WTCS Karlovy Vary 2025 women’s results: Potter says win was “for a bigger reason” after recent tragedy

Britain’s Beth Potter claimed an emotional victory after she denied Taylor Spivey a maiden WTCS win when she reeled in the American on the run at Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.

It came less than two weeks after the tragic loss of Potter’s friend and training partner Sam O’Shea in a fatal bike accident.

Potter has been incredibly consistent over the last couple of years and collected two bronze medals at the Olympics in Paris last summer but this was her first outdoor success since she became world champion at the WTCS Grand Final in Pontevedra at the end of 2023.

She was more than a minute behind Spivey starting the 10km run but paced it perfectly to move to the front with around 1.5km to go. Spivey kept on well to take second and equal her best WTCS result, with Germany’s Lisa Tertsch filling the last spot on the podium.

Jeanne Lehair (LUX) was one of a number of women to fall on a testing bike course, made even more challenging by wet conditions, but she recovered superbly to take fourth.

Swim – Vermeylen shows the way

In-form Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) – who won the Europe Triathlon Championships in Istanbul in August as well as the Europe Triathlon Sprint and Relay Championships Melilla and Supertri Toronto in July – led it out on the first of two 750m swim laps.

Sian Rainsley (GBR) was second, with Tertsch, Spivey, Potter and Márta Kropkó (HUN) all within five seconds of the lead. Maya Kingma (NED), winner of the World Cup race at Karlovy Vary last year, was 13 seconds back in eighth.

Out of the water for a second time, Vermeylen was still in front in 16:48, with Spivey +2s, Rainsley +4s, Potter and Kropkó at +6, Tertsch at +7s and then bigger gaps after that.

Spaniard Miriam Casillas’ chances meanwhile were all but ended when she couldn’t get her wetsuit off in the cold conditions.

Bike – Kingma animates things

The first section took the riders from T1 to what would be seven 4.9km laps and Potter, Vermeylen, Spivey and Tertsch were in front but looking around at each other rather than immediately working together.

The rain-soaked streets were proving a real test though and Lehair was first to slide out but she was back on her bike almost straight away.

Meanwhile Emma Lombardi (FRA) had ridden over to join the front four as had Djenyfer Arnold (BRZ), Kropkó and Anna Godoy Contreras (ESP) so we now had a group of eight, with Potter on the front.

It was 27 seconds back to the nine-strong next group which included Kingma, Lehair, Periault and Liv Mathias (GBR). Jess Fullagar (GBR) was at +47s on her own and then the rest were 1:19 and more adrift.

So onto the laps then and we were down to seven up front after lap one as Vermeylen dropped out and it was 27s back to the chasers.

All that changed on lap two as it closed up – we had 14 athletes in the front group now, with Lehair and Periault desperately trying to bridge up too, 12 and 15 seconds back respectively.

They managed to get on but no sooner had that happened we had another fall and this time it was Lombardi as 16 was reduced to 15.

It then threatened to split in two as Potter, Kingma and Spivey tried to drive it on the front but they couldn’t quite make it stick. However Kingma – who won that Karlovy Vary World Cup after a breakaway and is now also a pro cyclist on the World Tour – tried again on lap four and this time she got some daylight to the rest. It was six seconds midway through and then 15 seconds at the end of lap four.

She continued to lead the way and Spivey was now the next to chip off the front of the chase group – at the end of lap five Kingma was 11 seconds ahead of the American, who in turn had 15 seconds on Potter and the rest.

Spivey would close down Kingma on lap six and when the bell went they had 35 seconds on the chasers.

That went out further on the last lap and arriving into T2 Kingma and Spivey were shoulder to shoulder and a minute clear.

Run – Potter reels in Spivey

It was Spivey who was by far the quickest in transition and she was five seconds in front of Kingma starting the run.

In third was Tertsch at +1:02, closely followed by British trio Potter, Rainsley and Mathias. Babette Rosman (NED), Lehair, Tereza Zimovjanova (CZE), Vermeylen, Periault and Godoy Contreras rounded out what was now a leading 12, with nearly three minutes back to the rest.

It was four 2.5km laps – or out-and-backs to be more accurate – and Spivey set off at an incredible pace and given the nature of the course she knew exactly where her rivals were.

At the end of that first 2.5km she was 46 seconds ahead of Potter and Tertsch who had already overhauled Kingma as had Lehair and Periault, who were almost exactly a minute adrift.

Potter’s charge continued on lap two as she chopped the deficit down to 27 seconds on Spivey. Tertsch was at +42s, with Lehair in fourth at +1:07.

Spivey was still in front at the bell at the end of lap three but by now Potter was just 10 seconds behind, with the gap to Tertsch holding steady at 45 seconds.

The catch came just before the turn point on the final lap and Potter was visibly emotional when she crossed the line 13 seconds in front.

The reason became clear when she spoke to World Triathlon’s Doug Gray afterwards in her post-race interview.

She explained: “That was a hard day out there in tough conditions and I got really cold on the bike.

“Unfortunately I lost a training partner and friend in a fatal bike accident last week so in the last two-and-a-half k, that’s what got me through. I was doing it for a bigger reason this time.”

WTCS Karlovy Vary 2025 results

Sunday 14 September 2025 – 1.5km / 40km / 10km

Elite Women

WTCS standings after Karlovy Vary (which is race 6)