If it was to be the last race ever of the World Triathlon Championship Series, it had to go out with a bang. And the athletes that summoned a final push at the last dance in Abu Dhabi gave the Series a send-off it deserved.
Across icons of the sport flexing their muscles to return to the podium, potential stars of LA 2028 and beyond ripping up the course, and a serial World Cup winner converting her success into a first ever WTCS win, there was plenty to discuss. Read on to find out five of the biggest talking points from the final curtain call before the Triathlon World Tour builds on the foundations laid by the WTCS.
From Hong Kong to Abu Dhabi
It is said that history does not repeat itself, but rather that it rhymes. What happens when that history is less than a week old? Is that a rhyme, part of the same verse of a song, a glitch in the matrix? Whatever the case, in Abu Dhabi we were treated to a showdown on the run between Diana Isakova (RUS) and Jeanne Lehair (LUX) just as we were last weekend at the Hong Kong World Cup.
There were slight differences, hence the rhyme rather than repetition. For example, Isakova and Lehair were in the nine-athlete breakaway and were forced to burn their legs to stay clear, whereas in Hong Kong they were able to conserve their energy in a large pack that took a rather more leisurely approach at times.
What did not change, however, was the outcome. After wins in Hong Kong and at the Rome World Cup a month earlier, Isakova was clinical, attacking shortly before the blue carpet to defeat multiple WTCS medallist Lehair by 3 seconds. After five World Cup wins in the past eighteen months and numerous top-8 WTCS finishes in the same period (including at both the 2025 and 2026 Finals), Isakova has been building towards this breakthrough. Now arguably entering her peak as an athlete, she seems set to be one of the biggest players in the inaugural season of the World Tour.
Big Mig strikes back
We all learned an important lesson in Abu Dhabi. If you let a fit and healthy Miguel Hidalgo (BRA) arrive in T2 with the leaders, there is a good chance he might make everyone look like they have cement in their shoes. The Brazilian star burst out as a future world title contender with a fantastic win at WTCS Alghero last year, a result at which he bounced away from soon-to-be world champion Matt Hauser (AUS) as if his shoes had wings.
Later that year, Hidalgo placed 2nd and 4th in Karlovy Vary and the Wollongong Final despite missing the lead pack. The same was true at this year’s Quiberon stop where he came home in 5th with the best run split of the day. In between, he won further medals, but injury and illness have blighted his 2026 campaign. As a result, rare has been the occasion that we have seen a fit and healthy Hidalgo at the front when the run starts. Well, we saw it in Abu Dhabi yesterday. And it was glorious.
Anyone that can put 18 seconds into Hauser over 5km, at any time of year, can be earmarked as a world title challenger, and if Hidalgo can hold onto this newfound form in 2027 he could be set for a year that leaves plenty with their jaws on the floor.
Bronze never looked so good
Like all good farewell parties, the WTCS rolled out some of its greatest hits to please the crowd. Few did more to elevate the women’s Series in the early- to mid-2010s than Rio Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen (USA), and in Abu Dhabi she brought back some of the old magic. Although she looked out of contention coming into T2 having missed the lead pack, she was only getting started. Jorgensen ripped a field-leading 16:26 5km split to charge through to 3rd place and her first WTCS podium in over ten years.
Since starting her comeback in late 2022, Jorgensen has had some near misses, but this first podium is a landmark achievement and sets her firmly on track in her pursuit of LA 2028. Moreover, to put this delicately, Jorgensen is the first woman in her fifth decade of life to ever medal in the Series. Already the record holder for WTCS wins, it seems she is not remotely done in her quest for history.
Meanwhile, the men’s race plumped for a more recent track from the jukebox: the sight of double Olympic medallist Hayden Wilde (NZL) absolutely torching the bike course. Like Jorgensen, Wilde missed out on the breakaway. Yet his power was enough to keep a four-man group on fairly level terms with the leaders despite the numerical advantage of the eleven-strong front pack. A vintage run then saw him pass all bar Hidalgo and Hauser to return to the podium after a lengthy absence.
Wilde was the winner last time out in Abu Dhabi, in March 2025, but that seems a world away. After his horrific bike crash last spring, the New Zealander never got going again in the Series, even if he was able to come back and dominate the T100. His injuries had simply set his swim back too much. With this result and his 5th place finish at the Pontevedra Final, though, the signs are there that Wilde is primed to flex in both the T100 and T50 next season.
Hoi Ben, Ian is er
Ben Dijkstra (NED) has history with Abu Dhabi. At last year’s race, he made his Series debut and came home in 8th place in one of the rare top-10 finishes by a first timer. This time out, Dijkstra was set to make his first Series start for his new country, having switched sporting nationality from Great Britain to the Netherlands. His moment, however, was snatched away by one of his new teammates.
Coming into this race, Ian Pennekamp (NED) had a Series best result of 10th from this year’s season opener in Samarkand. He tore that to shreds as he placed 4th yesterday, prevailing in a five-way sprint for the line. Notably, Pennekamp’s result now stands as the best performance by any active male athlete on the Dutch WTCS squad. Dijkstra, a World Cup medallist, and Mitch Kolkman (NED), who placed 9th in Abu Dhabi and is a World U23 Championship medallist, will have received the message loud and clear. Ian is here.
A debut to remember
As with all memorable parties, leaving or otherwise, WTCS Abu Dhabi had something for everyone, including the youngsters that had been invited. The biggest beneficiary in this regard was unquestionably Eve Whitaker (GBR). On her Series debut (is it an odd feeling to make a first start at a competition’s last iteration?), Whitaker impressed in the breakaway and held on to take 7th place.
It was only a week prior that Whitaker was making her World Cup debut in Hong Kong, where she finished 15th after leading the field into T2. She nonetheless handled the step up with aplomb. Every athlete behind her in the top-15 was at least a World Cup medallist while five of the six women ahead of her were WTCS gold medallists; three had Olympic golds.
Alongside compatriot Bethany Cook (GBR), who also impressed on debut by placing 16th, look for Whitaker to press her case to be towards the front of the British race to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. And who knows, with more WTCS finishes like yesterday maybe LA 2028 could be on the cards too.
