It was a day that left us chin-scratching and head-scratching. Whereas the women’s podium at WTCS Weihai was more or less what everyone expected, there are very few people that hand on heart can say they saw the men’s coming. We have therefore been left to scratch our chins and ponder how anyone can conceivably beat women’s gold medallist Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) while simultaneously scratching our heads after the surprise and confusion caused by the men’s race. Find out more about all the talking points from WTCS Weihai below.

Beaugrand’s personal best

Here is a sentence to unsettle the entire Series. In taking her fourth win in a row, Beaugrand did something new: she clocked 32:12 for the 10km run in Weihai, setting a new WTCS personal best. Beaugrand’s running has been on a tear this season, as her French records attest, but she was already the second fastest runner ever in the Series. The fact she is still improving will cause plenty of concern to those trying to beat her.

The question remains how far can she take this speed? The all-time top 10km split is held by Gwen Jorgensen (USA) who clocked 31:41 at WTCS Stockholm in 2013. That is quite a jump, especially considering Beaugrand’s best previously was a 32:16 from WTCS Cagliari in 2022. Nothing is ever truly out of the question with the Paris Olympic champion, though, and on the right day and the right course Beaugrand might well eye up the top split in history.

Same time next year?

Can someone check the rulebook to see if an athlete is allowed to rock up to their first WTCS race in ten months, a race at which the reigning champion is gunning for a fourth win of the year and the overall Series lead only for the newcomer to steal the show completely? It honestly feels like at WTCS Weihai Max Studer (SUI) did the triathlon equivalent of wearing white to someone else’s wedding, but boy did he look good.

On the one hand, we should have seen it coming given he did literally the exact same thing last year. Having not appeared at all in the Series, Studer upset everyone to claim a maiden Series gold. But with only one international race in 2026 under his belt (the Haikou World Cup all the way back in March), surely he would not be able to repeat the track, not least with the likes of Matt Hauser (AUS) starting… Evidently, this is the perfect course for Studer. Who knows when we’ll see him again, but we look forward to win number three in Weihai next year, Max.

We definitely saw this coming…

And then we turn to the rest of the men’s podium as David Cantero del Campo (ESP) and Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) beat Hauser to silver and bronze, respectively. Perhaps we should not have been too surprised. Both are WTCS medallists after all. However, both had question marks hanging over them.

Cantero has established himself as one of the fastest runners of the Series, except prior to Weihai his fastest 10km time of the season did not put him in the top-5 running splits, thereby casting some doubt as to whether he would threaten the medals. Yet his run was back on top form in Weihai as he clocked 29:29, only 5 seconds slower than Studer, to earn a second silver medal in the Series.

Mislawchuk, meanwhile, last medalled in the Series all the way back in 2019. There have been cases of big gaps between medals – Pierre Le Corre (FRA) is among the best examples after a six-year wait between 2017 and 2023 – but Mislawchuk’s was certainly getting on. Nevertheless, he came into Weihai in bright form having won World Cup medals of every colour this season. And now, the third oldest man in the field (at the ripe age of 32, having recently celebrated his birthday) has ended his wait to get back among the medals. Few might have seen it coming after so long, but after years of consistency few deserve it more. 

Home hero

Only one other athlete in the field might like racing in China to quite the same degree as Studer. In the build-up to WTCS Weihai, we noted that all seven of Anqi Huang’s (CHN) international starts since the beginning of 2024 had come in China. She had won five of them. With a home WTCS race, her Series debut therefore allowed her to extend that run, even if it pitted her against an entirely new calibre of athlete.

Huang, however, was undaunted. In a phenomenal debut, she snatched 4^th place having raced alongside Jorgensen for almost the entire run. Only a select few athletes have ever finished in the top-5 on debut, such as WTCS medallist and World U23 champion Emma Lombardi (FRA) and current European and World U23 champion Oliver Conway (GBR). Huang’s result therefore marks her out as a special talent and it will be exciting to see what she has in store for us outside of China.

Personal bests for days

In addition to Huang, Xinyu Lin (CHN) powered to a maiden top-10 finish in 9^th to continue the party for the home team. She was joined in the top-10 of the men’s and women’s races by multiple other personal best finishes. Roksana Slupek (POL), for instance, improved upon the 7^th she achieved in Hamburg by placing 6^th, while Desirae Ridenour (CAN) impressed with a first top-10 in 8^th place.

In the men’s race, Joao Nuno Batista (POR) indicated he might match his brother Ricardo’s Series medals sooner rather than later as the former World Junior champion grabbed 4^th place. Right behind, Nicola Azzano scored a personal best in 5^th (having earned a maiden top-10 in Quiberon back in June) while Callum McClusky (AUS) had the best day of the Australians to enjoy a personal best finish in 6^th.

Finally, there was an 8^th place finish on debut for World Cup winner Solomon Okrafo-Smart (GBR). He looked completely at home at this level and has emphatically thrown his name into the ever-widening British ring for LA 2028.