The first race of a sizzling 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series gets underway at the start of March, with Abu Dhabi opening up this year’s WTCS action in the very city that saw fireworks fly during November’s remarkable Championship Finals.
Anyone who witnessed those men’s and women’s world championship chases reach their climax in the UAE will be hungry to see exactly what the new campaign has in store. Flora Duffy and Leo Bergere are preparing to mount their title defences after both went right down to the wire, and this year it will be the Spanish city of Pontevedra hosting the decisive Finals.
Six Series races lead up to that late-September showdown in Galicia; WTCS Abu Dhabi in early March, May’s WTCS Yokohama and WTCS Cagliari, WTCS Montreal in June then July’s classic WTCS Hamburg and a debut WTCS Sunderland, not forgetting the Paris Test Event, the points from which will also be included in the Series. The athletes’ best four results from those seven events plus the Championship Finals will ultimately determine this year’s champions.
Even at the end of a long season, heading to the 2022 Finals it was too close to call between Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown, Bergere, Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee, those five athletes dominating the year’s Series podiums. Now, with Tokyo 2020 Champion Kristian Blummenfelt and compatriot Gustav Iden back on the title hunt and Vincent Luis in sparkling form, Katie Zaferes returning for USA and Rio 2016 Champion Gwen Jorgensen also set for comebacks, plus the all-important Paris 2024 qualification points on the line and a total prize purse now standing at just under USD3.5million, the entertainment is certain to be set to stun once more.
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