Hayden Wilde notched up win number two of the series today in the fifth-round Hamburg, after an energy-sapping two days of qualifying races and a three-race eliminator-style final.
The New Zealander beat Series leader Vasco Vilaca (POR) into second and GB's Alex Yee into third – a particularly sweet result as up until now Wilde hadn't been able to get the better of the Commonwealth champion at the finish line.
France's Cassandre Beaugrand meanwhile put in what looked like an almost effortless performance to take her third WTCS victory and her first in 2023.
Beth Potter, who admitted to not feeling 100% at the finish line, took a solid silver, while home favourite Laura Lindemann completed the podium with bronze.
With their wins, both Wilde and Beaugrand were also crowned the first-ever super-sprint world champions. Here's how they did it…
What is the eliminator format?
The eliminator format made its Hamburg debut this weekend for a lightening-quick, super-sprint, multi-race extravaganza.
Friday saw the qualifying and repechage rounds, all contested over a 300m swim, 7.5km bike and 1.6km run. Sixty men and 60 women competed across two qualifiers, respectively, with the top 10 from each going forward into today's qualifiers.
The fastest 10 athletes from each repechage also qualified to provide the final 30-person line-up for each of today's Finals.
The Finals day saw 30 men and 30 women compete in their respective Race 1 – again over the 300m swim, 7.5km bike and 1.6km run, with the bottom 10 from each eliminated.
The final 20 men and 20 women then competed in their respective Race 2, where again the bottom 10 from each were eliminated.
This then set it up for a Race 3 10-woman/10-man showdown.
What happened in the qualifiers and repechage?
There were no great surprises after the first day of qualifiers, with the big names of Yee, Wilde, Vilaca, Matt Hauser, Marten Van Riel, Jelle Geens and Kristian Blummenfelt cruising through for the men.
For the women, Potter, Taylor Spivey, Katie Zaferes, Beaugrand, Lindemann and Kirsten Kasper all made their top 10s to race today's Finals.
Three big women's names who had to fall back on the repechage route, though, were Australia's Emma Jackson and the USA's Gwen Jorgensen and Summer Rappaport.
What happened in the Finals Race 1?
In the men's Race 1 on the Finals day, the first big scalp to fall was Montreal WTCS bronze-medallist Geens, who crossed the line in 29th to be automatically eliminated. Henri Schoeman's day was also cut short when he crossed in 22nd.
In the women's Race 1, European Champs' silver medallist Lisa Tertsch (GER) was served a penalty for not doing up her helmet before moving her bike out of T2. The 10sec stop just before the finish line meant she missed the top-20.
Jorgensen was 30secs down out of the swim in last place, but even with her monstrous run speed she failed to make up any places and finished 3oth.
Jackson also failed to make the top-20.
What happened in the Finals Race 2?
By Race 2, things were a little more fraught, with half the field facing elimination.
Hauser was first out of the men's swim, but could do little to pull out a small lead group over such a short, sharp course. As such, 18 men tumbled into T2 for the final, two-lap 1.6km dash.
Wilde was straight to the front for a mad sprint among the world's best to make that final top-10.
Keeping the Kiwi close was Yee, Blummenfelt and Hauser, who all comfortably finished in the top-10, along with Series leader Vilaca, Conger Lehmann (HUN), Max Studer (SUI), Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN), Tim Hellwig (GER) and Miguel Hidalgo (BRA).
Among those in the bottom 10 were Kiwi Tayler Reid, Van Riel (BEL), Antonio Serrat Seone (ESP) and Seth Rider (USA).
In the women's Race 2, 19 of the 20 starters made the main bike pack, leading to a final run decider.
Zaferes was the first casualty when her bike slipped out from under her as she ran into T2, meaning she had no chance to stay in contention for what was guaranteed to be a super-swift 1.6km. She finally came home in 18th.
And Beaugrand wasn't hanging about, pulling out a decent gap by the halfway point and looking supremely comfortable at the helm.
Officially first across the line, Beaugrand brought Lindemann, Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL), Potter, Cathia Schär (SUI), Annika Koch (GER), Marlene Gomez-Göggel (GER), Rappaport, Spivey and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) with her to finalise the final top-10.
Those missing out on Race 3 included European champ Jeanne Lehair (LUX), Rachel Klamer (NED) and Kasper.
What happened in the Finals Race 3?
Just 10secs separated the final 10 men as they left T1 in the race-deciding Race 3, swiftly becoming a bike group of 10 before the end of lap one.
Blummenfelt kept attempting a breakaway but to no avail, the rest keen to leave it to the run to start the race proper.
Wilde, eager to score his first-ever win over Yee (in a race they've both finished), had a seamless T2 to pull out a colossal gap from the off, one the others were unable to match.
Taking his second win of the season, he said at the line: "Everyone's upping their game and I'm not taking any podiums for granted. It was honest racing and I'm just stoked to take the win."
Vilaca ran in for silver, Yee for bronze.
"It's crazy this racing," said Yee at the line. "I really enjoy it but it's carnage. It was unpredictable, with Kristian doing some madness on the bike. My legs are in tatters, but it was quality racing."
Blummenfelt was fourth – his best to date for the 2023 WTCS season – and Hauser fifth.
In the women's Final Race 3, nine of the 10 women made the lead pack before the end of the first lap. The only one to miss it was Schär, but she was back on it for the final lap.
A speedy switch to the run and Beaugrand did a Wilde, flying to the front to show her form ahead of her home country's Olympics Test Event next month.
The Frenchwoman never looked back for her third WTCS individual gold (and world super sprint title), finally breaking the run of GB women on the top step in 2023.
Potter did still take silver, however, while Lindemann delighted her home crowd for bronze. Spivey ran in for seventh, Rappaport 10th.
"I think I just wanted to win today so much, I'm very comfy at this distance," said Beaugrand post-race.
"I woke feeling a bit ill today," admitted Potter, who now leads the Series, at the finish, "so I'm pretty proud of how I stuck it out and got through the rounds."
The next WTCS race is in two weeks' time at the brand new British location of Sunderland.
Top image credit: World Triathlon
