Third in 2022, second in 2024, Lisa Tertsch will line up for Saturday’s 2025 WTCS Hamburg as the woman to beat, even after Cassandre Beaugrand’s golden return to form at the previous stop of the Series in Alghero.
A surprise addition to the Tiszaujvaros World Cup last weekend, Tertsch’s desire to further sharpen and tune up ahead of the next chapter in her quest to become World Champion paid off as she scooped the gold with a controlled display. For an athlete who thrives on preparation and confidence, the stage could be set for a first Series win on home soil to further enhance her title credentials.
It's a classic sprint-distance course that awaits as the 2025 season reaches the halfway mark, with 1,000 Series ranking points as well as the gold to the winner. The 750m swim in central Hamburg’s Binnenalster Lake is followed by a 20km bike through the tight city streets, and then a 5km run to the sun. Watch all the action over on TriathlonLive.tv from 6.40pm local time.
Tertsch fresh from Tizzy success
Coming in hot as the number one athlete in the Series right now, Lisa Tertsch hails from Frankfurt some 500km south, but Hamburg has become her second home since a chastening Series debut way back in 2016 at the age of just 17. A first Series podium here with silver in 2022 was followed up with the same result 12 months ago, helping her to fourth overall in the Series last year.
Now a familiar face at the front of the swim as well as a fearless biker, Tertsch has shown she has both the power and tactical guile to hold off the likes of Beth Potter and Jeanne Lehair. Only Cassandre Beaugrand has remained unbeatable in a toe-to-toe run to the tape for the 26-year-old. Gold here would be a huge statement of intent for the rest of the year and her world title ambitions.
Beaugrand's back alright
If one athlete has become synonymous with Hamburg in recent times, then it is the Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand. Winner here of the last two editions, this was also the venue of her Series debut in 2014 and her first Series win four years later.
Throw in silver in 2019 and three out of her four consecutive Mixed Relay world titles from 2018 to 2022 and it would be fair to say that the city has been a successful hunting ground for the French star over the years. After skipping Abu Dhabi and crashing out in Yokohama, a second win of the year after that remarkable Alghero comeback performance would put Beaugrand right back into contention for the title defence.
Lehair and Potter ready to dig deep
The outstanding performer in Yokohama, Jeanne Lehair stands second in the Series with that win and a pair of seventh-placed finishes either side including an almighty 10km run in Alghero after missing the front pack. Mexico’s Rosa Maria Tapia stands in third as she continues to crank up the top 10 consistency across the season so far.
For Beth Potter, missing the front pack in Alghero also proved costly, but there are plenty of opportunities remaining to add to her silver in Yokohama, where the run rhythm that had been hard to come by across much of 2024 was very much back in business.
The French team will be bolstered by the return of Emma Lombardi, 4th in the Paris Olympics and third in the Series last year and now ready to get back into race mode for the first time this year alongside the invariably excellent Leonie Periault.
Another big name making her return to the blue carpet is Britain's Tokyo 2020 Olympic Relay gold and individual silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown, who has spent a six-month triathlon hiatus rediscovering its core components as well as going back to her cross country roots. Hamburg will represent an experiment and a test of where she is in her racing, with more intangible targets than a big point score.
Bianca Seregni (ITA) and Olivia Mathias (GBR) will be drawing plenty of attention after their spectacular swim-bike-runs to silver and bronze respectively in Alghero, Taylor Spivey and Gwen Jorgensen lead the line for the USA and Kate Waugh makes her second Series start of the year after a spectacular start to her T100 racing with gold in Singapore.
FULL WTCS HAMBURG START LIST
TRIATHLONLIVE.TV
12 JULY 2025
18:40 CEST
NOTE FOR EDITORS:
The 2025 World Triathlon Championship Series comprises SEVEN RACES plus the Championship Finals.
A Series win is worth 1,000 POINTS.
The winner of the Championship Finals receives 1,250 POINTS.
Continental Championship winners receive 400 points.
The number of points reduces by 7.5% with each position thereafter.
(WTCS Abu Dhabi was worth 750 points as per the 2024 rules)
The top THREE points scores from the season PLUS those earned in the Finals will be combined to determine the 2025 WORLD CHAMPION.
