There are three things you need to know ahead of the women’s race at WTCS Alghero this weekend. The first is that in the time WTCS Yokohama and the subsequent Sardinian WTCS stop have been in May, no female athlete has medalled at the two events. Eyes will therefore be on former world champion Beth Potter (GBR) and WTCS gold medallist Jeanne Lehair (LUX) to see if their superlative form can break the trend. (Rising star Tilda Månsson (SWE) is absent.)
The second is that Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) has emerged victorious at the last two Sardinian WTCS races, the most recent of which she won by the biggest margin of 2025 (38 seconds when no woman won another Series stop by more than 17 seconds). Fresh off an awesome new French record over 5000m, Beaugrand has the history and the run form to make it three in a row.
The third thing to know, however, is that the fastest runner on the day has never won a Sardinian WTCS race, whether in Cagliari or in Alghero. Indeed, Beaugrand has twice experienced missing the medals (in 2022 and 2023) despite logging the top 10km split.
These seemingly contradictory facts thus leave the women’s race wonderfully poised as form and recent history come crashing into one another. A bumpy 1500m swim of two laps, a gruelling 40km bike of nine laps and a final 10km run of four laps will give us the clarity we seek and before catching the race live on TriathlonLive, find out how the favourites are shaping up below.
Beaugrand’s French challenge
Unlike neighbouring Corsica, Sardinia has never been ruled by France. However in a triathlon sense, there is a good chance the French team will rule this weekend. As already stated, Beaugrand has a tremendous record and arrives as the favourite. Although she has not started a WTCS race this year, she logged a French record over the 10km in addition to her recent 5000m venture earlier in the year. The question is, will her run speed pay dividends on an island that tends to favour breakaways?
As it happens, Beaugrand does not have the best average finish in Sardinia within her team. That honour goes to Emma Lombardi (FRA). Lombardi has earned an average placing of 3rd in Sardinia (compared to Beaugrand’s average position of 3.5). She is also one of three women with multiple WTCS medals on the island. After a solid WTCS Yokohama outing that saw her finish 5th, Lombardi could be back among the medals.
Furthermore Leonie Periault (FRA) arrives on the back of a silver medal at WTCS Samarkand. We also cannot forget that Periault is the only woman to have beaten Beaugrand in a WTCS race (that Beaugrand has finished) since the end of 2023. As such, the Olympic champion will have her hands full with her compatriots.
The British are coming
Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), the only other WTCS race winner in Sardinia having triumphed in 2022 and 2023, heads to the island with a spring in her step after notching a maiden T100 win at the weekend. She also has the best average finish of any woman starting (2.67).
An equally formidable prospect will be Potter. The winner in Samarkand was pipped to gold in Yokohama by mere seconds and is in piping hot form. At the same time, she has three finishes outside the top-5 in Sardinia and will have to handle the Yokohama double. If anyone can, though, it is Potter.
Not to be forgotten is Olivia Mathias (GBR) who won maiden WTCS medal in Alghero last year. That day she was an essential part of the successful breakaway, a point that will carry weight as the women’s field never stays together on the bike in Sardinia.
Mathias, Taylor-Brown and Potter are part of a British squad that pack an awful lot of swim-bike power with Sophie Evans, Jess Fullagar and Tilly Anema also capable of detonating the field. If Beaugrand is caught out by them (as in 2022 and 2023), her famed running might not be enough to get her out of trouble.
A field brimming with contenders
The defending world champion Lisa Tertsch (GER) will have a point to prove after missing the medals in Samarkand and Yokohama. She won a silver in Cagliari between Beaugrand and Potter in 2024. Like Potter, however, Tertsch also has three finishes outside the top-5 and has come unstuck on the island before. Fellow German WTCS medallists Tanja Neubert, Laura Lindemann and Annika Koch could likewise feature heavily.
Home star Bianca Seregni (ITA) claimed a first WTCS medal last time out in Alghero and can be counted upon to make any swim an ordeal for the rest of the field with her speed. Taylor Spivey (USA) is another previous Sardinia medallist hitting form at just the right time; the American powered to a first T100 medal last weekend.
And finally, Taylor Knibb (USA) will be making her eagerly anticipated WTCS comeback. Knibb medalled in Cagliari in 2022 after ripping the field asunder on the bike. Should the long distance superstar do something similar this weekend, she could turn Beaugrand’s hat-trick hopes – and indeed the entire race – on their head.