Zuzana Michalickova claimed the biggest win of her career at the 2026 World Triathlon Cup Rio de Janeiro, out-sprinting USA's Kelly Wetteland by just one second to step onto her first ever World Cup podium on Copacabana Beach. Italy's Beatrice Mallozzi completed the top three, three seconds back, as the podium was separated by the narrowest of margins after 58 gruelling minutes of racing. Fittingly, the sport returned to the sand where Olympic history was made a decade ago, with this year's race unfolding on the very same Copacabana beach that hosted the triathlon events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Michalickova's breakthrough carries extra weight for World Triathlon's development pathway. The Slovak is a member of Team World Triathlon, the programme supporting athletes from emerging National Federations on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
How the race unfolded
The women's field entered the water at 7am, just when the sun started to rise over the magnificent Copacabana beach, and it was a local, Vittoria Lopes, who set the early pace, exiting the water fastest in 10:23, closely followed by Erika Ackerlund (USA), Sophia Howell (CAN) and Kelly Wetteland (USA). Michalickova, Prestia and Mallozzi all within a tight, well-packed lead group that emerged largely intact and set up a bike leg that would prove decisive.
Quickly, a group of aproximatedly 15 athletes managed to open a bit of a gap, with most of the favourites, including Mallozzi, Michalickova, Slovenia's Tjasa Vrtacic, Ainsley Thorpe (NZL) and and Prestia (ITA) all riding hard to keep the chase pack behind. The pace kept the front group together during the six laps along the Copacabana beach, and ensured the race would be settled, as so often in these courses, on the run.
It was in the second transition that Michalickova began to carve out her advantage. She and Japan's Manami Hayashi shared the fastest T2 of the field, with Ackerlund next quickest and the three leading the first steps of the run. By contrast, Wetteland and Prestia both lost a few seconds in transition, a handful of seconds that would ultimately prove the difference between gold and silver.
Once out onto the run, Kelly Wetteland produced the fastest split of the entire women's race, 16:12, clawing back the time she had lost in transition and launching a searching chase for the lead. Michalickova, running 16:16, held her nerve to protect the cushion built through transition, crossing the line in 58:13 to Wetteland's 58:14. Mallozzi matched the pace of the leaders with a 16:18 run to secure third, while her teammate Angelica Prestia, despite a strong 16:22 run, was left agonisingly outside the podium in fourth, just ten seconds off the win.
Behind the podium, Tjasa Vrtacic (SLO) rounded out fifth (58:27), with Manami Hayashi (JPN) and Erika Ackerlund (USA) tying for sixth on 58:33, and Ainsley Thorpe (NZL) completing the top eight in 58:43. Further back, Mariana Vargem of Portugal produced the second-fastest run of the day (16:08) to move into ninth, underlining how quick the closing 5km was up and down the finishing straight.
What the athletes said after the race
Michalickova: 'This victory feels amazing, I need time to sink it in. I am very, very happy with this result. It means a lot for me to belong to the World Triathlon Development Team, we have a very nice group and I really enjoy to spend time with the team. This podium is for my family but also for the Team, because they help me a lot in the competitions. On the run today, I tried to keep my pace and I just wanted to wait until the last turn and then give it all'.
Kelly Wetteland: 'I want to thank all Brazil’s triathlon for this amazing race, very well done, we all feel very welcomed here. I’ve always been a very big fan of the Olympic Games, and seeing Gwen Jorgensen here taking the gold medal at the Rio Olympics ten years ago…. I just hope I made her proud today. Today it was a really fun battle out in the course, congrats tu Zuzana'.
Beatrice Mallozi: 'I'm in my best shape year, I am training really well, had a good training block during the winter, so I feel like I am finding again the confidence that I used to have. I am really happy for how I managed the race from the start, and of course for the result. Is my first podium but I know that I have more'.