Opportunities rarely come along like this in the World Triathlon Championship Series. At WTCS Weihai, the final round of the regular season, the race for the women’s world title could be in for a big twist. With the top two athletes of the Series – Cassandre Beaugrand and Leonie Periault – absent, their rivals will have the chance to potentially rack up 1000 points, putting a dent into the French advance towards the crown. There will be a slightly smaller field, which could affect how the race plays out, but plenty of stars will nonetheless be in attendance. Find out all the key details from the start lists below.
Who’s there?
In the absence of Beaugrand and Periault, WTCS Yokohama winner Jeanne Lehair (ranked 3rd in the Series) will enter as the top seed. With a win and a silver already to her name, should Lehair win in Weihai, she will enter the WTCS Final with an identical points total to Beaugrand. Through Lehair’s presence alone, Weihai could be the race that turns the world title hunt on its head. Eva Daniels will be starting alongside Lehair for Luxembourg.
At the same time, Lehair will have her hands full against a stacked field. The 2023 world champion Beth Potter is also primed to go again; she has Sophie Alden for company on the British team. Moreover, last year’s WTCS Weihai winner, Lisa Tertsch, is also back and will look to accrue precious points as she targets a return to the overall podium. Tanja Neubert makes up the other half of the German team.
Elsewhere on the start list, WTCS Alghero medallist Bianca Seregni heads up an Italian quartet that also contains Alice Betto, Ilaria Zane and Verena Steinhauser. An awesome American foursome will also be racing with Taylor Spivey, Erika Ackerlund, Danielle Orie and Gina Sereno all slated to tackle the Weihai course. Of that group, Sereno could be one to watch given her happy memories at the race; her 8th place last year in Weihai remains her best WTCS finish.
From Canada, Desirae Ridenour leads a three-woman team after her recent WTCS personal best finish in Fréjus. Emy Legault and Sophia Howell are the other two Canadian women racing. Alissa Konig, another to log a personal best finish in Fréjus, will start alongside Nora Gmür for Switzerland. Meanwhile, two World Cup winners – Diana Isakova and Valentina Riasova – will also be representing the AIN team.
Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX), Tereza Zimovjanova (CZE) and Barbara Riveros (CHI) are among those entered as solo acts for their respective countries. Finally, the home team will target multiple high finishes. The Chinese squad is four-strong, containing Xinyu Lin, Wen Wei, Meiyi Lu and Huiwen Jia.
Who’s not there?
As already mentioned, Beaugrand and Periault are out. Some of the other noteworthy names to save themselves for the Series Final are Tilda Månsson, Nina Eim, Jolien Vermeylen, Emma Lombardi and Annika Koch.
Four talking points
World title calculations
The challenge is simple enough on paper. Lehair, Potter and Tertsch have to medal once more if they are to fight for the world title, or even for a place on the overall podium. All three currently have two 2025 WTCS medals on the board. Beaugrand, however, has three. Notwithstanding that they will have WTCS Karlovy Vary first, Weihai could therefore be make-or-break for their aspirations.
A win for Lehair, as noted above, puts her level with Beaugrand. Even a silver medal will suffice, though, as with either outcome she will still have to beat Beaugrand at the Final. A bronze would mean a gold in Wollongong alone would not be enough and she would need Beaugrand to lose to other women too.
A win for Potter would put her 145 points behind Beaugrand. In Wollongong, she would therefore need to win and hope Beaugrand loses to others too. However, if Potter also scores well in Karlovy Vary, this picture could change. Last but not least there is Tertsch. At this stage, nothing less than a win will do. This is because her Abu Dhabi win was only worth 750 points, versus the 1000 points on offer for all other races, as the new points system had not yet been ratified. Nevertheless, as the defending gold medallist in Weihai, Tersch knows exactly how to go about her business in China.
Two exciting debutants
On the women’s start list, there are two World Cup medallists pencilled in to make their first appearances in the WTCS. They are Sophie Alden (GBR) and Danielle Orie (USA) and their roads to Weihai have been radically different.
Alden medalled at the Napier World Cup at the start of 2024, a result that seemed to signal her readiness to take the next step in her career. However, injury struck not long after, putting her out of international competition for over a year. Now back, she has the chance to make her Series debut. In a smaller field, her swim-bike prowess could set her up ideally for a big result.
Meanwhile, Orie has been on the international scene for what feels like all of five minutes. She made her first international start last March, after Alden’s Napier medal, but within six months claimed a first international win at an Americas Cup. This season, the lawyer-turned-triathlete took bronze at the Americas Championships and then added a silver medal at the Saidia World Cup. Given the speed of her rise through the ranks, a strong outing in Weihai is definitely possible. Both Alden and Orie are therefore worth keeping in mind when the racing gets underway.
Old hunting ground
Lisa Tertsch is not the only woman to have enjoyed prior success in Weihai. Bianca Seregni won the last World Cup in the city in 2023 and since then has taken her game to a whole new level.
Now a WTCS medallist thanks to her exploits in Alghero, Seregni is regarded by many as the best swimmer in the Series (although she has competition for that moniker). She has improved on the bike since her win in Weihai two years ago, too, adding the missing piece between her obvious talents in the first and last disciplines. As an athlete in form, she could make a happy return to the venue.
Home star
Xinyu Lin will be the primary athlete to watch from the home team. Earlier this year, she became Asian champion over the sprint distance in Hong Kong, a crowning achievement after several years of progress. The Paris Olympian is also capable of dropping huge splits on the bike which could unlock the race.
We have not seen Lin on the WTCS stage this season. Indeed, she has not raced outside of Asia since Paris except for the Napier World Cup earlier this year. Her form against a WTCS calibre field may therefore be tricky to gauge. However, she finished 13th in Weihai last September and likely can be safely regarded as a top-10 contender this time around.
The start lists can be found here and you can watch every minute of WTCS Weihai live on TriathlonLive on 26th September. Until then, be sure to stay up to date with the latest across all World Triathlon channels.
