This is a preview of the race – and just an hour before the start Cassandre Beaugrand was ruled out. To read about impressive wins for Beth Potter and Vasco Vilaca, just click on their names.
A month later than planned, the 2026 WTCS season will burst into life as Olympic-distance triathlon’s finest head to Uzbekistan this week.
The opening race in Abu Dhabi at the end of March was postponed because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East but Samarkand makes its WTCS debut as one of nine other races on the calendar.
The Olympic qualifying window hasn’t quite opened yet but we still have two superb elite fields, especially on the women’s side.
Read on for all you need to know…
Start time and how to watch live
Both races take place on Saturday 25th April. We start with the elite women at 13:00 local time. That’s 09:00 UK time, 10:00 CEST, 04:00 Eastern and 01:00 Western.
The elite men then go off at 15:45 local time – That’s 11:45 UK time, 12:45 CEST, 06:45 Eastern and 03:45 Western.
You can watch all the races live on TriathlonLive.tv. A subscription is required.
Course and format
Samarkand has hosted World Cups in both 2024 and 2025 and it is Olympic distance for Saturday’s WTCS races.
That comprises two 750m swim loops in the lake, seven loops on the bike for the 40km and then just over four laps on the run for the 10km.
There is no getting away from the fact that it is very flat, though plenty of tight turns on the bike makes that section a little technical.
Elite Women
Pretty much all the biggest female stars are in action this weekend.
If we run through the leading countries, France may be low on number but they are high on quality – spearheaded by Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand.
Last year didn’t quite pan out as planned but she still went very close to defending her WTCS title and she comes into this fresh from setting a new French national run record for 10km with her 30:52 in Lille.
Joining her is another woman in sensational run form (a 1:09 at the Berlin Half Marathon) in Leonie Periault who had a fantastically consistent 2025 with six WTCS top five placings, including a victory in Hamburg.
Germany’s women started the 2025 WTCS season with a clean sweep of the podium in Abu Dhabi and they ended it with Lisa Tertsch becoming world champion for the first time.
She is back in action here and joined by the two compatriots who were second and third to her in Abu Dhabi – Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann.
Tanja Neubert and former World U23 champion Selina Klamt complete a five-strong German line-up to underline the strength in depth.
But that’s topped by Britain with six. Georgia Taylor-Brown, the most decorated Olympic female athlete, lines up for her first standard distance WTCS race since 2024 after finishing runner-up in the Lanzarote World Cup.
Beth Potter, the 2023 World Champion and double bronze medallist at Paris 2024, joins her as does Jess Fullagar, who made such a splash at the T100 Gold Coast last month.
Liv Mathias, Sian Rainsley and Tilly Anema complete the raiding party.
Anema and Fullagar also have experience from the Samarkand World Cup last year when they helped spark a breakaway on the bike.
The American team is five-strong and topped by Taylor Spivey who is joined by 2016 Olympic champ Gwen Jorgensen, Danielle Orie, Erica Ackerlund and Kirsten Kasper.
Jorgensen celebrates her 40th birthday this week and has made no secret of the fact that a podium – or better – will be the perfect present!
Others to watch out for include WTCS Yokohama winner Jeanne Lehair (LUX) and recent Quarteira winner Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) in what should be a sensational start to the campaign.
Elite Men
Unlike the women’s race, the three biggest names in this sphere of the sport – Alex Yee, Hayden Wilde and Matt Hauser are all missing.
Yee is pacing at the London Marathon on Sunday while Wilde and Hauser are in T100 action in Singapore at pretty much the exact same time these races take place.
But that opens up opportunities for others, not least Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca who has gone close on countless occasions to a WTCS win with nine podiums but has tended to be outrun late on by Hauser.
Vilaca will wear bib #2 as Miguel Hidalgo (BRA), the runner up to Hauser in the overall standings last year, heads the field after claiming his first WTCS success in brilliant style in Alghero last summer.
Henry Graf (GER) won WTCS Karlovy Vary while the likes of Alessio Crociani (ITA) and 2024 World U23 champion David Cantero (ESP) are others for the shortlist.
And someone else to potentially put in that bracket is the man who succeeded Cantero as U23 champ in Wollongong – Ollie Conway (GBR).
He’s only raced one WTCS race so far but finished a fine fourth in Karlovy Vary and his World Cup record is two wins from two, including Haikou last month.
Even in Yee’s absence it’s a strong British line-up alongside Conway, featuring Michael Gar, Hugo Milner, Max Stapley, Harry Leleu and Jack Willis.
Last year’s impressive overall Supertri winner and WTCS medallist Csongor Lehmann tops a formidable Hungarian squad along with Bence Bicsák and Márk Dévay, who will likely lead out the swim. They are joined by Gergely Kiss and last year’s Samarkand World Cup runner up Márton Kropkó.
Winner that day was Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger (FRA) who only now makes his WTCS debut, such is the strength in depth in France.
Meanwhile John Reed has showcased his 10km run prowess recently and he leads an American quartet containing Darr Smith, Chase McQueen and Seth Rider.
