The fourth and final round of the 2026 World Para Series arrives this weekend with the athletes set to race on the famed Hamburg course for the first time. A quarter-century of international triathlon has come and gone on these streets, and now it is the turn for the best Para triathlon has to offer to etch their names into the history books.
Moreover, the future will also be in play, for this weekend will provide a crucial opportunity to scope out the course ahead of the 2027 World Championships. Read on to find out the biggest names to watch and the hottest match-ups to track before the action kicks off on Sunday 12th July from 13:45 (CEST).
Men
Coming into the PTWC race, reigning world champion Thomas Fruehwirth (AUT) is the man to beat. The Austrian picked up where he left off in 2025: hoovering up every gold medal in sight. Wins at the Yokohama World Para Series and Tarragona European Championships have already been secured. Now his sights are on a seventh straight international win.
Among his opponents, Howie Sanborn (USA) is fresh off a win at the Americas Championships and won at the Devonport World Para Series earlier this year. Giuseppe Romele (ITA) will likewise be a contender after winning at the Montreal World Para Series, and the field is only deepened by the presence of competitors such as Louis Noel (FRA), Florian Brungraber (AUT) and Joshua Landmann (GBR). As such, Fruehwirth will be pushed all the way for another gold, but it is certainly within reach.
World and Paralympic champion Dave Ellis (GBR) will be the man to beat in the PTVI class. After a surprise silver medal in Tarragona, Ellis rebounded with a win at the Besancon World Para Cup. It should also be noted that Ellis and the European Championships have a slightly tempestuous relationship.
Since his DNF at the Tokyo Olympics, Ellis has failed to win only three individual international races in the subsequent five years, and all have been at the European Championships. With Hamburg being a World Para Series event (checks notes: yes, definitely not a European Championship), there is a likely outcome here. Sam Harding (AUS), winner in Devonport, Montreal and at the Oceania Championships, will present stern opposition, but the form book points to an Ellis victory.
The PTS2 class will see a renewal of the exhilarating rivalry between Wim De Paepe (BEL) and Julien Ribstein (FRA). Ribstein comes to Hamburg as the world and European champion, although we have not seen him in the Series for over a year. De Paepe, meanwhile, took a recent boost in Montreal, breaking a run of silver medals on the international stage. Now, the 2024 world champion will aim to turn the tables on Ribstein who has not tasted international defeat since June 2025.
Over in the PTS3 class, Henry Urand (GBR) seems unstoppable . The reigning world champion has swept all before him aside and, like Fruehwirth, will be gunning for another win this weekend. The Brit will be pitted against Paralympic champion Daniel Molina (ESP) and home hopeful Max Gelhaar (GER), two great athletes in their own right even if Urand has the upper hand nowadays. Look out, too, for Cedric Denuziere (FRA). The Frenchman could spring an upset after taking a classy win in Montreal recently.
Should Urand continue his winning ways, there will come a time where he may be able to replicate the dominance of Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA) in the PTS4 class. Hanquinquant’s reign is much like the recent heat waves that have struck Europe; it just goes on and on and on until you forget anything else that came before.
While Hanquinquant can be expected to log another win this weekend, it should be noted that his opposition are gradually inching closer to him. Foremost among the potential challengers will be his teammate, Pierre-Antoine Baele (FRA), and the rest of the class will know that at some point the Hanquinquant heat wave will have to break.
With the arrival of the PTS5 class, things take a turn. The usual suspects in this free-for-all are there: current Paralympic and world champion Chris Hammer (USA), 2024 world champion Stefan Daniel (GER), and Oceania champion and 2025 World Championship silver medallist Jack Howell (AUS). So too is Tokyo Paralympic champion Martin Schulz (GER) who will undoubtedly receive a boost from the home crowds.
Furthermore this unruly class refuses to sit still. New challengers keep popping up, such as Bence Mocsari (HUN) who backed up a stunning win in Yokohama with the European title. Newly crowned Americas champion Ruiter Antonio Goncalves Silva (BRA) is another to keep tabs on. We have absolutely no idea what will happen with so many potential winners packed together, and we cannot wait to see what transpires.
Women
We will pick up where we left off with the men, with the PTS5 class, and in the women’s event things are a little more straightforward. Since the start of 2022, Grace Norman (USA) has won every individual race she has entered with the exception of a single DNF. As the Paris Paralympic champion has already won in Yokohama and Montreal this year, it feels safe to forecast a third 2026 victory for the American.
Claire Cashmore (GBR) was the last athlete to beat Norman head-to-head on her way to the 2021 world title and will have a big part to play in this weekend’s race. Similarly, Lauren Steadman (GBR), the Tokyo Paralympic champion, has beaten Norman before and will be buoyed by claiming the European title at her first outing of 2026. Gold in Hamburg, however, will be a big ask.
Another British athlete that has a gold medal on her radar is Megan Richter (GBR). Richter is set to make her first World Para Series start since 2024. Indeed, the Paralympic champion raced for the first time since the same year just a few weeks ago at the European Championships, finishing 3rd. At her best, though, she can hit levels few can match. In Richter’s absence, Camille Seneclauze (FRA) has bossed things in the PTS4 class, and their contest will be one of the most fascinating of the weekend.
Seneclauze’s teammate, Elise Marc (FRA), has been the standard in the PTS3 class but only managed bronze at European Championships. In her place, Serena Banzato (ITA) soared to the gold medal and will look to back up her success in Hamburg. Marc, though, has already bounced back with a win in Besancon and will be eager to dish out some revenge in her first showdown with Banzato since Tarragona.
Payback will also be on the agenda in the PTS2 class. Back in Yokohama, Hailey Danz (USA) broke world champion Anu Francis’ (AUS) unbeaten run with a commanding victory. Neither has raced on the international scene since and we have been waiting to see whether Francis will reassert herself atop the class or if something more fundamental shifted in Japan. At the same time, Asumi Yasuda (JPN) won last time out in Montreal and we would be remiss to overlook the 2025 Asian champion from the gold medal equation.
Another Australian-American match-up is in store in the PTWC class. The clashes between Lauren Parker (AUS) and Kendall Gretsch (USA) always deliver and both come into this final World Para Series round with one gold medal apiece. Parker prevailed in Yokohama while Gretsch was the pick of the bunch in Montreal. Equally, the presence of European champion Eva María Moral Pedrero (ESP) and Jessica Ferreira (BRA) will ensure that both Paralympic champions will have to be at their best to win.
Finally, in the women’s PTVI class Susana Rodriguez (ESP) will be confident after wins in Tarragona and Montreal, but the reigning world and Paralympic champion will have to keep an eye on multiple rivals in Hamburg.
Maggie Sandles (AUS) is the Oceania champion and won the Series opener in Devonport. Former world champion Francesca Tarantello (ITA) will be eager to break a run of silver medals behind Rodriguez. And Paralympic medallist Anja Renner (GER) will be another to take advantage of the legendary home support in Hamburg.