Get ready for the fireworks, the noise, the speed. The 2025 T1 Indoor Triathlon Cup Lievin is back and it promises to be an event unlike any other on the calendar. With Olympic and WTCS medallists on the start line, the racing will be a battle royale over multiple rounds where putting even a single foot wrong could prove fatal to any medal hopes.
In a 25-meter swimming pool especially set up for the event, the best triathletes can test themselves by running over very short distances: 200 meters swimming, 2.8 kilometers cycling and 1 kilometer running in front of over 5,000 spectators.
How the format works?
There will be five heats of 12 athletes each for the Men’s race. On each heat, the top five go directly to the semi-finals. Everyone else goes to the Repechage. All athletes compete at least 2 times.
There will be three repechages, the top three of each and 2 lucky losers make it to Semis, the rest go home. In total, 36 athletes make it to the semi-finals.
There are three semi-finals. The top four in each semi-final go to Final A, athletes 5 to 8 to Final B, and the rest go home.
The Final B will decide athletes 13 to 24 in the final classification. The Final A will decide athletes 1 to 12 in the final classification.
Men’s race
Heat 1
Hayden Wilde will be indeed the man to beat in Lievin and he should be amongst the ones making it directly to the semi-finals. The double Olympic medallist has proven many times that he is also one to fear when talking about these fast and furious formats. The Kiwi was the first Super-Sprint World champion in 2023, and has had multiple titles in the Supertri circuit.
Also in the first Heat, to kick-off the competition, will be fast athletes with experience in the format, like Esteban Basanta (ESP), Harry Leleu (GBR) or James Edgar (IRL), all of them with chances of making it directly to semis.
Heat 2
Mitch Kolkman (NED), the Paris Olympian and the fastest swimmer in the men’s final last year, will be leading the second Heat. He will have fierce competence from Euan De Nigro (ITA), in great form after leading Italy to the bronze medal in the Mixed Team Relay World Series event in Abu Dhabi.
Other potential candidates to make it to the top five with direct access to semi-finals would be Antoine Duval (FRA) -with the extra support of the local cheers- and Hungary’s Gyula Kovacs, a strong and reliable swimmer.
Heat 3
This one looks like the hardest Qualifier on paper. World Cup medallist Yanis Seguin (FRA) will have to battle with some hard powerhouses to make it to the Semis. One of them will be indeed USA’s Chase McQueen, one of the fastest swimmers on the line-up but also a powerful biker and runner. Despite making his debut in Lievin, McQueen is the current Supertri E World champion, and knows what it takes to survive in these type of races.
The 2022 World U23 Championships medallist Hamish Reilly (GBR); World Cup winner Genis Grau (ESP) -he was second in Lievin in 2022- or Jawad Abdelmoula (MOR) will not be easy to beat.
Heat 4
He might have less experience in the super-sprint format, but Germany’s Henry Graf will have the benefit of his excellent shape and proven speed. Still a U23 athlete, Graf was the anchor man that secured the gold medal for the German Team at the Abu Dhabi Mixed Relay Series last February, and at the Mixed Relay World Championships in 2024.
Along with Graf, keep an eye on Heat 4 for Jack Willis (GBR), Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) or Leo Fernandez (FRA).
Heat 5
Leading the strong local team will be Tom Richard, and he has enough experience in this format to be an athlete not easy to beat. But there are some other athletes in this heat that have high chances of making it to the next phase, like the ones of Nicola Azzano (ITA), Adrian Briffod (SUI) or Alois Kindl (AUT).
The 2025 T1 Indoor Triathlon Cup Lievin will take place on Saturday, 22 March, with the semi-finals starting at 18.30h CET. You can watch the semi-finals and finals live on TriathlonLIVE and the World Triathlon Youtube channel.