Even for the traditionally wild ride of Grand Final racing, the final 5km of Wollongong 2025 was one to set nerves jangling. Going in as Series leaders and the past two champions, Cassandre Beaugrand and Beth Potter looked set to deliver another late showdown for the title, before first the Olympic Champion succumbed to stomach issues and then Potter to injury and exhaustion, Germany’s Lisa Tertsch swooping in for the honours.
Now, the German Olympic Relay Champion must begin the defence of her title against one of the strongest women’s fields we have seen for years. Five World Champions, Two Olympic individual and three Mixed Relay Champions, three Olympic Relay Champions plus a host of medallists not to mention WTCS and World Cup winners make this shape up to an all-time season opener.
The horn sounds at 1pm local time, 10am CEST on Saturday 25 April, when the athletes launch into the Silk Road lake for a 1500m swim. A flat, fast 40km bike could split the field further or see it come together before the 10km run to the medals. Tune in to TriathlonLive.tv for all the action.
Tertsch returns to defend world title
While it had been a rollercoaster 2025 in the women’s title hunt with 5 athletes sharing the golds, it was Tertsch who managed to hit every start line of 2025 – the only male or female to do so. Her races saw a bit of everything, from leading swims to chase pack struggles, blitzing runs to not quite firing, but the points kept stacking up and left her best-placed to take advantage when her rivals faltered.
Just two French women start, both in sparkling run form. Cassandre Beaugrand hit a new 10km French record time, Leonie Periault doing likewise over the half marathon distance. Periault will need to deliver an exceptional swim if she is to stay in touch with her teammate over the early stages and be a contender late on, though.
Far larger contingents arrive in the form of the British and German teams, both packed with podium power. GB’s two most recent world champions Beth Potter and Lanzarote World Cup silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown are joined by arch swim-bikers in Olivia Mathias, Jess Fullagar and Tilly Anema, all capable of blowing the race apart early on.
Torpedos seek to turn up the heat
Indeed they, along with the likes of Bianca Seregni (ITA), Therese Feuersinger (AUT) and Marta Kropko (HUN) could be looking to take the race on from the gun and clock some rapid swim times to catch out any of the faster runners yet to fully dial in their swims this year.
For Germany, Laura Lindemann’s return after missing much of the 2025 season will be one to watch, but Tanja Neubert and Nina Eim have shown fine form in her absence, Annika Koch also a past podium player at this level, could this be Franka Rust or Selina Klamt’s time to shine?
Jeanne Lehair put together some of the form of her life in 2025, gold in Yokohama finally breaking a run of 4th places that, while Taylor Spivey narrowly failed to register a career-first Series gold after being chased down by Beth Potter at the end of a gripping WTCS Karlovy Vary. Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Gwen Jorgensen, Kirsten Kasper, Erica Ackerlund and newcomer Danielle Orie join Spivey on the USA team.
WTCS SAMARKAND
FULL WOMEN’S START LIST
25 APRIL FROM 1pm local / 10am CEST
TRIATHLONLIVE.TV