As the 2025 triathlon season gathers pace, Team World Triathlon athletes have been jumping back into racing around the world. There have been medals at Continental Cups and close calls at the World Cup level. In addition, applications have opened for the first Team World Triathlon World Cup project of the year. Find out the latest development news below.
Abdelmoula and Michalickova in Lievin
Paris Olympian Jawad Abdelmoula (MAR) and the newly-crowned U23 gold medallist at the World Winter Triathlon Championships, Zuzana Michalickova (SVK), were in action at the Lievin Indoor Triathlon World Cup at the weekend.
In his first outing since the Olympic Games, Abdelmoula placed 2nd in Final B to take 14th overall in the men’s standings. A 5th place finish in Qualifier 3 was enough to earn him direct access to the Semi Finals, where he narrowly missed out on a place in the Final after losing valuable seconds in T2. He was also somewhat unlucky to go up against both overall winner Henry Graf (GER) and WTCS gold medallist Hayden Wilde (NZL) in his Semi Final. Nevertheless, Abdelmoula’s running speed certainly fired in Lievin and he will no doubt get stronger across his coming races.
Michalickova finished 12th in the women’s Final having ridden with race winner Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) in a breakaway. Throughout the day, she logged some head-turning swim splits and showed credentials to be considered among the top female swimmers in the sport. Among her highlights of her day was a daring breakaway in Semi Final 3 that saw her arrive in T2 by herself before qualifying for the Final safely in 4th place.
Bitados hits African double
Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) has wasted no time across his opening races of 2025. The World U23 Championships silver medallist claimed Africa Cup victories in Troutbeck and Swakopmund in March. Although the fields were not the largest, he still took down serious competition, including WTCS race winner Richard Murray (NED), World Cup medallist Valentin Wernz (GER), Tokyo Olympian Justus Nieschlag (GER) and more.
Meanwhile, Badr Siwane (MAR) was also in action in Troutbeck as he opened his season with a 9th place finish.
Velasquez silver in La Habana
Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto (COL) was another of Team World Triathlon’s 2024 Olympians to open her season in March. She took on the Americas Cup in La Habana, earning the silver medal. With her first race of the year under her belt, Velasquez will turn her attention to the South American Triathlon Championships in Santiago in the coming weeks.
Separately, Erica Hawley (BER) will be tackling the Americas Cup in Miami later this week. She will look to build upon her strong performance at the Napier World Cup last month.
Applications for Samarkand WC open
Finally, Team World Triathlon will be kicking off the Los Angeles Olympic cycle at the Samarkand World Cup in May. After the race’s successful debut in 2024, Team World Triathlon will return to Uzbekistan to start building the new squad toward LA 2028 and beyond.
In the first year of the new Olympic quadrennial, the focus will be on observing athletes and monitoring their performances worldwide to identify potential Olympic athletes. This initiative reflects World Triathlon's commitment to nurturing talent from emerging regions by providing resources and expertise to athletes with the potential to compete at the highest levels and qualify for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
The application deadline for the project in Samarkand is 15 April 2025. For more details about the Team World Triathlon Project, please visit Team World Triathlon.
