WTCS Race Calendar
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Mar | WTCS Abu Dhabi | UAE |
| 25-Apr | WTCS Samarkand | UZB |
| 16-May | WTCS Yokohama | JPN |
| 05-Jun | WTCS Alghero | ITA |
| 20-Jun | WTCS Quiberon | FRA |
| 11-Jul | WTCS Hamburg | GER |
| 25-Jul | WTCS London | GBR |
| 29-Aug | WTCS Weihai | CHN |
| 13-Sep | WTCS Karlovy Vary | CZE |
| 27-Sep | WTCS Pontevedra | ESP |
Ava Crean a 19 y/o from Ireland ran a 32:46 yesterday in Valencia 10km. She took up running on a threadmill during CoVID to keep fit as a basketball player. She went long straight away. Ran Manchester 1/2 in 2025 in 1:14:06 and Dublin full last October in 2:34:11. She is working on speed now. Not sure if she can swim : ). . No funding for U23 endurance running unfortunately but plenty to squander in tri Ireland 
she comes from basketball.I would be surprised if she was not on funding for 2026, athletics ireland is doing a solid job there atm.
Her coach said in a you tube after the Dublin marathon that there is no U23 funding for endurance athletes. Not sure where it stands now.
Thanks. He must have been referring to the marathon specifically as that is for older athletes only.
Good interview with Hayden Wilde.
Some cliff notes:
Thanks for bumping this thread. Couldn’t find it for some reason.
Some interesting news for US Olympians and Paralympians. Ross Stevens is gonna fund some sort of lump-sum retirement fund with the following benefits:
Pay a $100,000 grant, divided over four years, to every U.S. Olympian, starting with those on the team competing in Italy. That money can be used for any purpose and can be accessed 20 years after their qualifying Olympics or once they reach 45, whichever comes later.
Pay a $100,000 benefit to a designated beneficiary upon their death.
Duplicate these benefits for every Olympics an athlete makes, so someone who goes three times would get a total of $600,000 in benefits.
Be restricted to athletes who make less than $1 million a year, so as not to divert funds to, say, well-paid NBA players or top tennis stars who also compete for America.
Be funded through at least 2032 with a goal of going beyond that.
It was a quick quip he made in the middle, but basically said going for the olympics is a big hit to the pocket book, and the real money is in long distance racing. I think some of the folks out there that think ITU and federation money is great for athletes, well here is the guy who makes near the top from both of those poo pooing those numbers….I think most of us knew that already, just don’t hear it from someone still in the thick of it..
Yes. But come on. You are talking about Haydn Wilde.That is not true for every triathlete.
Never said it was, and in fact I’m sure a ton of athletes make more in ITU, because that is all they race. But as we have seen over and over the past few years, once an athlete makes the move over, they make a lot more money than they were before. So much that some may not even go back, but of course if they have an actual shot at their olympic team, they will lose all that $$ for that one time shot. You could tell from the interview, that is the only thing keeping him in ITU, and is going to bolt as soon as LA is over..How many decades now has the prize money been fixed in ITU races, a couple?
Aiui you have a good insight into the benefits of being part of one of the leading nations’ SC top tier squads. The potential (based on historic) public earnings for successful long course athletes is readily quantifiable.
But it would be useful to compare the different benefits/rewards for athletes who are (say) in the #15-#20 ranking category in both SC and LC.
I’m sure you’ve highlighted the assured yearly ‘grant’ to SC national team athletes from their fed and also the benefits of training facilities, camps and med/physio support. Can you essay a value to those?
I’m fairly sure the partnership opportunites on offer to LC are vastly better (consider the cohort) than for SC but those are not public and trying to assess their range would be useful but lack assurance.
Take typical SC athlete (in that cohort): they’ll race 8 times, mostly WTCS plus the four supertri races.
And @Thorsten offers easy access (Deep Dive Into the 2025 Triathlon Money Lists – TriRating) to the LC athletes: one in that cohort will be good enough to race as many T100s as they want (probably on contract, let’s say 4+1 plus standings bonus) plus, let’s say a 70.3 and the 70.3WC.
I’ll use Hannah Berry as a LC example but exclude her full distance races. Next year*, performing to the same standard, she’ll get $90k for her T100 (4+1+bonus) results and $11k for a 70.3 (#3) and the 70.3WC (#10) - total $101. Jason West will get a little more from T100: £113k plus the same for the 70.3s - total $123k.
An equivalent standard SC athlete might be Jolien Vermeylen - $30k World Tri, $46k supertri for total $76k. To make decent money athletes Have to race supertri (and be on one of the top two teams). What would she make as an LC athlete?
I belive wilde finances most of his short course stuff himself, and does mostly his own thing ( he gets some but not that much from the fed)
Given the thread’s title here we are (published yesterday):
Los-Angeles-2028-olympic-games-qualification-criteria
Far more knowledgeable people come here but I noticed (ie seemed not to be the same as for Paris) and simplified:
Athletes have to be ranked top 160.
Athletes have to have “represent[ed] the same National Federation during the whole qualification period”.
(Q period is 18th May 2026 for two years to final ‘Q’ date = 18th May 2028)
2+2 USA as hosts get 2+2
Mixed relay Q gets you 2+2 from:
2+2 2026 World Triathlon Mixed Relay
Championships (Hamburg),
2+2 the 2027 Champs
16+16 best from each of the five continents based on MTR ranking, but NB USA and one of GER/FRA/GBR will take two of those (say n = 2)
Next best 8-n on MTR rankings
Total so far = 22+22
Indiv
21+21 Quota places earned (for feds) by the 21 highest ranked athletes on the OQ Rankings (18 May 2028) (NB max 3) but discounting the top two athletes from nations already Q(2+2) from the MTR Q.
12+12 for Universality and New Flag slots/athletes
Sub-total 33+33
Grand total 55+55
E&OE
I guess there is 3 key changes
overall the change is to get less competitive ,
ie you had to be top 140 and now 160
there is now a double new flag , ie there is Conti games new flags ( thats new ) and the old new flag slots ( like I would say Oceania will struggle to fill the
4 new flag slots I think they only managed 1 for the last games )
Africa and Asia will have 1 guaranteed relays per continent form 0 at last games .
Ben Dijkstra is switching from GB to Netherlands, racing this year as a neutral athlete
Yes was going to post that. Guess he feels he has a much better chance of going to the Olympics that way
[ @diabolo - from 2024 thread] See above
from memory, I think he races in Egypt this week. and then World Cup lanazrotte mid march, he is the 2 highest athelte in the world ranking that changes feds this year.
I always thought he should be Dutch. Glad he realised that Dijkstra was no way to call a Brit.