Heavy rain and testing conditions set the stage for a dramatic men’s race at the 2026 Beijing World Triathlon Cup, where Switzerland’s Max Studer took gold to add another major success to his record on Chinese soil. Behind him, home favourite Xirui Zhang made history with silver, claiming his first ever World Cup podium and the first by a Chinese male athlete. Spain’s Alberto González completed the podium with a hard-fought bronze.
Racing returned to Beijing for the first time in fifteen years, this time on a new course at Yanqi Lake, north of the city. The tenth stop of the 2026 World Cup circuit and the first of a four-stop Asian tour, the Olympic distance race offered valuable points for the LA28 Olympic Ranking, with 500 points on offer for the winner.
The skies opened ten minutes before the start of the men’s race and the rain never stopped, making conditions extremely hard for everyone. As so often, Hungary’s Márk Dévay led the swim, setting the pace on the first lap and exiting the water first, before leading the field along the long and hilly 243m run to transition.
Simply getting onto the bikes proved a challenge on the wet surface, and the six leading athletes (Devay, Marton Kroptko (HUN), Morgan Pearson (USA), Alberto Gonzalez (ESP) and Jules Rethoret (FRA), quickly opened a small gap. Meanwhile, some of the favourites, including Studer and Great Britain’s Hugo Milner, were left in the chase group.
But it was not all over yet. Studer and USA’s Darr Smith pushed hard over the second lap to bridge across, and by the halfway point of the eight-lap bike course the front group had grown to around 15 athletes, all navigating the hilly, technical and twisty circuit with caution. With one lap to go, and when it looked like the bike would pass without incident, USA’s Morgan Pearson slipped in a corner on the downhill and crashed, and was unable to continue.
Onto the run, González and Rider pushed the pace first, while Studer lost time with a slower transition. The Swiss soon responded, moving up alongside Hungary’s Márton Kropkó and Zhang to chase down the Spaniard and the American. Rider was the first to be dropped, and the battle for the medals came down to four: Studer, González, Kropkó and Zhang, running together until the final lap. There, Studer pushed once more and broke clear, posting the fastest run of the day in 30:00 sharp to win by nine seconds.
Behind him, Zhang produced a fantastic move to drop González and cross the line in second in a historic moment for Chinese triathlon. His previous best result was second place at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya only a month ago, and in Beijing he gave China its first ever podium in a men’s World Cup. González took bronze, proving that racing in China suits him really well.
Equally remarkable was Kropkó’s fourth place a strong return after an injury at the Samarkand season opener kept him out for much of the season. Australia’s Brandon Copeland finished fifth, ahead of Rider and France’s Adam Fouchal, who were separated only on the line in 1:49:05. Germany’s Jan Scheffold, Austria’s Lukas Pertl and Luxembourg’s Lucas Cambresy completed the top ten.
