If we rewind one year, it was in Sardinia that Cassandre Beaugrand’s charge to world and Olympic glory began. Prior to the 2024 edition of WTCS Cagliari, the French star had never medalled over the standard distance in the WTCS, let alone won a race. That all changed, however, in Cagliari, setting her on the glittering path that followed.
In 2025, the Sardinia stop of the Series is moving to the other side of the island, to Alghero. With its new location, will the event provide the stage for a new star to crush the new season? The winner of the season opener, Lisa Tertsch, is one such athlete that seems primed for something special. Or will Beaugrand repeat her trick from last season? Her gilded recent form is hard to bet against. Find out who will be racing and who might contend for the win below.
Who’s there?
Cassandre Beaugrand is the standout name on the women’s start list and will be part of the same French duo slated to race in Yokohama. Joining her will be WTCS race winner Leonie Periault. In each season since 2021, Periault has been reliable for at least one WTCS medal. At the time of writing she has not yet made the podium in 2025, although she came close in Abu Dhabi with her 4th place finish. Whether or not she makes the podium in Yokohama, chances are she will be a major threat to the medals in Alghero.
The rest of the 2024 WTCS Cagliari podium will be in attendance with Lisa Tertsch and Beth Potter starting. As has been the norm this season, a large German team will accompany Tertsch in Alghero. Her fellow WTCS Abu Dhabi medallists Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann will be starting, as will Annika Koch, Tanja Neubert, Selina Klamt and Anabel Knoll in what is by far the largest team on the start list. For the British team, Sian Rainsley and Olivia Mathias will accompany Potter on the blue carpet.
Italy have the second largest squad on the women’s start list with Ilaria Zane, Verena Steinhauser, Bianca Seregni and Alice Betto all pencilled in to race. It has been quite some time since an Italian athlete made the podium in the WTCS, but with all four athletes having made World Cup podiums before (with Seregni and Betto both winning races in recent times), the team has both the strength and depth to muscle their way among the medals at their home event.
Three South African athletes will be starting in the form of Sarah-Jane Walker, Bridget Theunissen and Shanae Williams. Further southern hemisphere representation is on the start list through the Australian pair of Emma Jeffort and Ellie Hoitink as well as the New Zealand duo of Eva Goodisson and Brea Roderick.
Meanwhile, Miriam Casillas Garcia and Anna Godoy Contreras will be starting for Spain. Austria also has a squad of two in the women’s race having selected Julia Hauser and Therese Feuersinger. As for the American team, Gwen Jorgensen will now be joined by the late addition of Summer Rappaport.
The remainder of the start list is made up of solo acts for their respective countries. Yuko Takahashi will be the lone Japanese racer in the women’s race, in contrast to the considerable line-up selected for WTCS Yokohama. WTCS medallists Maya Kingma (NED) and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX) will also be starting, while the remaining starting slots will be taken by Jeanne Lehair (LUX), Tilda Månsson (SWE), Jolien Vermeylen (BEL), Tereza Zimovjanova (CZE), Roksana Slupek (POL), Maria Tomé (POR), Márta Kropkó (HUN) and Nora Gmür (SUI).
Who’s not there?
Having medalled in Cagliari previously and contributed to last year’s epic showdown in the final kilometre, Emma Lombardi will be absent. Olympic medallists Julie Derron and Georgia Taylor-Brown will also not be starting as their racing focus currently lies elsewhere. Taylor Spivey, Kate Waugh and Rachel Klamer are the other missing names from the top-20 in the world rankings.
Four talking points
Don’t stand so close to me
The past two world champions, Beaugrand and Potter, have had an odd dynamic in Sardinia. Over the three editions of the race on the island, the two Olympic medallists have always finished the same number of places apart.
In 2022, Beaugrand took 8th place to Potter’s 10th. A year later, the French star narrowly missed out on the podium in 4th place while Potter ended up in 6th. Then, last time out, Beaugrand won with Potter settling for 3rd place. Together, the two women have steadily risen up to the Cagliari rankings. In Alghero, the challenge will be twofold: firstly to break the cycle and secondly for Potter to finally get one over her great rival on Sardinian soil.
Olivia Mathias
Britain’s Olivia Mathias has yet to start an international triathlon in 2025 and Alghero will be her first race of the season. However, her absence should not be interpreted as a sign of rustiness. Over the past couple of months, Mathias has produced multiple head-turning running performances, indicating that the athlete set to start at the end of the month has levelled up from the one seen in recent years.
Mathias has logged times of 15:46 over 5km and 32:55 over 10km. Already a World Cup medallist known for her strength in the first two disciplines, with those times it appears Mathias has matured into an all-round threat. The British squad is in a state of flux right now with the absences and departures of the likes of Taylor-Brown, Sophie Coldwell, Vicky Holland and Jess Learmonth. As such, if Mathias can bring her new running speed to bear in Alghero, she might suddenly find herself as a senior player on the national team.
Kingma and Kropkó reunited
Alghero will be the first time Maya Kingma and Márta Kropkó share a start list since their double act at the Karlovy Vary World Cup last September. That day, the pair engineered a breakaway and rode together for the full standard distance 40km, putting multiple minutes into the rest of the field. From there, Kingma claimed a resounding win – on her birthday no less – while Kropkó earned a best ever World Cup finish in 4th place.
Now reunited, they face the task of repeating the trick. Alghero does not quite have the same course profile as Karlovy Vary; few courses do. Nevertheless, with a sea swim and several challenging parts of the bike route, there will definitely be scope for a breakaway. If the MK pair can drum up a similarly successful attack, they may turn the race on its head.
Casillas and Lehair
Two athletes that may be dark horses for the podium in Alghero are Miriam Casillas Garcia and Jeanne Lehair. Both have previously finished 5th in Cagliari – Casillas in 2022, Lehair in 2024 – and are among the most experienced athletes in the field.
They ended their 2024 seasons on a high with finishes of 5th and 6th, respectively, at the WTCS Final in Torremolinos. To go with that, they have logged multiple top-8 finishes at Series races. Lehair has even finished 4th twice (in Montreal in 2023 and Hamburg in 2024). Both have therefore been close to that maiden medal before and both have previously performed well in Sardinia. Maybe this will be the event that one, or even both, of them takes the final step up onto the podium.
Keep in the loop with all the latest in the build-up to WTCS Alghero across all World Triathlon channels and catch the racing live on TriathlonLive on 31st May. View the full women’s start list here.
