2024 is set to be one helluva year on the pro triathlon circuit – the World Triathlon series, a brand-new T100 Triathlon World Tour, the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, supertri (the new name for Super League Triathlon) and Ironman's new Pro Series.
But with so many elite athletes competing across several series and distances, which ones should we be looking out for and why? Here's our 10 to watch for 2024…
Kate Waugh, GB
Another of British triathlon’s standout talents, Kate Waugh made such strides last year that she’s in contention to compete alongside Beth Potter in the Olympic Games in August.
The U23 world title in Abu Dhabi in late 2022 and year-on-year progression through the ranks underscored Waugh’s potential, but a Team GB spot in Paris still seemed a longshot at the start of 2023.
That’s all changed now thanks to a seventh-place finish in the test event and then an eye-catching runners-up performance in the WTCS final in Pontevedra, Spain, before becoming the overall Super League Triathlon series winner for good measure.
Not short of ambition nor scared of making a change, Waugh’s step up has coincided with leaving the relative home comforts of training in Leeds to join Paulo Sousa’s international squad in Portugal.
Selection is likely to come down to WTCS Cagliari at the end of May and if Waugh does make it, she’ll also be a medal threat.
Jeanne Lehair, Luxembourg
If Lehair can translate her form from Super League Triathlon to the Olympic stage, then Luxembourg could be celebrating only its fifth Olympic medal – and first in the summer Games for 72 years!
Lehair got off to a flyer in the four-round SLT format by sprinting to victory in London in 2023, and despite the cruellest of DNFs in Toulouse when a magnetic clasp on her helmet strap briefly came undone, she only missed out on the overall title because Waugh pipped her in Saudi Arabia.
The decision to switch allegiance from France meant that Lehair didn’t have to go through the challenging qualification route of her former teammates, and the reigning European champion can now instead put all her focus into preparing for a shot at glory on the Champs-Élysées.
Csongor Lehmann, Hungary
If ever there was a time to invest in the Lehmann brothers, then it could be a shrewd moment to back 24-year-old Csongor, who looks ready for a major breakthrough at senior level.
Schooled in the sport alongside older sibling Bence growing up in Hungary, he still lives and trains under his father’s guidance in a tight-knit group in Tiszaujvaros.
Csonger is already a junior and U23 world champion and is now ranked top 10 in the World Triathlon standings, with a highlight of last year being a seventh place in the season-ending grand final in Pontevedra.
Where he is at his best, though, is during the annual World Cup stopover in his hometown, fondly known on the circuit as Tizzy.
Lehmann has capitalised on home advantage to win in each of the past three years. If he can bring that form away from home soil then anything could be possible in 2024.
The Germans (and their mixed relay team)
Dispelling the longstanding trope that Germans only really care about the long-distance side of the sport, a short-course resurgence could bring some serious rewards in 2024.
Both the male and female German elites not only look strong, but also on the up. Tim Hellwig, Lasse Lührs, Lasse Nygaard Priester and Jonas Schomburg are all top 20 in the men’s world rankings, while Lisa Tertsch, Nina Eim, Laura Lindemann and Marlene Gomez-Göggel all top 15 in the women’s.
Former junior and U23 world champion Lindemann is the biggest name of the contingent and most favoured for individual success in Paris, where she’ll be joined by Eim and Tertsch with Hellwig and Lührs already qualified too.
The biggest chance of Olympic glory could be in the mixed team relay, though. While the test event reverted to a duathlon due to poor water quality in the Seine, the impressive Lindemann still anchored her team to the tape ahead of GB’s Beth Potter.
Don’t rule out the Germans being strong contenders to dethrone the Brits for real in August.
Javier Gomez, Spain
Unquestionably one of the finest triathletes of all time with five short-course world titles and silver from London 2012, Javier Gomez has been through a torrid time with injury and illness since his third and final Olympic appearance in Tokyo.
But returning from an 18-month layoff, two wins late last year showed the 40-year-old still has the hunger and talent to compete with the best over the middle distance.
Going longer still in Hawaii could be a focus, but handed the golden ticket of T100 ‘hotshot’ selection, he’ll be looking to wind the clock back and reprise the consistency shown when dominating the World Series.
With a base in New Zealand, it won’t be a surprise if the Spaniard also tries to cap off the year with a tilt at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo in December – and regaining the title he first won a decade ago.
Taylor Knibb, USA
Taylor Knibb heads for Paris as the US women’s leading light but has her work cut out to hold off the likes of Britain’s Beth Potter and home favourite Cassandre Beaugrand.
Already with a silver medal from the Tokyo mixed team relay to her name, even if the Olympics don’t go to plan, the Colorado-based 25-year-old still has more race options than any other triathlete in the world.
A threat over any distance, last year, she didn’t just secure her Olympic berth at the test event, but regained her Ironman 70.3 world title, won the PTO US Open over 100km in Milwaukee, and even finished fourth on Ironman debut in Hawaii.
Fast becoming one of the biggest attractions in pro racing, it was no surprise the PTO handed Knibb a T100 contract. Expect her to hit that series in earnest after Paris.
Imogen Simmonds, Switzerland
Imogen Simmonds ended 2023 as PTO ranked No. 9, climbing 37 places in 12 months and finishing above 2022 Ironman world champion Chelsea Sodaro.
Raised in Hong Kong and Switzerland and representing Britain as an amateur, the 30-year-old Environmental Technology graduate of Imperial College London is now based in Spain and races professionally under the Swiss flag.
With a dedicated focus on the middle distance, last year was her best to date with four wins and two second places, plus a standout third place in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Finland – matching her performance from 2019 in Nice.
A fourth place in the PTO Asian Open in Singapore suggests she’s ready to mix it with the big names on the T100 tour, where as one of only 20 contracted athletes she starts as a dark horse for success.
Mathis Margirier, France
With compatriots such as Ironman world champion Sam Laidlow, world long-course champ Clement Mignon and the multiple Ironman-winning Leon Chevalier, Frenchman Mathis Margirier has flown largely under the radar until now.
Yet he finished the year placed six in the PTO world rankings and above all three of his more illustrious countrymen.
In a breakthrough and consistent season, Margirier was only twice off the podium, in the stacked fields of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and PTO US Open, where on both occasions he came fourth.
The 26-year-old didn’t have much of a short-course career, and is only moving into his third year of non-drafting competition, but has rapidly earned a reputation as one of the best cyclists in the sport regularly laying down the fastest bike splits in races. Expect more wins as 2024 plays out.
Marten Van Riel, Belgium
That Marten Van Riel was recruited alongside Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez as a ‘hotshot’ for the T100 tour despite a current PTO ranking of 205 says much about the talent of the 31-year-old from the village of Loenhout in Belgium.
One of the most consistent performers on the World Triathlon Championship Series, Van Riel placed sixth and fourth in the last two Olympic Games, leaving unfinished business to complete in Paris.
If it doesn’t work out Van Riel has shown he could be even more suited to T100 racing. His brief flirtations with the middle distance have so far been limited to bookending the short-course season, but they include setting the fastest ever 70.3 time in Dubai in March 2022 – taking down Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt in the process – and setting the fastest bike and run splits when winning Bahrain 70.3 in December.
His fondness for racing in the Middle East should put him in good stead for 2024 given the region hosts the final to T100 events, including the grand final.
Taylor Spivey, USA
There’s an impending sense of deja vu for the 32-year-old who narrowly missed out on selection for the US Olympic team for Tokyo despite being ranked second in the world.
Taylor Spivey must get the nod for one of two remaining places for Paris ahead of seven other US women in the top 60 of the rankings – with the WTCS race in Japan designated as the high-pressure shootout.
There's no doubting her Olympic credentials having only twice finished outside the top 10 in a WTCS race since 2018.
One of those contests was last year’s finale in Pontevedra, where she raced with a stress reaction in order to maintain a high ranking in the overall series and ensure selection for key races this year.
Whatever the result of the Paris quest expect Spivey to feature prominently in the T100 tour in the latter half of the year, where her sharp swim and all-around consistency should make her as much of a factor over 100km as she has been on draft-legal racing.
Don’t rule out a return to Super League either. A regular contender on the circuit, she’s been part of the winning team overall and won an individual round in Malibu near to where she grew up excelling in surf-lifesaving.
Top image credit: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
