The fuse is ready to be lit on the 2026 WTCS season, a year in which fiery rivalries forged over the last half a decade of racing will reignite on brand new courses and fresh challenges. No fewer than ten WTCS races including the Finals will shape the title challenges, the points from the best five results plus the Pontevedra Finals deciding the new world champions. Add in the first LA28 Olympic Qualification points on the menu from the start of June and the return of some familiar faces to the front line, and 2026 is set to be a blockbuster.

Lisa Tertsch and Matt Hauser will be going all in to defend their crowns, but get ready for The Renaissance as we fire up the blue carpet for the last round of triathlon thrills and spills as we know it. And don’t forget, you can watch every minute of the action on TriathlonLive.tv.

28-29 MARCH 
WTCS ABU DHABI 
SPRINT + MIXED RELAY
Last year’s debut of the new-look Abu Dhabi course on Hudayriyat Island lived up to the billing, the beach start, fast, sweeping bike course and steamy 5km run providing a true early-season test over both the individual and relay formats.

Hayden Wilde was a force in the men's race, hoovering up the front pack on the bike before running away with the men's gold. Lisa Tertsch was the only athlete to race every single WTCS in 2025, and it was with the gold at season opener she set the tone, so expect her to be back on the attack in the UAE heat again when the curtain goes up at the end of March.

 

26 APRIL
WTCS SAMARKAND
OLYMPIC DISTANCE 
Making the step up from hosting World Cups in 2024-2025, the ancient Silk Road welcomes WTCS racing for the first time in 2026, specifically the historic city of Samarkand. It’s a 1500m swim in the purpose-built rowing lake, 6-lap bike around the water’s perimeter and then a 4-lap run to the tape.

Expect the mercury to rise into the high 20 Celsius as the athletes tackle the hard, hot but mercifully flat Olympic-distance course, where shade is at a premium and David Cantero still was able to run a 30:19 10km two years ago.

 

16 MAY
WTCS YOKOHAMA
OLYMPIC DISTANCE
The 16th instalment of top-tier racing in the Japanese city of Yokohama forms the third stop of 2026, where Matt Hauser and Leonie Periault will want to rediscover their winning touch of 12 months ago.  The athletes launch into the harbour for the 2-lap 1500m swim, before running up the ramp into transition for the 10-lap bike, wrapping up with a 4-lap run.

Tokyo’s May weather has thrown everything at the athletes over the years, though rarely as much rain as in 2025, always adding another layer to the action. Lisa Tertsch and Beth Potter podium’d here last year, Cassandre Beaugrand has never won a Yokohama medal. Gwen Joregensen has an incredible FOUR Yokohama golds, Hauser, Yee and Wilde have one gold each. Expect the unexpected.

 

30-31 MAY
WTCS ALGHERO
SPRINT DISTANCE + MIXED RELAY
An all-new slice of Sardinian style joined the Series in 2025, the Italian island having carved out a real reputation for pure racing entertainment over the years. And it is back to Alghero the athletes head at the end of May in the hunt not just for gold, but the first Olympic qualification points towards a place on the LA28 start lines. 

Last year, the beach-start proved taxing but the course was a boom for the breakaway hunters. Eleven men and five women bossed the bikes and stayed clear of the chasers, Miguel Hidalgo famously hitting the gas right out of T2 to record Brazil’s first top-tier win in 34 years. Cassandre Beaugrand was equally imperious over the 10km, bouncing back from her Yokohama bike-crash drama. 

20-21 JUNE
WTCS QUIBERON
SPRINT DISTANCE + MIXED RELAY 
The French leg of the Series moves north-west in 2026, and from its Riviera home of last year to beautiful Quiberon on Brittany’s south coast. A sprint distance course awaits, with a beach start and rolling climbs over a 22km bike that crosses the southern tip of the peninsula. 

Expect the top French athletes to be in full force to attack a course they know well from the domestic Grand Prix circuit, and the crowds to be out likewise, as they take advantage of the third successive year to see their Olympic and World Championship heroes up close and personal against the best on the world. 

11-12 JULY
WTCS HAMBURG
SPRINT DISTANCE + MIXED RELAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 
The second half of the season gets going in the familiar surrounds of Germany’s home of triathlon, Hamburg. Every year since 2002 the tri-loving crowds have lined the streets to create a unique, iconic event, and will be baying for more German success in 2026, both individual and Mixed Relay. 

Matt Hauser was the king of the course last year, soaring to individual gold before anchoring Australia to their first Mixed Relay world title in eight years. Leonie Periault pulled a 5km for the ages out of the fire to hold off teammate Cassandre Beaugrand on the course that the Olympic Champion scored her first ever WTCS gold back in 2018. Hayden Wilde will have happy memories of the city after scoring his first win over Alex Yee here in 2023, but the Brit will be looking to improve on his one bronze over the years in Germany. 

25 JULY
WTCS LONDON
OLYMPIC DISTANCE
A decade has passed since the last time the Series hit London and Ali Brownlee took the gold to a thunderous Hyde park reception. Leeds subsequently picked up UK hosting duties with aplomb, but London is back with a bang for 2026, albeit on the opposite side of the capital to 2015.

The third race in five weeks, it is to the Docklands the athletes will head, familiar hunting ground from last year’s T100 races. Alex Yee has already stated just how much it means to race in his home city, the likes of Beth Potter and Kate Waugh will also be buoyed, but their title rivals would love to silence the crowds by taking the tape. 

29 AUGUST 
WTCS WEIHAI
OLYMPIC DISTANCE
China hosts the penultimate stop before the 2026 Finals and, after last year’s breakneck efforts on a slick, new-look course, this could be another stunner to shake up the rankings as the world title run in begins to reach a climax. 

It was Max Studer with a rip-roaring run to the men's tape 12 months ago after a fascinating 40km bike that fizzed and cracked as moves were opened up and shut down by the big guns before finally sticking right at the death. Gold for Beth Potter put her in the driving seat for the women’s title… will this year’s visit to the Red Dragon prove to be as decisive, or another opportunity for some new faces to step up?

13 SEPTEMBER
WTCS KARLOVY VARY
OLYMPIC DISTANCE
The regular season comes to a close in the Czech hills of Bohemia, where a legendary course awaits and a mighty test for the athletes to try to overcome for their final points hauls before the Grand Final. 

The most technical swim on the circuit around the twists and turns of Rolava Lake, a full-gas point-to-point into town and then seven laps across the cobbles and climbs of the historic centre is what is ahead. Henry Graf, Mark Devay and Tjebbe Kaindle, Maya Kingma and Taylor Spivey showed the way on the bike breakaways 12 months ago, but only two of those reaped their reward. Two weeks out from the title decider, will it be who dares wins?

27 SEPTEMBER 
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS PONTEVEDRA
OLYMPIC DISTANCE 
Back in 2023, the Galician town of Pontevedra hosted one of the most dramatic Finals we have witnessed, Dorian Coninx snatching the men’s title from under Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde’s noses, Beth Potter taking the women’s title with a stunning run. This year, we return for what is sure to be yet more fireworks as the title decider returns to the north west of Spain. 

The start pontoon again sits under the iconic Tirantes Bridge, athletes hitting the Lerez River for a current-impacted 1500m swim before a new-look 40km bike snakes and bumps through the historic city centre for the first time. Out of the athletics stadium that again houses transition, the run will extract the very best from the best as they chase their dreams of those 2026 world championship titles.