WTCS Yokohama 2025: Date, start time and how to watch live as Olympic stars head to Japan

With all due respect to the fields that lined up in the opener at Abu Dhabi back in February, it feels like the WTCS season only really hits top gear in Japan this weekend.

Every single women’s WTCS winner since May 2023 is taking part and even though the men’s start list is missing the Paris one-two in Alex Yee (recovering after the London Marathon) and Hayden Wilde (injured), it still boasts a wealth of talent.

The events take place in the regular venue of Yamashita Park, with the elite women and men both racing over the Olympic distance on Saturday May 17.

In our preview below, you can find all the information you need on start times, how to watch live and a rundown of the leading athletes.

Start time, how to watch live and course

The women will race first in Yokohama, with the gun going off at 10:15 local time. This corresponds to 02:15 in the UK, 21:15 on the East Coast and 18:15 on the West Coast (those last two are Friday May 16).

For the men, the race will begin at 13:00 local time. This corresponds to 05:00 in the UK, 00:00 on the East Coast and 21:00 on the West Coast on Friday.

All the action will be available to watch live via Triathlonlive.tv

Athletes will complete two laps of 750m for the 1500m swim in the Port of Yokohama, before heading out on the bike for nine laps of just over 4.4km. And they will finish with a 10km run consisting of four laps of 2.5km.

In Yokohama, both the bike and the run take in the beauty of Yamashita Park, with the bike course also passing monuments such as the Akarenga Soko and Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office.

WTCS Yokohama 2025 Elite Women

Top billing goes to Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand.

The French superstar has combined running – setting a new national record of 14:53 for 5k on the road – and super-short triathlon, winning both the Supertri E World Championships in London and the T1 Indoor Triathlon World Cup in Lievin.

But last season showed she is now the one to beat at Olympic distance and she has to head into this as the clear favourite.

Beth Potter, World Champion before Beaugrand and third to her in Paris last summer, has had a similar profile so far in 2025.

The Brit begun the campaign with some impressive road running, setting a 10k PB of 31:15, before coming second to her French rival in London at Supertri E.

Beaugrand’s compatriot Leonie Periault, who finished just ahead of Potter at the European Road Running 10km Championships in Leuven recently, is aiming to defend her Yokohama title.

Leonie Periault (FRA) took a maiden WTCS victory in Yokohama. — [Photo Credit – Tommy Zaferes]

But after what happened in Abu Dhabi, this is far from a three-way battle.

For Lisa Tertsch led a German podium clean sweep there ahead of Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann. Only Eim misses out this week but Annika Koch, Tanja Neubert and Selina Klamt all bolster the German challenge.

The 2016 Olympic winner Gwen Jorgensen, who won here four times in succession from 2013 en route to that Rio 2016 triumph, is part of a three-strong American team, alongside Taylor Spivey, who has been in T100 action this season, and Gina Sereno.

WTCS Yokohama 2025 Elite Men

Olympic and World Champion Alex Yee’s focus for the first part of this season was on the London Marathon, where his 2:11 time on his 26.2-mile debut was hugely impressive, but not surprisingly he sits this one out and will probably be cheering on his beloved Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final at Wembley on the same day!

Hayden Wilde, the man he pipped to gold in that memorable finish in Paris, couldn’t have started the season better – winning in Abu Dhabi and then also bossing the T100 opener in Singapore as he then put the emphasis on middle distance.

But a bad bike crash in Japan just a day after he smashed his 10K personal best in the ASICS Tokyo Speed Race means an extended spell on the sidelines.

However there’s still lots of talent on show and we’ll start with the man that Wilde just beat in Abu Dhabi, Australian Matt Hauser.

He won WTCS Hamburg last year and will be fancying his chances in the absence of the big two.

Vasco Vilaca (POR) was third at WTCS Abu Dhabi and set for a good result here 12 months ago before suffering a bad crash on the bike.

Defending champion Morgan Pearson (USA) has had this season disrupted by a bike crash but he returns to defend his title.

Morgan Pearson takes the win at WTCS Yokohama. — [Photo Credit – Tommy Zaferes]

And there’s a strong four-man French challenge headed by previous World Champions in Léo Bergere, third on home soil at the Olympics, and Dorian Coninx.

Germany’s men aren’t quite as formidable as their women but T1 Indoor World Cup Lievin winner Henry Graf merits plenty of respect while four Brits – Max Stapley, Ben Dijkstra, Hugo Milner and Jack Willis – are set to line up.