WTCS Abu Dhabi start lists: Olympic champions set for an early-season blockbuster

American stars Gwen Jorgensen and Taylor Spivey are both on the provisional start list for the first WTCS race of the 2025 season in Abu Dhabi.

The action takes place over the weekend of 15-16 February and there’s then a three-month break before the next race in Yokohama, Japan.

At present there are six WTCS races scheduled before the Grand Final in Wollongong, Australia in mid-October.

Looking for a fast start

Following time away from triathlon, 2016 Olympic champion Jorgensen has worked hard over the last couple of seasons to get her ranking heading towards previous levels and it now means she is able to map out her season with much more certainty.

And anyone who follows her regular updates on YouTube will know that the last couple of months have all been geared to Abu Dhabi.

She rounded off 2024 with top 12 places at WTCS Weihai and the Grand Final in Torremolinos before closing it out with a win at the World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki.

Gwen Jorgensen World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki 2024 Results — Gwen Jorgensen of of the USA beats Alissa Konig to win World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki 2024 (Photo – World Triathlon).

All of which means she’s now back in the top 10 of the world rankings and will start as one of the main contenders in Abu Dhabi.

Quality and quantity for Germany

Spivey, silver medallist in the Mixed Relay at last summer’s Olympics, made her T100 debut last season and this year the Triathlon World Tour will be a big focus as she’s one of the T100 ‘Hot Shots’.

In common with Hayden Wilde on the men’s side it looks like she’s going to tune up for that with a return to short course.

Plenty of other big names are set to line up in Abu Dhabi, including an incredibly strong German contingent, with no fewer than eight athletes including Laura Lindemann and Lisa Tertsch, who were part of the winning Mixed Relay team in Paris last summer.

Mixed Relay Paris Olympics podium 2024 Germany United States Team GB photo credit World Triathlon — Spivey, Tertsch and Lindemann are all set for Abu Dhabi [Photo credit: World Triathlon}

France’s Leonie Periault is slated to start, but not reigning Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand.

Britain meanwhile has just one entry at the moment in Kate Waugh, who was second in the 2023 WTCS Grand Final and also the overall supertri champion that year. Like Spivey she too is then moving up in distance as a T100 ‘Hot Shot’.

And another with designs on a podium spot is Luxembourg’s multiple supertri winner Jeanne Lehair.

Click here for the full provisional start list.

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