The World Triathlon Championship Series comes to a conclusion this weekend at the Finals in Pontevedra, Spain with Alex Yee and Beth Potter leading a quartet of Brits in the men’s and women’s races on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 September respectively.
When the men’s race gets underway at 16:20 BST (17:20 local time) on Saturday live on BBC Sport, Yee will have a series lead of 57 points ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde with Vasco Vilaca of Portugal and 2022 world champion, Leo Bergere (FRA), sitting a little further back.
This season has seen Yee record three wins in Abu Dhabi, Cagliari and Paris, and a bronze in Hamburg to be the series leader, with 1,250 points on offer for the winner of the race in Pontevedra.
Whilst the British interest in the series lays with Yee, he is one of four Brits on the men’s start list for Pontevedra.
Wearing 25 on Saturday will be Barclay Izzard who finished fourth at World Triathlon Cup Pontevedra in 2022. The Brit has had an impressive season, with a World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) best of eighth in Sunderland and silver medals in mixed relay racing in Sunderland, the European Games and Paris Test Event.
Jonny Brownlee, world champion from 2012, lines up following back-to-back silver medals in the shorter format of Super League racing. The three-time Olympic medallist will wear number 39 in Pontevedra.
The final Brit is Max Stapley who has raced for Great Britain for the first time this year. Stapley recorded an 18th-place finish in Pontevedra last year at the World Cup race and heads into this year’s race off the back of his best individual performance, second place at World Triathlon Cup Yeongdo.
The women’s race will get underway at 15:45 BST (16:45 local time) on Sunday, bringing the event and 2023 WTCS to a close live on BBC Sport.
Beth Potter sits second in the overall series only 32 points behind France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and, like the men’s race, Pontevedra will provide 1,250 points to the race winner. Potter has secured wins already this season at Abu Dhabi, Montreal and Paris, as well as silver in Hamburg.
The Abu Dhabi win was her first at a WTCS race whilst the Paris victory was her first victory over the standard distance.
Having finished second to Potter in Abu Dhabi and taken her first WTCS race victory in Yokohama, Sophie Coldwell will wear number eight in Pontevedra.
Ranked just outside the top-ten on the start list, Kate Waugh will look to build on the seventh-place she recorded at the Paris Test Event and WTCS-best result of fifth from Yokohama as she rounds off the WTCS season wearing number 12. Fifth was also the result she recorded at World Triathlon Cup Pontevedra in 2022.
Olivia Mathias completes the line-up of Brits fresh off the back of two top-six finishes at Super League Triathlon. Having missed the Paris Test Event through injury, this will be Mathias’ return to the longer format of standard distance racing.
Both WTCS races will be competed over the standard distance, which is where Yee’s success in Cagliari and his and Potter’s Paris wins came. The two-lap 1,500m swim will take place in the Lerez River before athletes transition onto the bike.
Crossing the Puente de los Tirantes bridge onto the north side of the river, the field will complete eight laps of the bike which sees them race on either side of the river and using the Ponte das Correntes to cross back onto the south side of the course.
With a split transition at the event, transition two will take place separately to transition one at the Centro Galego de Tecnificacion Deportiva, where the race will also come to its conclusion following the run.
The 10km run will go across four laps through the Spanish city’s historic centre before bringing the athletes to the finish line where the race and series champions will be crowned.
The men’s race gets underway at 16:20 BST on Saturday with the women’s starting at 15:45 on Sunday, and both will be broadcast on BBC Sport and Triathlon LIVE with race updates available on British Triathlon’s social media channels.
Also taking place on Saturday will be the World Triathlon Para Championships, with Pontevedra also hosting the Age-Group World Championships in aquabike and super sprint and standard distance triathlon where over 450 British Triathlon members will represent the Great Britain Age-Group Team.
