Britain’s triathletes enjoyed a bumper weekend of success from north-east Italy to Yokohama and back again.
The World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) took its second stop in the Land of the Rising Sun and British dominance on the women’s side continued.
Having won silver behind Beth Potter in the Abu Dhabi season opener, Sophie Coldwell came away with her maiden WTCS race win.
The 28-year-old climbed to the top of the WTCS rankings for women with a sublime individual gold.
“I call myself a grafter and I try really hard, so this is an emotional one,” said Coldwell.
Coldwell was the class of the field in sodden Yokohama conditions, joined by GB team-mate Kate Waugh in a lead group that numbered 12 after the swim and seven after the bike leg.
The Nottingham-born star scorched clear of the field with a superb run to win by 17 seconds, followed home by Waugh in an excellent fifth and Georgia Taylor-Brown persisting for seventh.
“In Great Britain we have such a strong roster of girls,” said Coldwell. “It’s going to be a hard year and hopefully this is just another step forward.”
There was a podium place too for Colin Wallace who took silver in the World Triathlon Para Series.
The Scot reached the podium in the PTS3 category for athletes with significant impairments, blasting past Frenchman Michael Herter for a career-best result in his 2023 season opener.
Elsewhere, Newcastle upon Tyne’s Michael Salisbury finished fifth in PTS5 while Leytonstone’s Oscar Kelly did not finish in the PTVI category.
And in the WTCS men’s race, Jack Willis finished his second WTCS race in 43rd while Barclay Izzard was a DNF.
Meanwhile, there was more success at the Europe Triathlon Cup in Caorle, Italy.
The highlight was a one-two in the men’s race courtesy of Crewe’s Connor Bentley and Loughborough’s Ben Dijkstra.
Bentley, 22, was right at the front of the swim and Dijkstra among the strongest on the bike leg that put both at the head of the race coming into the closing stages.
World U23 champion Bentley posted the quickest run of the lot to take gold in a sprint finish, with Dijkstra snagging silver from Valentin Morlec of France. Hamish Reilly and Jack Stanton-Stock finished 27th and 37th in the same field.
There were five British women in the top ten in the women’s race with Sian Rainsley first among them, winning a silver medal.
An excellent all-round display from the 26-year-old yielded a podium finish in her first completed race on the global stage since the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Sophie Alden, Sophia Green, Hollie Elliott and Daisy Davies came home one after the other inside 20 seconds to lock out seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth place in a superb team performance.
In the junior races, Eve Whitaker finished fifth on her Europe Cup debut and completed the course in a time of 00:27:57.
Millie Breese (15th), Olivia Logan (29th) and Charly Marshall (43rd) also gained invaluable experience of international racing.
Lawrence Martindale was the top British finisher in the junior men’s race, taking ninth. Tom Hattee and Solomon Okrafo-Smart finished 11th and 14th respectively, while Liam Edwards was a DNF.
Results for the racing in Yokohama and Caorle can be found on the World Triathlon website below:
On home soil, the British Triathlon Super Series continued in style with hotly-contested races in Llanelli, Wales. Update to come on the race results.
