This is a preview of the race – click here to read all about what truly was an incredibly dramatic say in Andalucía!
The WTCS season comes to a climax this week with a whole host of world titles on the line.
We’ve a new venue of Torremolinos, a coastal town in the heart of Andalucía in Spain and we’ve already published separate previews for the U23 (Thursday), Junior (Friday), the paratri (Friday) and Elite Men (Sunday) races – so the focus now is on the Elite Women.
Read on to find out who’s racing and when – as well as the various permutations in terms of who needs to do what to be crowned world champion…
Start time and how to watch live
The Elite Women’s race takes place on Saturday October 19, with the horn sounding at 15:35 local time. This corresponds to 14:35 in the UK, 09:35 on the East Coast and 06:35 on the West Coast.
All the action will be available to watch live via World Triathlon’s subscription service, Triathlonlive.tv
Elite Women racing in Torremolinos
Given what’s at stake it will come as no surprise that nearly all the big guns line up.
But in terms of the title, it’s Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) who is in pole position and looking to follow in Flora Duffy’s footsteps from 2021 when she also become World Champion after her Tokyo heroics.
Duffy is an absentee this weekend as she instead races T100 Lake Las Vegas (as do Taylor Knibb and Taylor Spivey), but Beaugrand heads in with a perfect 100% record on the scoring system which takes the athlete’s best three WTCS results this season (including the Olympics).
However one of those was sprint distance in Hamburg so that’s 750 points rather than 1,000 points for Olympic distance.
Those 2,750 points will be added to whatever she earns in Torremolinos, where 1,250 are up for grabs to the winner.
All of which means first or second in Andalucía will see a maiden world title for Beaugrand but if she comes third as she did last year – or lower – then a win from Britain’s Beth Potter would see her retain her crown.
Lisa Tertsch, who won last time out at WTCS Weihai and helped Germany to Mixed Relay gold in Paris, is in exactly the same position as Potter.
It’s a slightly more complex equation for Emma Lombardi (FRA) who would need compatriot Beaugrand in fifth or lower, Potter in fourth or worse and Tertsch no higher than third.
Recent Grand Finals have tended to throw up surprises but it would need a crazy combination of results for anyone from outside that quartet to claim overall glory.
But a race win and a series podium are very much up for grabs and Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) is an athlete in prime form after three straight supertri successes.
Potter and GTB are among a six-strong British raiding party which includes last year’s Pontevedra runner-up Kate Waugh as well as Vicky Holland, the 2018 world champion who has the last race of her 20-year triathlon career before retirement.
Click here for the full start list.
Latest standings ahead of the race
As explained above, here’s how it’s all looking:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Events | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cassandre Beaugrand | FRA | 3 | 2750.00 |
| 2 | Beth Potter | GBR | 3 | 2636.26 |
| 3 | Lisa Tertsch | GER | 3 | 2618.75 |
| 4 | Emma Lombardi | FRA | 3 | 2438.53 |
| 5 | Georgia Taylor-Brown | GBR | 3 | 2210.01 |
| 6 | Flora Duffy | BER | 3 | 1937.91 |
| 7 | Jeanne Lehair | LUX | 3 | 1821.44 |
| 8 | Kate Waugh | GBR | 3 | 1723.61 |
| 9 | Leonie Periault | FRA | 3 | 1719.61 |
| 10 | Taylor Knibb | USA | 3 | 1629.36 |
| 11 | Taylor Spivey | USA | 3 | 1622.94 |
| 12 | Nina Eim | GER | 3 | 1418.73 |
| 13 | Alice Betto | ITA | 3 | 1358.18 |
| 14 | Julie Derron | SUI | 2 | 1349.19 |
| 15 | Laura Lindemann | GER | 3 | 1295.32 |
| 16 | Anna Godoy Contreras | ESP | 3 | 1282.59 |
| 17 | Kirsten Kasper | USA | 3 | 1229.65 |
| 18 | Djenyfer Arnold | BRA | 3 | 1169.72 |
| 19 | Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal | MEX | 3 | 1137.89 |
| 20 | Maya Kingma | NED | 3 | 1087.12 |
Course and distance
We’re racing over the Olympic distance which is a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run.
The swim is a beach start and then a two-lap affair off Los Alamos and Canuela beaches, with the average water temperature for this time of year 18.9ºC so likely wetsuits.
A hillier course than the norm last time in Weihai made for a much more absorbing bike section but this time it’s described as “technical and flat” with just one small (20 metres) spike up after the first kilometre in each of the eight 5km loops.
And then on the run we’ve got four out-and-backs along the pan-flat promenade.
