There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen, but WTCS Karlovy Vary was that rare instance of a day in which everything happens. At what was perhaps the best race of the year (so far), Beth Potter and Henry Graf were the stars amid an other-worldly cast of performers.
In this article, we will try to keep to just five headlines we took away from the action, but it would be remiss to not also mention Tereza Zimovjanova delighting home fans with her huge personal best WTCS finish of 8th place, Tjebbe Kaindl (9th) and Márk Dévay (10th) earning best results of their own after monstrous cycling performances alongside Henry Graf in the men’s breakaway, and Hayden Wilde recovering from an iffy swim to log the fastest run of day and only sub-30 10km split. Notably, Wilde left the water 1:51 down on the leader; his deficit to Graf at the finish line? 1:52.
Taylor’s Edition
Going into Karlovy Vary, Taylor Spivey had not medalled in the WTCS since May 2023. Moreover, in the time since, she had only recorded a solitary top-5 result in the Series. Having entered 2024 as a T100 Wildcard and shown clear development over her newer distance, signs were afoot that her future could lay elsewhere. Well, that turned out to be wrong.
This was not vintage Spivey. This might have been the best she has ever been. The American was second out of the water and set the tone early on the bike, showing some teeth both with her aggressive tempo and with her refusal to take prisoners with some of the slackers in her group. From there, Spivey produced a tactically perfect performance. A mini-break with Emma Lombardi did not stick but she then managed to bridge to Maya Kingma’s decisive attack. By the time they arrived in T2, they led by over a minute and Spivey had the second best bike split of the day.
Then, after everything, after her valiant effort trying to hold off Beth Potter, she settled for silver, matching her best ever Series result from eight years prior. This came after she clocked the third best run of the field. Commanding across the board, Spivey was sublime and we’ll have to hope to see more of her in the coming years.
Henry hoovers gold
Be honest, did you see this one coming? If few anticipated Spivey’s performance, even fewer could have predicted Henry Graf’s breakout win. In the aftermath of WTCS French Riviera, it was widely noted that Graf was one of the biggest drivers of the breakaway group that escaped Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde. As such, there were Easter eggs that the big old German engine could thrive on Karlovy Vary’s hills. Yet the way he made the famed course, as well as all bar two of a WTCS field, look positively tame was mightily impressive. The composure he then showed on the run to seal the deal: phenomenal.
When taking a first look at the start lists for the upcoming WTCS Weihai, we wondered if a first medal could have been in the offing. It turned out Graf’s timeline was a little sooner than that; funnily enough, the same happened earlier this year with Jeanne Lehair (when we had suggested Alghero could have been her course, she went and won Yokohama first). Furthermore, it cannot be forgotten that this was Graf’s fifth ever Series start. To win so early puts him in exceedingly rare company.
Graf’s youth will come into play at the season endgame in Wollongong too. Still an U23 athlete, he will have the choice to race at the WTCS Final or the World U23 Championships (or even both). After WTCS Karlovy Vary, be honest, which do you think he’ll choose?
Another big debut for Conway
From one prodigy to another. Britain’s Oliver Conway made an unforgettable debut at the weekend as he soared to 4th place, finishing a mere 3 seconds off the podium. Bluntly put, WTCS debuts seldom go well. The pace is on another scale, the intensity another planet. A first race is where the big kids steal your lunch money. And at the start of WTCS Karlovy Vary it seemed it might go that way for Conway.
He was not the only one to be caught out by a vicious swim, but he stared down the barrel of a 55 second gap to the front at one point. With the likes of Graf, Matt Hauser, Miguel Hidalgo and more leading the way, that deficit looked dooming. However, Conway and his fellow chasers rallied and chipped their way back. Then, on the run, he out-ran the current Series leader Hauser.
Plenty more can be said about Conway. We could highlight how he is only in his first year out of the junior ranks. We could note how he won his World Cup debut in Saidia back in June, suggesting he is daunted by little. However plenty more will be written about him in the coming years. For now, after an extraordinary debut, we just need to know one thing. This kid is special.
Tales of tenacity
On the surface, Beth Potter’s triumph in Karlovy Vary told its own story of persistence considering that her last win had come almost two years earlier. In light of the rise of Cassandre Beaugrand in 2024, as well as the new levels attained by Leonie Periault and Jeanne Lehair in 2025, her path back to the top seemed blocked. Karlovy Vary, however, was the moment her hard work paid off.
Yet Potter’s display in the Czech Republic perhaps spoke more significantly to a level of emotional resolve that would have been beyond many. Only weeks earlier, a member of her wider training group sadly and unexpectedly passed away. Against such moments, sport is rather diminished. To get back onto the start line and onto the back and to push through to victory was therefore one of the most stirring moments of the season, and the emotions Potter experienced were clear for all to see at the finish line.
A different example of battling the odds came in the same race as Jeanne Lehair recovered from a bruising crash to finish 4th. On the ride from the lake to the town, Lehair’s wheel slipped out from under her while descending. As if hitting the asphalt was not enough, she then slid, at speed, into a slab of concrete, bouncing off like a pinball. In the blink of an eye, though, she was back on her bike. The front group had gone and her race was reshaped, but Lehair was not going to give up – far from it – and by the end of the day, she had even gained ground on her championship rival Beaugrand.
It's so on
Finally, a disclaimer of sorts. After his victory in the French Riviera, it seemed logical to declare Matt Hauser the man of the hour. Three wins and a perfect total of 3000 points made it seem the world title would be his. But then came Karlovy Vary, and Miguel Hidalgo struck back.
By his own admission, Hauser has never had much love for such hard courses and he has already shown significant improvement over them in the past few years. Still, Karlovy Vary was a bridge too far this time. By contrast, Hidalgo overcame rough feelings throughout the race to show that there is no course beyond him as he came seconds away from hauling in Graf. It is no surprise that Hidalgo’s other victory this year came over the similarly challenging WTCS Alghero.
Now heading to the WTCS Final, Hidalgo has drawn closer to Hauser in the rankings but will need more than just a win to deny the Australian. He can be buoyed, though, by the fact that, across the season, he has been a little better over the standard distance than Hauser. The Brazilian will therefore urgently be checking the Wollongong course maps, searching for similar hills or tough spots with which he can hurt Hauser. If he succeeds, it will be game on.
