World Champion in 2023, double Olympic bronze medallist in 2024, Beth Potter has been rediscovering her love of racing in 2025, and rarely more so than in the previous round of the World Triathlon Championship Series. Gold at WTCS Karlovy Vary after chasing down Taylor Spivey over the 10km was the perfect scenario.

Next stop, Friday’s WTCS Weihai. Victory for Potter would see her move level on points with Cassandre Beaugrand at the top of the standings going into the Championship Finals Wollongong, and with 210 points over nearest challenger Jeanne Lehair. The target is clear, getting there rarely goes as planned.  It’s another Olympic distance course on which to sharpen the skills ahead of Australia, a two-lap ocean swim transitioning into an 8-lap 40km bike, a 16m incline in total across each one. Out of T2, it’s a fast and flat 10km run across four laps to the tape. 
Watch the action unfold on TriathlonLive.tv. 

Potter eyes big end-of-season push

Race number one Beth Potter heads to China looking to get her Championship Finals preparation off to the perfect start. A first win since the 2023 Finals Pontevedra has already helped set up another box office showdown with Beaugrand. A win this Friday would ramp up the tension yet further by equalising their rankings points, and with no Lehair or Periault on the start line, Potter is coming in as the form athlete over her favourite distance. 

Out of T2 in the Czech hills it was USA’s Taylor Spivey with a minute lead after a mighty breakaway on the bike with Maya Kingma, the American almost closing out what would have been a famous first Series win before being caught by Potter at the halfway point of the final run lap. 

It was a course that Spivey relished perhaps more than the one she will face in China, but with a first podium in two years putting the wind back in her sails, confidence will be running as high as she will be fast. 

Tertsch steps back up to form

Lisa Tertsch’s return to the WTCS podium in Karlovy Vary for the first time since Yokohama felt overdue after missing out in Alghero, Hamburg and French Riviera, but a return to form for the final three races of the year would certainly see her in contention for the overall Series podium in Wollongong. 

Bianca Seregni (ITA) landed her first Series podium in Alghero and silver in the European sprint championship, but stomach issues took her out of Karlovy Vary so her performance could hinge on where that recovery stands. A fully fit Seregni could string out the swim with Spivey, while Sian Rainsley will want to stay in the mix again just as she did in Karlovy Vary and could form a potent bike group with the likes of Tanja Neubert (GER). 

Expect a fast run from the likes of Diana Isakova (AIN) and Rosa Maria Tapia (MEX), while home hopes will lie with Asia Sprint Champion Xinyu Lin and Wen Wei. 

WTCS WEIHAI 
11.45AM, FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER (local)
FULL WOMEN'S START LIST
WATCH ON TRIATHLONLIVE.TV