It’s nearly showtime! At 6pm CEST on Wednesday 23 September, a Parade of Nations through the streets of Pontevedra will officially kick off the 2026 World Triathlon Championship Finals. The Galician city will be bouncing to the sound of thousands of athletes taking part in the traditional opener to this year’s Grand Final, kicking off four days or unmissable swim-bike-run action.

World Champions will be crowned across Elite, Para, U23, Junior and Age Group racing, with the men’s and women’s elites starring the Series leaders Cassandre Beaugrand and Vasco Vilaça and defending champions Lisa Tertsch and Matt Hauser.

With Age-Group registration and the expo opening at 2pm on Tuesday 22 September, the atmosphere will already be building ahead of Wednesday’s Opening Ceremony, underway at 7pm following the parade.

On Thursday 24th it will be the Junior Women getting the racing underway at 10.15am followed by the men at 11.45am, Hungary’s Fanni Szalai and Australia’s Jack Woodberry among the names to look out for chasing the World titles. In the afternoon, the Age Group Sprint World Championships begin at 3.45pm, with the medals awarded at 9pm that evening.

Friday 25th will get underway with the men’s and women’s Para Triathlon World Championships at 10am, when further chapters in the famous battles between PTWC legends Lauren Parker and Kendall Gretsch and PTS5 stars Grace Norman, Lauren Steadman, Grace Brimelow and Claire Cashmore will be written. On the men’s side, Dave Ellis will go for a 9th world title since his first in 2013, Alexis Hanquinquant chases his 10th!

Then it is on to the U23 World Championships, where the next generation of athletes looking to make a name for themselves towards LA 2028 get their chance to shine. The women start at 3.35pm, starring two former Junior World Champs from France in Lea Houart and Ilona Hadhoum. The men go out at 6.35pm with another French talent, Nils Serre, up against Michael Gar, Blake Bullard and home favourite Izan Edo.

Saturday 26th opens up with the Age Group Olympic distance and Aquabike World Championships, then it is into the first of the main events, as Cassandre Beaugrand, Beth Potter and Tilda Mansson endeavour to seize the crown claimed by Lisa Tertsch last year, the Women's World Triathlon Championship Final getting started at 6pm.

A busy Sunday of relay action wraps the week, as the Para (9am), Junior-U23 (11am) and Age Group (1pm) Mixed Relay World Championships hit the streets and then the men close the finals in style. With the horn sounding at 6pm, Vasco Vilaça will be hoping to hold off the challenges of Matt Hauser, Ricardo Batista, Miguel Hidalgo and Dorian Coninx to take his first ever Men's World Triathlon Championship title!

You can find more information across all the races here.