A brand new World Triathlon Championship Series venue is rolling into view. WTCS Weihai will represent the long-awaited return of triathlon’s highest echelon to China and, as the last race ahead of the Series Final in Torremolinos-Andalucia, it is shaping up to be a pivotal moment in the hunt for the 2024 world title.

Last season, Weihai made its return to the World Cup circuit after an absence of four years. A year later, it has been elevated into a full WTCS stop, the first in China since the 2011 Series Final in Beijing. With WTCS points on the line and the world title in the balance, a star-studded field will make the long trip to Weihai, and hitting those podiums will be a tall order indeed.

Before you catch all the action on TriathlonLive, check out some of the headlining stars and major stories to follow below.

The hunt for the men’s world title

An absolute humdinger of a men’s race will be in store in Weihai, with all six leading men in the 2024 WTCS present. Leading the way will be Matthew Hauser (AUS), the top-ranked man in the standings. A silver medal in Yokohama and a win in Hamburg have set the Australian star up for a tilt at a maiden world title but he will have to be at his best in Weihai if he is to defend his position heading into the WTCS Final.

Pierre Le Corre (FRA) lurks dangerously in 2nd place overall and could cap an illustrious career with a world title of his own. In addition, the Olympic champion Alex Yee (GBR) will be hunting a third win from three after triumphing in Cagliari and Paris. Given that he only has two scores to his name, Yee is the best-placed to usurp Hauser as whatever he does in Weihai should improve his points total.

Leo Bergere (FRA), Hayden Wilde (NZL) and the early season Series leader Luke Willian (AUS) make up the rest of the top-6 in the overall rankings and will also be racing. Bergere and Wilde are known quantities as Olympic medallists and WTCS race winners while Willian powered to a first Series medal in Yokohama back in May. Any one of them could thus disrupt Hauser’s best-laid plans.

Operation Catch Beaugrand

In the women’s event, the current Series leader and Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) and the former Series leader Emma Lombardi (FRA) have opted out of Weihai as they turn their attention to the WTCS Final. Considering that Beaugrand already has three wins to her name this season, she has made the fair calculation that her position is already strong enough to secure the world title. In their absence, Beth Potter (GBR) and Lisa Tertsch (GER) arrive as the highest ranked women.

A win, or even a medal, for either will take them past Lombardi in the standings, however Beaugrand will remain out of reach. If either Potter or Tertsch hope to win the world title this year, though, it will be imperative to eat into as much of Beaugrand’s lead as possible and anything less than a gold medal will increase the French athlete’s chances of ultimate glory.

Meanwhile, Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) will be one to watch. She is currently only ranked 11th overall after 6th place finishes in Cagliari and Paris. The key point is that she only has two scores to her name and is the top ranked woman not to have three scores. The 2020 world champion could therefore vault herself into an overall podium position with a win in Weihai. Given Taylor-Brown’s glittering history of WTCS golds, it would be a bold move to discount her.

A new era begins

One of the most noteworthy features of the Weihai start lists are how there has already been a shift from the Olympic fields. Only 14 male Olympic participants will be racing while the equivalent number in the women’s event stands at 15. As a result, there is an impression that the WTCS field is starting a period of renewal and evolution as the Paris Olympic chapter has come to a close.

Among the new faces to be starting, John Reed (USA) will be making his second ever Series appearance after making his debut in Hamburg in July. Reed comes into Weihai having struck gold at the notoriously challenging Karlovy Vary World Cup and will fancy his chances of ruffling some feathers among the world title contenders. Mercedes Romero Orozco (MEX) is also back after making appearances in the Series a junior in 2019. The Mexican athlete will be one of the youngest starters in Weihai. Similarly, Kyotaro Yoshikawa (JPN) will be making his 2024 Series bow having made a single appearance in each of the past three seasons. He will be the youngest man racing for Japan.

On the other end of the spectrum, we know that Weihai will be one of the final stops in the glorious WTCS career of Vincent Luis (FRA). The double world champion will be moving on at the end of the season and so Weihai will be one of the last chances to watch an icon of the sport in full flow.

The unofficial German Championships

The German Championships took place earlier this month at the Bundesliga final in Hannover where WTCS medallist Annika Koch (GER) powered to the women’s national title. Looking at the start list for Weihai, it would be fair to say that the coming WTCS race stands almost as a second round for the leading German women.

With no fewer than seven women starting, Germany will have the largest contingent in the women’s race. WTCS medallists Laura Lindemann and Lena Meißner will be starting, as will the reigning World U23 champion Selina Klamt. Paris Olympian Nina Eim will be absent, as will Tokyo Olympian Anabel Knoll, but otherwise the German women’s squad in Weihai will be set for a re-match of sorts over national bragging rights. The question is, will Koch manage to come out again?

The sleeping giant?

As already mentioned, it has been quite some time since China hosted a WTCS stop. In Weihai, they will be represented by a highly promising cohort of young athletes. Xinyu Lin will lead the women’s team. Already a qualifier for the Paris Olympics, Lin is one of the youngest athletes in the field. She will be joined by Yifan Yang and it would be no surprise to see Yang be among the first to exit the swim.

Junjie Fan will be one to watch in the men’s race. He won the bronze medal at the Asia Championships over the standard distance earlier this season. To go with that, he also claimed the Asian title over the sprint distance. He may just be the man to carry China’s hopes in their return to the WTCS. 

All three of the starting women and all five of the selected men were born in the 21st century, giving the home team one of the youngest squads in Weihai. With the return of the Series and a crop of rising talent, then, the signs are looking good for a country that may soon become a force in the sport.

Altogether, there will be several different threads to keep tabs on in Weihai. Stay up to date with all the latest across World Triathlon channels and catch the action live next Friday on TriathlonLive.