Whereas we characterised the men’s field at WTCS Samarkand as a chance for a new guard in the sport to shine, the start list for WTCS Yokohama lays a platform for the establishment to strike back.
Reigning world champion Matthew Hauser (AUS), Olympic champion Alex Yee (GBR) and T100 world champion Hayden Wilde (NZL) are all set to open their campaigns in Japan. And for this trio in particular, Yokohama will likely be a race of enhanced importance.
From the 2014 Series to the 2021 edition, every men’s winner in Yokohama went on to claim the world title. That run faltered in subsequent years, however Hauser brought it back last season. Naturally, the Australian will seek to repeat the trick. Yet Yee and Wilde, winners in Yokohama in 2022 and 2023, will be aware that knocking the defending champ down a peg will set their respective world title hunts off a perfect start.
With plenty of further star power gracing the start list, find out below who exactly is set to race in Yokohama next month.
Who’s there?
Joining Hauser on the Australian team will be Luke Willian, who memorably finished on the podium behind his teammate here in 2024. Brandon Copeland and Bradley Course will also be racing in the green and gold.
On the British side, Yee will have Hugo Milner, Jack Willis, Harry Leleu and Max Stapley for company. It has been over 18 months since Yee last raced over the standard distance and he will have pace-setting duties at the London Marathon before stepping on the Yokohama start line. We can count on his run being exceptional, but at what level will his other disciplines be?
Of the Big Three, Wilde is the only one attending Yokohama without teammates. That said, he will not be the only man from New Zealand on the start line as James Corbett will race under TRI colours as he transitions from a New Zealand sporting nationality to an Irish one.
Morgan Pearson, the 2024 victor, heads up an American quintet that also contains WTCS medallist John Reed, Reese Vannerson, Darr Smith and Chase McQueen. Team Germany likewise has a race winner of their own on the start list in the form of Tim Hellwig. He appears beside Valentin Wernz, Jonas Osterholt and Chris Ziehmer.
Charles Paquet, Mathis Beaulieu and Martin Sobey form a strong Canadian trio that could threaten the higher placings. Paquet in particular has enjoyed some success in Yokohama before.
World Cup winner Arnaud Mengal starts for Belgium alongside Erwin Vanderplancke while Hungary will send Márton Kropkó and Zsombor Dévay. Norway will have a World Cup winner of their own starting in Vetle Bergsvik Thorn; he will be joined by Sebastian Wernersen. Luxembourg will also have two athletes starting through Theo Marti and Gregor Payet.
The largest contingent by far comes from the home team. Asian champion and World Cup winner Takumi Hojo (JPN) enters as the pick of the bunch. At the same time, youngster Takuto Oshima (JPN) could be one to watch after a successful start to the season. Aoba Yasumatsu, Kenji Nener, Genta Uchida, Kazushi Jozuka, Ren Sato, Koki Iwamoto, Satoshi Iwamoto and Kenshin Mori complete the massive line-up of Japanese hopefuls.
Miguel Hidalgo is Brazil’s sole male entrant. Notably, he is also the only one of the pre-season men’s favourites to tackle both WTCS Samarkand and WTCS Yokohama. Two strong showings would thus make him the leader in the standings and the early front-runner for the world title.
Hidalgo will be joined by another 2025 race winner: Switzerland’s Max Studer who claimed the gold in Weihai. Further key names on the start list are World Cup medallists Izan Edo Aguilar (ESP), Diego Moya (CHI) and Aram Michell Peñaflor Moysen (MEX).
Who’s not there?
As already mentioned, much of the young guard hoping to usurp the Hauser-Yee-Wilde axis will not be in Yokohama. Among this group are Vasco Vilaca (POR), David Cantero del Campo (ESP), Henry Graf (GER), Csongor Lehmann (HUN) and Alessio Crociani (ITA), all of whom will instead by in Samarkand this weekend.
The clear demarcation between the two starts lists will actually heap the pressure on this group to come away with a statement finish in Uzbekistan. After all, they will race with the knowledge that a few weeks later at least one of Hauser, Yee and Wilde should come away with big points in Japan. The Yokohama start list, then, already seems set to have potent implications for WTCS Samarkand as well as the broader season.
The start lists can be found here and all the action will be shown live on TriathlonLive on 16th May.