Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez arrives in South Korea hungry for a first Asia World Cup win since his barnstorming victory in Hong Kong two years ago, and fired up for the sprint-distance Tongyeong World Cup following a gritty bronze in Beijing one week ago.
But Switzerland's Max Studer also joins the 65-strong men's field on Saturday 24 October for the second stop of the four-race Asian mini-tour, providing another valuable chance to bank points towards the LA28 Olympic Qualification Ranking.
The Tongyeong course packs in a single 750m swim lap of the harbour, three laps of a 6.6km bike circuit and two laps of a hilly 2.5km run. Watch the men’s race from 10:30am local time / 03:30am CET on TriathlonLive and YouTube.
Wearing the number one is Spain's Alberto González, who was back on the podium in Beijing for the first time in two-and-a-half years and has enjoyed some of the best results of his career this season. Fifth at WTCS London came despite serving a 10-second penalty on the run and Gonzalez thrives in Asia so Tongyeong could be a huge opportunity to take the tape once more.
But Max Studer has dominated racing in Asia in recent outings. Based out of China for large parts of the year, the 30-year-old defended his WTCS Weihai title in August, then delivered the fastest run of the day, 30 minutes flat, to win a rain-lashed Beijing World Cup by nine seconds last weekend. Also the winner of the Miyazaki World Cup in 2025, he starts with the number two.
The man who split them in Beijing also returns. Xirui Zhang (CHN) became the first Chinese man to stand on a World Cup podium with his silver medal last weekend, a month after taking second at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, and the 21-year-old arrives with growing belief.
Expect Mark Devay (HUN), Chase McQueen (USA), Kenji Nener (JPN) and Max Stapley (GBR) to set the pace early on in the swim and hunt a breakaway, but the run hill could be where the race will be decided once again. As well as the Beijing podium trio, Britain's Hugo Milner, Spain’s David Castro and Roberto Sanchez could all threaten if close enough off the bike.
France once again brings a wave of young talent. Tristan Douche, the 2025 World Junior Champion, claimed bronze on his World Cup debut in Rome, while Jules Rethoret finished ninth on his WTCS debut in London. Germany's Jan Scheffold, eighth in Beijing on debut, Austria's Lukas Pertl and Luxembourg's Lucas Cambresy, ninth and tenth there, carry their momentum straight into Korea, alongside Seth Rider and Darr Smith of the USA.
Finally, the home crowd will have seven Korean men to cheer, led by Gyuseo Choi and Taegi Kim, with Sangmin Park, Minho Kweon, Juyoung Kim, Hyeonil Jang and Jaejin Jung completing the line-up.
