This is a preview – click on the names to read about brilliant individual wins for Lisa Tertsch and Hayden Wilde.
And Sunday saw one of the most remarkable Mixed Team Relays ever – click here to find out more.
The 2025 World Triathlon Championship Series gets underway this weekend with the traditional WTCS Abu Dhabi curtain raiser, with many of the world’s finest short course triathletes on the start line.
The 2024 event was cancelled at short notice due to severe adverse weather conditions, while 2023 victors Alex Yee and Beth Potter of Great Britain will both miss the 2025 iteration.
Start times and how to watch live
The racing in Abu Dhabi begins on Saturday February 15 with the Elite Women’s Sprint Distance event set to begin at 14:00 local time. This corresponds to 10:00 in the UK, 11:00 in Central Europe, 05:00 on the US Eastern seaboard and 02:00 on the West Coast.
The Elite Men’s Sprint Distance race takes place two hours later at 16:00 local time. This translates to 12:00 UK time, 13:00 in Central Europe, 07:00 on the US East Coast and 04:00 on the West Coast.
Sunday, February 16 sees the Elite Mixed Relay take centre stage at 13:30 local time. Viewers in the UK can follow the action from 09:30, 10:30 in Central Europe, 04:30 on the East Coast and 01:30 on the West Coast.
All the action will be available to watch live via Triathlonlive.tv
The course in Abu Dhabi
The 2025 event departs from the previous venue, the Yas Marina Circuit, and takes place at the 321 Sports Hudayriyat Island – to the South of the main metropolitan area of Abu Dhabi.
The individual races begin with a 750m, one-loop swim before athletes exit the water with a 130m run to the T1 area.
The bike leg starts with a 600m dash out onto the looped 3.467km course which will be taken six times. A shorter 2.62km loop will play host to the run leg, with a final 80m dash around the 321 Sports Football stadium to finish.
The Mixed Relay swim consists of a single 300m loop with the same 130m run into T1.
Athletes will then complete a 3.236km loop twice, with a 0.526km bike out to it.
The run concludes each relay leg with two short 0.84km loops, a 0.315km run to exchange or a 315m run to the finish for the final athlete.
WTCS Abu Dhabi 2025 Elite Women
There are a plethora of top 10 ranked Elite Women on the start line, even with the absences of Cassandre Beaugrand, Beth Potter and Emma Lombardi.
Lisa Tertsch of Germany, Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg, Leonie Periault of France and Katie Waugh of Great Britain will all fancy their chances in Abu Dhabi.
Waugh is the lone representative from GB. She finished second in the 2023 WTCS Grand Final and will also make the step to the middle distance this season having earned a ‘Hot Shot’ entry on the T100 World Triathlon Tour.
Other names of note include the American duo of Gwen Jorgensen and Taylor Spivey. Both US stars boast success at the Olympic Games – Jorgensen the champion in 2016, Spivey a Mixed Relay medallist in 2024.
Click here for the full provisional start list.
WTCS Abu Dhabi 2025 Elite Men
On the men’s side, the standout name is New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, who finished second to Yee at last summer’s Olympic Games. He was the race victor at the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Finals in Torremolinos-Andalucia and won the overall supertri title.
The New Zealander is set to make the step up to the middle distance this season as one of the ‘Hot Shots’ for the T100 World Triathlon Tour and has already showed his form over the longer distance – finishing second at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo in 2024.
World number eight Matt Hauser and number nine Miguel Hidalgo are the other representatives of the World Triathlon Top 10.
Great Britain has a quartet of representatives in the absence of Yee – Hugo Milner, Harry Leleu, Ben Dijkstra and Max Stapley will be on the start line.
Click here for the full provisional start list.
