a tenacious Wilde first made him aware of his ability as the pair chased a $1,000 prize and how he prefers the art of coaching to the science, and looks forward to a potential world championship showdown in Abu Dhabi.
Dogged by injuries at almost every crucial step of his young career, Sam Dickinson is now ready to break out of the shadows in 2022. Serving as a domestique and standby for GB’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic hopefuls, Sam has had to bide his time, but after helping land the first Mixed Relay spots of the Paris 2024 qualifiers - including a controversial penalty that nearly cost the team dearly - he is now laser-focussed on a big Commonwealth Games debut and kicking on in the new Olympic cycle.
We're back and delighted to cast an eye over some of the remarkable action from the Championship Series races over the past months, as well as a first look ahead to the Commonwealth Games, with one of the young athletes making a name for himself in Leeds and Hamburg, Jamie Riddle. The 22-year-old is a shining example of the power of positivity and seizing your opportunities when they present themselves, as we take a look at the new generation coming through and bringing the heat to start of the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle.
The former World Triathlon and Ironman Champion and Super League pioneer Chris McCormack joins us for a look ahead to the first Series race of 2022, WTCS Yokohama. We get the inside scoop on the historic Sub7-Sub8 Ironman attempts and consider just what it is that makes the likes of Blummenfelt, Duffy and Brownlee so very good, as well as why there will always be someone around the corner waiting to outdo them.
Ahead of the London stop of the 2022 Arena Games Triathlon series, we catch up with one of the surprise packages from Munich a fortnight ago, Australia's Max Stapley, to get the inside scoop on the tactics that helped him to silver in Germany, as well as Kate Waugh (GBR), who can take some credit for his preparation having experienced the lung-burn for the first time herself a year ago, and who is also looking forward to the challenge ahead and the prospect of racing in front of a sell out crowd at the London Olympic Aquatics Centre.
Before the Belgium Hammer - who scored gold at the 70.3 Dubai earlier in 2022 - heads to the opening Munich leg of the Arena Games Triathlon World Championships, Marten Van Riel explains just how and why he is ready to make the seemingly impossible leap from longer distance to intense, virtual super-sprint action, the fresh weapons his new training programme is bringing to his racing and why he just wants to spread good triathlon vibes everywhere he goes.
Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, the ever outspoken Paulo Sousa had no fewer than seven members of his training group on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic start lines last year. On episode 58, he shares his excitement over the three new members added to the roster for 2022, the experiences and philosophies that have shaped his methods and why pragmatism and honesty are the core principles to everything he practices. And hill reps. Lots and lots of hill reps.
Hungary's Csongor Lehmann and Canadian Kira Gupta-Baltazar join us for the third in our mini-series of ones-to-watch for the 2022 season. Csongor was born and raised in the home of Hungarian triathlon, Tiszaujvaros, a fierce competitor with Junior and U23 World titles to his name, trained by his dad and brought up on a rich diet of triathlon as soon as he could walk. Kira made her debut in the Canadian Mixed Relay team in Montreal and, having won the NCAA Women's Triathlon title for her beloved San Francisco University, is looking to hit her first World Cups in 2022.
Two of the hottest new talents ready to breakthrough in 2022 are Denmark’s Alberte Kjaer Pedersen and Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo. Coming from opposite sides of the swim-bike-run equation, both are working it out on the world stage, hitting their first WTCS starts in style and planning to help their countries to Mixed Relay Olympic debuts in Paris.
As we begin the countdown to the start of a new World Triathlon season, it's time to catch up with a few of the faces set to be breaking through in 2022. In the first of a series of ones-to-watch specials, the USA's Chase McQueen and French U23 World Champion Emma Lombardi give us the lowdown on the very different trajectories of their journeys in the sport so far, including high drama at WTCS Leeds and the art of French Grand Prix racing.
When the women's PTWC wheelchair category was left out of the Para Triathlon programme of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, USA's Kendall Gretsch didn't dwell on what might have been. Instead, she took up Para Nordic Skiing, going on to win gold at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games. After finally getting her shot at triathlon glory at Tokyo 2020 and winning the title in the most dramatic fashion, she is now heading to Beijing and hoping to defend her winter titles for the first time.
The most decorated World Triathlon Champion of all time, Spain's Javier Gomez has left an indelible mark on the sport ever since his first world title at U23 level in 2003. He looks back through those defining career moments and, with new coach Dan Plews, plots a route to his next chapter with one eye firmly on unfinished business in Kona.
Former USAT coach and the man behind Origin Performance, Ian O'Brien joins us on the latest episode, revealing how to achieve a winning mindset and why it is important to become 'comfortable in being uncomfortable' on the journey to the very top of the international sport. We go inside the tactics and hear the tales of what it takes to train the best in the world.
Fresh from her first international gold at the Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira, Lotte Miller shares her unique insights to the Team Norway set up, from the intimidating early days with Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden to the cusp of an Olympic Mixed Relay slot, the emotional rollercoaster of 2021 and how the 25-year-old has already learned the hard way how to spot the danger signs of burn out.
The boy from Brockley becomes the man in Malibu. Alex Yee's story to delivering the 2021 of his Olympic dreams has taken a long and winding road, but from the moment he took the Series tape for the first time at June's WTCS Leeds, the stage was set for more magic. From Olympic gold and silver to the World Triathlon Championship Series overall podium and wrapped up with some Super League brilliance, that is precisely what he delivered.
He lost his eyesight in Afghanistan 2011, was a London 2012 swimming champion exactly 12 months later and then, after two highly successful Paralympic Games in the pool, made the switch to para triathlon. Having doubted whether he should even try and qualify for the hugely competitive visually impaired start list at Tokyo, it all came together on the day, winning gold with guide Greg Billington to justify the sacrifices he made along the way and plant a seed for a potential Paralympic journey that just may reach all the way to LA 2028.
The new Paralympic Champion in the visually impaired (PTVI) category of para triathlon, the incredible Susana Rodriguez spent 2020 on the front line of Spain's fight against the pandemic, caring for patients while wrestling her burning desire to win the biggest race of them all. She explains the personal battle she fought to ready herself mentally and physically, the incredible importance of the unique blind-athlete-and-guide relationship and the 'emotional and physical bomb' that was competing at Tokyo 2020.
From bronze at London 2012 to silver at Rio 2016, Jonny Brownlee finally scored Olympic triathlon gold at Tokyo 2020 in the inaugural Mixed Relay. He reveals the tactics that went into that success, how it might reevaluate his planned Olympic retirement ahead of Paris and how it was preparing for his first Games experience without brother Alistair.
Netherlands' para triathlon legend Jetze Plat has dominated the PTWC class for the past five years and now heads to Tokyo to defend the Paralympic title he won when the sport debuted at Rio 2016. We caught up with him in February this year at a training camp in Namibia, where he had been invited to join the Dutch Triathlon's Olympic squad preparations for a huge 2021 for the sport. Listen as Plat reveals how he has used his disability to drive his remarkable competitive edge since the age of five.
Ahead of the World Triathlon Championship Series Montreal, we hear from three of the contenders for medals in the brand-new super-sprint format, ready to build on their very different Tokyo 2020 inspirations and tackle an intense weekend of racing with just two events left in the chase to become the 2021 World Champions.
It needed the complete race to deliver Flora Duffy's Olympic destiny, typhoon-affected and coming at the end of a long, difficult road to Tokyo 2020. Hear how she handled the pressures of going for Bermuda's first ever Olympic gold and ended up receiving congratulations from Hollywood superstars.
Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt lit up the Olympic Games on Monday with the kind of display that is the hallmark of a great champion. It was a goal he had been working towards for years having earmarked Tokyo 2020 as his shot at the big one, and he duly delivered, the closing stages of a 10km run to the tape of 29:34 one of those Blummy charges you just had to step back in awe and enjoy. He walks us through the build up, the race, and his 2021 plans for both World Triathlon and Kona.
A special Tokyo 2020 Olympics edition of the podcast sees experts from across the sport weigh in with their thoughts on who has a shot at the Olympic medals. Sydney 2000 Champion Simon Whitfield, London 2012 silver medalist Lisa Norden, double World Champion and Olympian Helen Jenkins, the 1997 Triathlon and two-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack, voice of TriathlonLive Trevor Harris and journalists Brad Culp and Tim Heming give us the benefits of their collective wisdom... see if you agree with their (Olym)picks.
The most successful Olympic triathlete of all time, Alistair Brownlee admits why he started WTCS Leeds with an ankle injury that suggested he probably should not: the magnetic pull of the Olympic Games. He explains why he owes so much to the sport, what it is that defines greatness and why the British Mixed Relay team is in good hands at Tokyo 2020 with brother Jonny and Alex Yee.
On Olympic Day, one month out from Tokyo 2020, Ireland's Carolyn Hayes looks ahead to her Olympic debut having finally had qualification confirmed after a long and drawn-out few years. Silver in the World Triathlon Cup Lisbon and a top-10 finish in WTCS Leeds showed the hard work and training in Wicklow, Ireland is paying off. Now it's all eyes on Japan as the final preparations get underway.
South Africa's Richard Murray was readying for a third Olympic Games appearance when his preparations were turned upside down by a condition causing irregular heartbeats. Normal life may be on pause, but he won't be giving up on hitting the Tokyo start line just yet, as he reveals how he has tried to keep upbeat despite missing out on WTCS Leeds, home of one of his greatest performances.
After taking a year away from triathlon in 2020, Jo Brown returned in Yokohama and, despite breaking her nose during the warm up, came away with plenty of positives as the Tokyo 2020 build up continues. The Canadian takes us through the event in Japan, looks ahead to the Olympic Qualification Mixed Relay event in Lisbon, and back over the past year, including life in a van in the wilderness with great friend Chelsea Burns.
The return to the World Triathlon Championship Series finally arrived with WTCS Yokohama more than living up to the hype as the world's best made their return to the blue carpet in Japan. Belgium's Jelle Geens dials in from his trip back to Girona to give us the lowdown on all the comings and goings from the weekend and of course his remarkable final 2km race for the gold with Kristian Blummenfelt.
Hailing from Rabat, Mehdi Essadiq and Badr Siwane are close friends and training partners, and both are on a mission to make history as Morocco's first ever Olympic triathlete. But with only one spot available on the Tokyo 2020 start list and just one ranking place between them, the race is on to see who will succeed.
Beth Potter left her life as an Olympic runner and a teacher to move to Leeds, train with the Brownlees and become a world-class triathlete. Bouncing back from self doubt in Hamburg, 2020 finished well with a World Cup gold and silver. More recently, the Scot scored hit the headlines with a 5,000m World Record time of 14.41 and now has the famous five rings in her sights once more.
At the start of the year, USA's Junior and U23 World Champion Taylor Knibb moved to Boulder, Colorado, to join an international training team for the first time. As the 2021 season start comes closer, she hopes that the environment will help her return to the World Triathlon Championship Series podium she hit at Edmonton 2017 and galvanise her huge ambition in triathlon.
After completing the switch from Team Australia to representing Japan in 2018, Kenji Nener has begun the next chapter in a career that has already seen him training with some of the best in the sport and coping with the disappointment of missing out on what could have been the race of his life. He reveals how he bounced back from that crash in Karlovy Vary and is setting his sights on Olympic qualification and the prospect of a home Games in Tokyo.
After two world titles with the Mixed Relay squad, France's Leo Bergere also landed World Championship bronze in 2020, his first Series podium. He tells us how he is looking forward to the battle for Olympic berths between the deeply talented French set up, why the Grand Prix circuit has powered the current national success and how learning to take risks has improved his racing.
The USA's Kevin McDowell's triathlon journey has taken in some incredible highs and lows, none more so than his diagnosis with cancer shortly after a breakthrough year as a junior back in 2011. Now 10 years cancer-free, he eloquently and openly describes the impact of that time, his mental and physical struggle back to full fitness and how it all just may have delayed his peak at the right time ahead of his final push to reach the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Ahead of the World Triathlon Winter Championships in Andorra on 20-21 March, we take a closer look at the cross-country ski and mountain bike version of swim-bike-run with Italy's Sandra Mairhofer and World Triathlon's encyclopaedia of all things multisport Enrique Quesada.
Kuwait's Najla al Jeraiwi and Egypt's Basmla Elsalamoney join us for an International Women's Day double episode, sharing the stories of their pioneering journeys towards representing their countries on the World Triathlon stage.
It's a South American double header as we catch up with the legendary Barbara Riveros and breakthrough star Diego Moya, two Chilean triathletes with Tokyo Olympic ambitions of a different kind.
Life, Death & Triathlon. In a coaching special, we talk to Emma Carney, the Australian legend who in 1994 came from nowhere to become World Champion in her first race, going on to take the sport by storm until cardiac arrest forced her off the start lists for good. Her triathlon journey had plenty still to give, though, and after a stint in the commentary box and a recent auto-biography, she is now coaching her namesake Emma Hogan to help the 20-year-old realise her Olympic dreams.
After an outstanding 2019 saw him top the WTS podium for the first time in Leeds and then again in Hamburg, Jake Birtwhistle had to put racing on hold in 2020. Now he is plotting a course to Tokyo after being the first Australian to receive a discretionary spot, pending quota, on the men's Olympic Triathlon team.
World Triathlon podcast now featured here -> blog.feedspot.com/triathlon_podcasts/
New Zealand's breakthrough talent Hayden Wilde on Olympic ambitions and why he pushes himself in every race, how he loves to prove people wrong, and what goes on the perfect pre-race pizza.
Three legends of Age-Group triathlon racing, with more than 50 World Championships appearances between them, tell their personal stories from across thirty years of the sport.
Hungary's Tamas Toth joins us for the first World Triathlon podcast of 2021, sharing his thoughts on the benefits of taking time out for a full mental and physical reboot and how he is working hard to represent the athletes on the World Triathlon Executive Board.
This week we are joined by the inspiring former World Triathlon Champion, USAT Hall-of-Famer, coach, author and motivational speaker, Siri Lindley. Siri reveals how she overcame OCD as a student, self-doubt as an athlete and cancer earlier this year, all with some help from the power of positive thinking.
After winning 2016 Junior World Championship silver in Cozumel, Germany's Lisa Tertsch left the World Triathlon circuit and headed to Harvard to study Economics and Biology. Incredibly in her first race back in 2019, she won gold at the Antwerp World Cup with a blistering run, and has since set her sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
New Zealand's Ryan Sissons took the difficult decision to retire from triathlon following the postponement of Tokyo 2020, but after two Olympic appearances, two World Cup wins and a never less than eye-catching career, there's plenty of stories and memories for one of the most outspoken of triathletes to chew over with us before he says goodbye.
Three-time Para Triathlon World Champion Lauren Steadman was back to racing in style with gold in Portugal's Alhandra World Cup in October. For the British star of the small screen and the start line, it's now all sights set to Tokyo and some unfinished business to take care of as he prepares for her fourth Paralympics appearance.
The Netherlands' Maya Kingma, who scored a first World Cup podium in Karlovy Vary in September, joins us to talk about that magical moment, the pros and cons of virtual racing and her day job creating mind-reading software.
Fresh from back-to-back weekends of racing against the biggest names in the sport, Portugal's latest triathlon talent gives us the inside track on his remarkable Hamburg World Championship and Karlovy Vary World Cup silvers.
Tommy Zaferes catches up with the newly crowned 2020 World Champions Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) and Vincent Luis (FRA) to reflect on their outstanding WTS Hamburg performances and look ahead to the Karlovy Vary World Cup.
It's race week in Hamburg and as the WTS blue carpet is finally rolled out for what will be a standalone World Championship on a brand-new course just north of the city centre, Bermuda's triathlon legend Flora Duffy looks ahead to the hotly anticipated return to racing.
With the news that the Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon will now also see the 2020 World Champions crowned in the individual as well as Mixed Relay events, we hear from Germany's Justus Nieschlag, fresh from his Arena Games win and ready to tackle real racing for the first time in 12 months.
We catch up with the 2019 World Champion as she manages to remain upbeat despite the ongoing battles with Covid-induced chaos. As an athlete for whom preparation and organisation have been big parts of her success, the pervading uncertainty has proven hugely challenging but a handful of races back on the schedule have brought some much-needed focus back into life in Maryland, USA.
We are joined by Kristian Blummenfelt 🇳🇴, Miriam Casillas 🇪🇸, Flora Duffy 🇧🇲, Tyler Mislawchuk 🇨🇦, Summer Rappaport 🇺🇸and Henri Schoeman 🇿🇦 to look back over the 2019 Tokyo Test Event, take a close analysis of the course and look forward to the Olympic Games in 12 months' time.
London 2012 Olympic Champion and Rio 2016 silver medallist Nicola Spirig reflects on one of the most iconic finishes in the history of triathlon. What gave her the edge? Brilliant planning and the know-how learned through years at the top.
"The knowledge these athletes have about their own training is probably the highest in endurance sport" - Norway head coach Arild Tveiten discusses the relationships he has built with the country's leading triathletes Kristian Blummenfelt, Casper Stornes, Lotte Miller and Gustav Iden as he looks to develop world beaters and Olympic champions from what was a standing start just ten years ago.
For episode 9, Claire Michel joins us to discuss the joy of the pursuit of excellence, her role on the Athlete's Committee and the importance of protecting athletes and kicks off a new campaign to find fresh team names for the international Mixed Relay teams starting, of course, with the Belgian Hammers.
Following the sad news of his retirement due to a genetic heart issue, we catch up with Marc Austin to look back on the 26-year-old's career and find out what lies ahead for the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.
Against all the odds, triathlon coach Noor Khouja and the Aleppo triathlon community at large have continued to build the sport and hold races out of the rubble of Syria's second city. In this episode, Noor reveals some of the triumphs and tragedies of the past decade that have made him more determined than ever to help young local athletes escape their fears and achieve their dreams.
The first ever ITU World Champion, New Zealand's Erin Baker joins us to discuss her remarkable career, the mindset that drove her to greatness, and why she thinks that social media might have been the end of her career.
A horrific training accident in 2017 may have left Australia's Lauren Parker without the use of her legs, but it did nothing to dim her burning desire to win. Thanks to her best friend and training partner Brad Fernley, within months she was on the Commonwealth Games podium, and just two years later she became the World Paratriathlon Champion in the PTWC category. In true fashion, Parker now sees the Tokyo 2020 delay as an opportunity... to seek to qualify in not just one, but three sports.
Canada's Tyler Mislawchuk joins us to reflect on a brilliant 2019 and an unusual 2020 that started with an unlikely Duathlon European Championship, saw a fortnight quarantined in his parent's basement, and has see the Tokyo Test Event winner just rediscover the pool.
We catch up with Serbia's ASICS World Triathlon team member as he reaches the end of two months stranded in lockdown in Mauritius