The clash of the 2025 world champions is upon us. Following Hayden Wilde’s withdrawal from WTCS Yokohama, we have been left waiting for the first chance to see last year’s T100 master go up against the reigning WTCS champion, Matt Hauser. Both technically went head-to-head at T100 Singapore recently, but that was Hauser’s first dabble at the distance. Instead, it is in the WTCS, the format that made both their names, that their contest will be at its most electric.
At the same time, last year’s Alghero winner, Miguel Hidalgo, arrives as the man to beat. He ambushed Hauser during the first half of the run last time out with blistering speed, and chances are he will have to summon something even more explosive to defend his gold medal. With five other WTCS race winners currently on the start list, this is an event that could go in any direction. Find out how the field is shaping up below.
Who’s there?
Such is the surfeit of talent on the men’s start list, it is hard to identify who is actually the favourite coming into WTCS Alghero. Is it Hauser, the world champion? Is it last year’s race winner, Hidalgo? How about Vasco Vilaca, winner of the WTCS season opener in Samarkand? What odds for the man that has twice come close to gold in Sardinia but come away with two silvers, Wilde? Or is it the man that beat all bar Vilaca on his way to gold in Karlovy Vary last September, Henry Graf?
Based on those names alone, this race promises to be spectacular. And the supporting cast each athlete brings with them only enhances the prospect.
Hauser will race in Australian colours with WTCS medallist Luke Willian for company. Hidalgo one-ups him there; his Brazilian teammate Manoel Messias not only has more WTCS medals but has actually claimed one in Sardinia before.
Vilaca has the largest set of teammates on the start line, with World Cup medallists Miguel Tiago Silva, Ricardo Batista and João Nuno Batista bolstering the Portuguese squad. Wilde and Graf, meanwhile, fall into the same boat as Hauser and Hidalgo with one teammate apiece. Saxon Morgan will be the second New Zealand man on the start line while Valentin Wernz returns as the second German athlete.
Not to be forgotten either is WTCS Weihai winner Max Studer. Although Studer has not appeared at a Sardinian WTCS stop before, he did finish 5th at the Arzachena World Cup in 2022, indicating some familiarity with the island and the challenges its courses present. Now a WTCS race winner, he is also a very different calibre of athlete to the one that raced here four years ago. He leads a Swiss trio alongside Sylvain Fridelance and Simon Westermann.
Another returning Alghero medallist is part of a double act of world champions for the French team.
Leo Bergere pushed Hauser all the way on the run last year before ultimately settling for the bronze medal. Now, the 2022 world champion is back with his successor Dorian Coninx also hunting a return to the podium. Tom Richard, Yanis Seguin and Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger make up the rest of the French team.
If you want a dark horse for the podium to bet on, look no further than Csongor Lehmann. The Hungarian is on an eight-race streak in which he has finished in the WTCS top-10, a run that was launched by his maiden Series medal in Sardinia two years ago. With form both on the island and in the Series at large, he will stake a strong claim for a medal. Márton Kropkó likewise starts for Hungary after invigorating the race in Samarkand with his breakaway, as do Márk Dévay and Bence Bicsák.
Double 2025 WTCS medallist Alessio Crociani heads up the home Italian team. Euan De Nigro and Nicola Azzano will join him on the start line. Charles Paquet, fresh off a maiden Series medal of his own in Samarkand, will be part of a Canadian trio that contains Tyler Mislawchuk and Mathis Beaulieu.
Then we come to the threats on the run. As good as the array of gold medallists on the start line are at the third discipline, they face a cohort of men more than capable of mowing them down.
David Cantero del Campo, owner of the day’s best split in Alghero last year, goes for Spain alongside Antonio Serrat Seoane and Alberto Gonzalez Garcia. Oliver Conway and Hugo Milner, the fastest runners in Samarkand last month, similarly start for Britain alongside Connor Bentley, Jack Willis and Max Stapley.
Cantero only converted his run in Alghero to a 6th place finish, while Conway and Milner also missed the medals in Samarkand. Nevertheless, Cantero came away with a medal at the WTCS Final in Wollongong and this group will likely pose a significant challenge to the favourites.
Another speedster on the run, Reese Vannerson, could also contend. The young World Cup winner is part of an American team comprising Darr Smith, Chase McQueen and Seth Rider.
Elsewhere, Ren Sato, Takumi Hojo and Aoba Yasumatsu start for Japan. Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and Sebastian Wernersen are slated to race for Norway, while Austria will be represented by Tjebbe Kaindl, Thomas Windischbauer.
In total, five solo acts will be Alghero. Ian Pennekamp (NED) is fresh off a personal best 10th place finish in Samarkand and will look to go even higher. Jawad Abdelmoula (MAR), Diego Moya (CHI), Maciej Bruzdziak (POL) and Shachar Sagiv (ISR) are the other individuals to race alone for their respective countries. Finally, James Corbett completes the start list as the only athlete racing under TRI colours.
Who’s not there?
John Reed (USA) is the sole man in the top-20 of the world rankings not to take up a slot on the start list. WTCS gold medallists Tim Hellwig (GER) and Morgan Pearson (USA) are likewise absent. In addition, one big name not due to race at this moment is Alex Yee (GBR). That, however, could soon change.
Yee is second on the wait list to race which means the Olympic champion could yet appear in Alghero. If he does, his presence would make for a ninth winner in the field and, as the man with the best WTCS record in Sardinia, he could be the most dangerous of the bunch.
The action will take place on 30th May, two weeks after round 2 of the Series in Yokohama. The start lists can be found here and be sure not to miss a moment, whether live or on repeat, on TriathlonLive.