Beth Potter eyeing historic second world title in Australia

How life can change in a month. At the start of September, Beth Potter set herself the tough task of winning the final three World Triathlon Championship Series races of the year to regain the world title.

Now, two down and one to go, if the Scot wins in Wollongong on Sunday, she’ll become only the second British woman, and first since Helen Jenkins in 2011, to win two world titles at this level.

For a nation that has a proud track record in standard distance racing, with world champions including Non Stanford (2013), Vicky Holland (2018) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (2020), it would be a remarkable achievement from the 33-year-old who has already exceeded her own expectations.

“I feel I’ve achieved quite a lot in the last six to seven years – more than I thought I could probably achieve in the sport,” said Potter, a former physics teacher who switched from track running in 2017 and claimed two Olympic bronzes in Paris last summer. 

“Anything is a bonus now. I feel I could retire tomorrow and be happy with the career that I’ve had, but I’m still good enough to be fighting for another title, and want to go and enjoy it.”

Despite finishing second in Japan and third in Germany, Potter – who is one of five GB women lining up in New South Wales – feels something “wasn’t clicking” at the start of the summer, meaning the form she was showing in training wasn’t translating to the race course.

“I hadn’t really felt myself all year,” she continued. “I feel like I could have won a couple of races but made mistakes. In Yokohama, I was only 4sec off the win, and not taking anything away from [race winner] Jeanne (Lehair), I had a terrible transition. In Hamburg, I needed to be a bit more on the front foot.

“I’d come away from races feeling a bit frustrated. I was beginning to think: ‘Will I ever win another race?’ I didn’t feel like it was mental or physical, it just wasn’t clicking. And I had to trust in my training that it would come good, and it did.”

World Series victories last month in Czechia and China have put her in a position where a win on Australia’s east coast would secure the title she won in 2023 in Spain.

“I remember saying: ‘If I’m going to win the title, I need to win the next three races.’ I’ve won two so far, so we’ll see. I’m not thinking of the end goal, I’ve just put myself back with a really good fighting chance to win it.”

Potter has dabbled more with altitude training and switched coaches from long-time mentor Jack Maitland to Ian Mitchell, who served as run coach for the Brownlee brothers later in their careers. 

But if she’s to win the world title, she’ll have to overcome the challenge of reigning world and Olympic champion, Cassandre Beaugrand. The formidable Frenchwoman, who is known for her outstanding swim and run, has been beaten just once in this year’s World Series, and heads into the final round level on points with Potter.

Potter won’t be the only Brit in action in Australia, and is joined on the start-list by Olivia Mathias, Sian Rainsley, Jess Fullagar and Tilly Anema.

For Anema, it will be a first World Series outing, and the 23-year-old said it’s the “unknown of racing at this level that’s the scary part.”

Having started out as a swimmer aged nine, Anema took up triathlon at 17, and trains under coach Luke Watson in Cardiff. While it has been at a lower level, she has also produced a strong series of results in 2025, including a first Europe Cup win in Portugal over the standard distance in March. 

“My style of racing, and being a strong swimmer, has helped,” she said, explaining the regular top 10 finishes. “A lot of races the swim has made it split so I’ve been at the front of the race, I just need to race [this one] the same as other races.

The elite women’s race will start at 2pm local time on Sunday 19th October (4am UK time). The elite men follow at 5pm local time (7am UK time). All the action will be screened live on TriathlonLive.TV