When a race has been around for the best part of a quarter of a century, the risk is run that it loses the ability to surprise. At times yesterday, WTCS Hamburg had the potential to be a carbon copy of the 2024 edition. Yet when a few characters stood up to claim the spotlight for themselves, they turned the race on its head and proved that, in triathlon, the moment you think you know exactly what will happen is the moment the surprise kicks in. Read on below to find out five of the key takeaways, each of which represented their own kind of surprise.

Italian jobs

You wait for years for a WTCS medal to come along and then two come in a row. The cliché of buses is rapidly being taken over by the Italian team after another member crashed their way onto the podium. After Bianca Seregni claimed a stunning silver medal on home soil in Alghero, it was Alessio Crociani’s turn in Hamburg.

Crociani’s previous best WTCS performance came last year in Hamburg (when he took 7^th place). As such, he had a clear blueprint for success. Last year he was the joint-fastest swimmer with Vincent Luis (FRA) and yesterday he again took the top split in the water. In contrast to last year, the lead group that formed around Crociani was not reeled in, thereby setting him up perfectly for the run.

When it came to the finale, as Matthew Hauser (AUS) and Vasco Vilaca (POR) pulled away to fight for the gold, Crociani found himself alongside WTCS Alghero winner Miguel Hidalgo (BRA). At that stage, a 4^th place already seemed a huge result for the Italian, but he was not done. Crunching into another gear, he took down the man that had seemed unbeatable on the run only six weeks prior. All in all it was a breakout performance, from both an athlete and a country finding new levels in the sport.

Roulette continues

The turnover at the top continues. Each stop of the women’s Series this year has resulted in a different winner and it was Leonie Periault’s turn yesterday. The French athlete follows Lisa Tertsch (GER), Jeanne Lehair (LUX) and Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) as gold medallists this season but hers arguably was the most shocking of the bunch.

The scene was ominous when Beaugrand hit the front early in the 5km run. Periault, however, was nothing short of fantastic as she catapulted past her teammate. Her running form should come as little surprise after she qualified for the European 10km Championships earlier this year. Nevertheless, she is now the first woman to have taken down Beaugrand on a WTCS run since 2023. In addition, her run split of 15:28 run makes her the second fastest female runner of all-time in the Series, behind Beaugrand’s 2024 effort in Hamburg. When the Series returns in the French Riviera, then, Periault may just be the athlete that stops the spinning wheel of gold medallists.

Tiszy tales

The three women from the podium at last weekend’s Tiszaujvaros World Cup had different experiences in Hamburg, and not in the way that necessarily would have been expected. Mimicking her race in Hungary, Tertsch was again second out of the water before ramping up the intensity further on the bike. With no one initially capable of going with her, she threatened a solo breakaway until the pack came together. However, her run did not fire in the same way as in Tiszy and she could only manage 9^th place, narrowly avoiding missing out on making the German Mixed Team Relay.

By contrast, the silver medallist behind Tertsch in Tiszy, Jolien Vermeylen (BEL), had the race of her life. After a run in Hungary in which the elbows were out, she found herself in plenty of space in the podium hunt in Hamburg. She was even among the medal slots for part of the run until Potter managed to get by. Her 4^th place, though, stands comfortably as her best ever WTCS result.

Moreover, Tilda Månsson (SWE), the bronze medallist in Tiszaujvaros, was also on song as she logged 5^th place, similarly her best ever WTCS performance. Both Vermelyen and Månsson had recorded top-10 finishes in the Series this year, but their Hamburg showings have lifted them to a different echelon of the sport.

Vilaca’s run goes on 

It was a fourth time in Hamburg and a fourth silver medal for Vasco Vilaca. Some athletes would gladly make a deal with the devil for a record like that and the Portuguese athlete’s spotless history in Hamburg is unique. No active WTCS athlete has a 100% return of medals at a venue they have raced more than three times. (Georgia Taylor-Brown has three medals from three WTCS Leeds appearances and Alex Yee has three wins from three in Cagliari.)

It would therefore be easy to say that, having claimed so many medals, Vilaca’s wait for a gold is a surprise. Yet the greater surprise is actually his exceptional record in Hamburg. When you factor in the calibre of athlete he has beaten into bronze in Hamburg alone – Yee, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre, a mix of world champions and WTCS gold medallists – his consistency becomes all the more astounding. The gold will come, surely. For now, though, he can at least take away one of the neatest statistical quirks of any athlete.

Down but up 

Had you offered Henry Graf (GER) 5th place at his home WTCS race at the start of the year, chances are he would have emptied his pockets to snap up the offer. What a difference a few months make. It speaks volumes of the giant leap forward he has made this season that the 5^th place he ultimately achieved yesterday was, while a great result, tinged by a sense of what could have been. 

Graf swam well and was so strong on the bike that he even rode off the front for a spell. Clearly confident in his cycling, he tried to sneak a few seconds into T2. And that was where it went wrong. Down he went as his wheel slipped out from under him at one of the final corners. But Graf bounced back up and hauled himself back into the top-5 on the run. Doing so burned his legs and it is hard not to think that on another day an even better (a podium possibly?) was on the cards. However the story here is not what might have been. It is how Graf’s levels have skyrocketed.

Back at the season opener in Abu Dhabi, his 4^th place was as incredible as it was surprising. Now he has confirmed his seat at the top table and, crashes notwithstanding, his is a stock that is only trending up.

Don’t forget that there will be further action in Hamburg this afternoon with the Mixed Team Relay World Championships. Catch it all on TriathonLive from 13:30 (CEST).