Among the highlights of the past weekend were the latest World Cup stop, the first round of the women’s T100 and a WTCS medallist hitting the road. Find out all the biggest stories in the world of triathlon in this week’s Monday Morning Mix.
Haikou World Cup
From one new event to another. After the Lanzarote World Cup launched the 2026 circuit, it was the turn of Haikou to make its bow. In a pair of breathless sprint distance races, Oliver Conway (GBR) and Diana Isakova (AIN) came away with the gold medals.
Conway now has an enviable 2-from-2 record at World Cups having won his debut in Saidia last year. Isakova’s win rate is also not to be overlooked. She won twice last year (also in Saidia as it happened) and is proving a fearsome operator at this level.
Tim Hellwig (GER) and Hugo Milner (GBR) completed the podium in the men’s race. Both were making up for lost time after injury-hit 2025 campaigns. Sophie Malowiecki (AUS) was a new face on the women’s podium in 2nd place, losing out to Isakova by only 1 second. Sian Rainsley (GBR) was the next athlete home and dedicated her medal to her late grandmother. View the full results here.
Gold Coast T100
After seeing Kate Waugh (GBR) take away the T100 world title she won in 2024, Taylor Knibb (USA) showed up in Australia with a point to prove. She duly made it as she won the season opener by over a minute ahead of T100 newcomer Jess Fullagar (GBR). Fullagar had led out of the water (26:04 for 2km) but Knibb did Knibb things as she took over on the bike with a field-leading split (1:54:26 for 80km).
Fullagar actually pulled a little time back on the run, but the damage was done and Knibb sealed a comfortable victory. Neither the gold nor silver medallist ended the day with the top run split, however. That honour went to Daniela Kleiser (GER) who rocked a time of 1:03:52 for 18km. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) was the best of the rest and came through to secure 3rd place.
One important point to note is that all T100 races are available on TriathlonLive this season and the Gold Coast replay is available to watch online, as is the Haikou replay. View the full Gold Coast results here.
Pokhara Asia Cup and South Asia Championships
In Nepal, the Japanese team enjoyed no shortage of success as they claimed three spots in the top-4 in both the men’s and women’s races. Sarika Nakayama (JPN) and Minori Ikeno (JPN) put the entire women’s field on the back foot with a daring breakaway. Ikeno had led the sprint distance 750m swim (10:03) with Nakayama only 3 seconds back. The next closest athlete to Ikeno was 41 seconds behind.
The duo then dominated the bike, extending their lead further. Nakayama would run away to gold, but Ikeno faced a fight to hold onto 2nd place as Alina Khakimova (UZB) came flying through. In the end, the Uzbekistani athlete unloaded the best 5km split of the day (17:50) to zip past Ikeno.
Hokuto Obara (JPN) similarly profited from a three-man breakaway to emerge victorious in the men’s race. Mitsuho Mochizuki (JPN) was the first man out of the water (9:04) with Aleksandr Kurishov (UZB) 1 second behind. Obara was a further 7 seconds back. That trio then came together on the bike to transform a decent lead into an overwhelming one, arriving in T2 with their advantage at over a minute.
Obara had claimed the top bike split of the day and saw off his rivals with a 15:49 5km split. Once Obara had vanished up the road, Mochizuki and Kurishov spent plenty of time eyeballing one another as they jockeyed for 2nd place. Neither could break the other. That was until Mochizuki ripped a brilliant late surge to deny Kurishov by 1 second. View the full results here.
Africa Premium Cup Swakopmund
After winning last week’s Africa Cup in Troutbeck, Germany’s Lasse Lührs was denied the gold this time round in Swakopmund. Lührs had been the early leader, setting the pace in the 750m swim with a split of 10:10. Right behind him was compatriot Benedikt Bettin and Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados. They kept Lührs honest as a nine-man lead group came together, with World Cup medallists Valentin Wernz (GER) and Lasse Nygaard Priester (GER) also involved.
Wernz and Priester could not live with the leaders’ pace over the 5km run and Bettin managed to take down Lührs to win by 6 seconds. Bitados then crossed 3 seconds later to seal the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, having opened her season with medals in the winter disciplines, Zuzana Michalickova (SVK) scored her first victory of 2026.
Britney Brown (USA) had established an early lead of 10 seconds to her nearest rival out of the water and gained 23 seconds over Michalickova. A field-leading bike split then brought the Slovakian, as well as Kira Gupta-Baltazar (CAN), onto Brown’s wheel. Michalickova and Brown then duked it out over 5km, but the former had enough left in the tank to win by 11 seconds. Eleanor Beveridge (USA) dropped the best run of the field (16:39) to make it two American women on the podium. View the full results here.
Africa Junior Cup Swakopmund
In the junior event, Anthony Clayton (RSA) scored a win over Africa Junior champion Nathan Max Centlivres Chase (NAM). Clayton put a half minute gap into Chase in the 750m swim, only for the Namibian to overturn the deficit on the bike; both came away with the top split in the respective disciplines.
Bronze medallist Ryan Viviers (RSA) was among the small pack keeping them company, but on the run Clayton and Chase were in a league of their own. Clayton’s 15:56 split was enough to secure the win by 15 seconds.
Another South African win followed in the women’s race through Taylor Foster (RSA). The winner of the Africa Junior Cup in Ebotsee back in February was imperious, logging the best splits in all three disciplines. She ended the race 3 seconds shy of a 3-minute winning margin.
Karlii Lotter (RSA) and Jeane Smith (RSA) then wrapped up a South African sweep of the podium. View the full results here.
Palau World Triathlon Regional Development Cup
Lily Muldoon of the Northern Marianas Islands made her international debut in Palau with aplomb, winning the race by a gargantuan 6 minutes. Muldoon was the best athlete of the day in the bike and run segments of the sprint distance triathlon. Manamea Schwalger (SAM) ended the day in 2nd place while Olivia Postrzygracz (COK) took 3rd place.
Tyreece Collins (SAM) earned a similarly convincing victory in the men’s race. Collins exited the water only 3 seconds behind silver medallist David Robati (COK) before taking off on the bike. Come the end of the race, Collins’ final winning margin stood at a healthy 2:49. His success builds on his win at the Regional Development Cup in Fiji at the end of 2025 and he will look towards making further splashes internationally this year. Rynier Di Ramos of Guam rounded out the podium. View the full results here.
Around the world
World champions Matt Hauser (AUS) and Alex Yee (GBR) turned out at the 10km road race at T100 Gold Coast, although both were on pace-making duties. The real story of the event was WTCS medallist John Reed’s performance. The American clocked a time of 28:36 in challenging conditions to take the win.