Just a week after Copacabana's sand settled, the elite women are lining up all over again. The 2026 World Triathlon Cup circuit heads to Paraguay this weekend for the first time, with Asuncion hosting its debut World Cup on Sunday, 9 August, and the Olympic distance format promising another day of fast, attritional racing on a brand new course.
It is a rare back-to-back for the field: from the beach at Rio straight into a lake in Asuncion, and this time, for an Olympic distance race. But while the calendar has moved quickly, the story lines have travelled with it. The entire Rio podium returns to race again, this time on a course that could not look more different.
The course: fast, flat and new to everyone
Asuncion's layout gives the peloton a genuinely new puzzle to solve. The swim is set in a lake, two laps of 750m from a pontoon start, a format that tends to keep the pack honest and reward strong positioning from the gun. The bike is flat and fast: six laps for a total of 40km, the kind of course that favours a large group riding together rather than splits opening up on climbs. The run closes the day out over four laps of 2.35km, finished off with a short, sharp 600m to make up the full 10km.
With nobody having raced this course before, the form book from Rio carries extra weight, even if the conditions won't translate directly.
Ones to watch, fresh off Copacabana
Zuzana Michalickova arrives as the athlete to beat. The Slovakian claimed her maiden World Cup victory in Rio, holding off a fast-finishing Kelly Wetteland (USA) by a single second. That result was the first ever World Cup medal for a Slovakian triathlete, and Michalickova will be looking to Asuncion to continue the streak and consolidate her progress on the road to Los Angeles 2028.
Wetteland won't need reminding of how close she came. The American produced the fastest run split of the day in Rio and will fancy her chances of going one better if the finish comes down to a sprint again. Beatrice Mallozzi, third in Rio in career-best shape, rounds out the podium returning to action, and having managed her race so well in Copacabana, she arrives in Paraguay as a genuine threat across all three disciplines.
Manami Hayashi (JPN) is another name in form. Her sixth place in Rio, edging out Erika Ackerlund in a tight sprint finish, was a personal best result at World Cup level, and she has been open about the swim improvements behind her rise this season. A flat, fast bike course and a short, punchy run finish suit an athlete building momentum.
Danielle Orie (USA) and Maria Casals (ESP) complete the group to watch. Both arrive in Asuncion looking to make their mark on a course that rewards positioning and composure as much as raw pace, and a strong swim exit onto that flat 40km bike leg could be the difference in a race where the group is unlikely to split early.
There are other names worth keeping an eye on beyond the Rio result sheet. Verena Steinhauser (ITA) brings a long history of strong World Cup performances to the start line, and a course this fast plays to that experience. Mariana Vargem (POR) is one of the rising stars of Portuguese triathlon and will be eager to keep building on a breakout season. And Rosa Elena Martinez, of Venezuela, is chasing a return to the top form she showed last year, with an eye on improving her Olympic qualification ranking as she works towards Los Angeles.
Team World Triathlon in the mix
Rio was described as a major success story for Team World Triathlon, the development pathway supporting athletes from emerging National Federations on the road to Los Angeles 2028, and that momentum arrives in Asuncion too. Michalickova's win came with a personal shoutout to the programme: 'It means a lot for me to belong to the World Triathlon Development Team, we have a very nice group.' Fellow programme athlete Tjasa Vrtacic backed that up with a personal best of her own for fifth in Rio, and both line up again in Asuncion looking to keep the momentum going on a new course, in a new country, on the same unforgiving Sunday schedule.
They won't be racing alone. Daniela Moya (CHI), Margareta Vrablova (SVK) and Hannah Newman (RSA) also line up in Asuncion under the Team World Triathlon banner, giving the programme six athletes in the women's field and another chance to show the pathway's depth as it builds towards LA28.