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What separates the best from the rest? With plenty of moving parts, triathlon can be a complicated sport at times and the ingredients of success hard to identify. A fast run may ostensibly seem like the most important factor. After all, as the final discipline the run is often the decisive part of any race. It might surprise you to learn that the three men on the overall podium of the 2024 WTCS were actually the three best exponents of a different part of the race. While they were very good at the run, there was another area in which they were a cut above everyone else.

In this article, we dive into the data from the men’s WTCS, covering the performances from all the stops – in Yokohama, Cagliari, Hamburg, Weihai and Torremolinos – as well as the Paris Olympic Games. What we are looking for are the average performances of each athlete. That is to say their average position, or split ranking, in each discipline across the entire season. So, what separates the best from the rest? Read on to find out where the leading men of 2024 truly excelled.

In the above graph, the x-axis denotes each discipline within the race while the numbers on the y-axis refer to the average position each athlete achieved in each discipline throughout the season.

The number one

The natural place to start is with the newly-crowned Olympic and world champion, Alex Yee. Across the board, Yee was fantastic this season. He averaged a position of 19.2 in the swim, which always kept him within touching distance of the lead pack. Thereafter, he was superb in transition, averaging a position of 1.5 in T1. As it happens, Yee also averaged a position of 1.5 in T2 across his races this year.

In between, he averaged the 8.5th fastest bike split, highlighting how he has become one of the strongest cyclists in the field. To round things off, Yee’s average run position was 1.2. He was only beaten to the fastest run split once, by compatriot Hugo Milner in Torremolinos.

The podium

We can compare Yee’s average performances with the rest of the overall podium. Leo Bergere had an average swim position of 12.4, whereas Hayden Wilde had an average of 23.2. In T1, Bergere’s split ranking was 5.2; Wilde’s was 2.5. As with Yee, their T2 numbers were similar to their first transitions. Bergere had an average of 4.4 while Wilde ended the year with an average of 2.8. On the bike, Bergere’s average position was 12.6. Wilde averaged the 7th fastest bike split. Then, on the run, Bergere averaged a position of 12.4 while Wilde was a notch behind Yee with an average of 2.2.

Already, we can see some notable differences between the three men. Wilde’s averages were broadly similar to Yee’s but he only managed to get the better of his rival on the bike. With a better swim, run and transitions, it is a little clearer how Yee beat Wilde this year. Meanwhile, Bergere presents a different model of athlete. He was remarkably consistent across the board. Taking his swim, bike and run, his average positions were almost identical and his approach shows how a balanced model can mix with the more run-tilted approaches of Yee and Wilde.

One of the most interesting details to note is that Yee, Bergere and Wilde were the best transitioners across the season. On paper at least, T1 and T2 would not appear to carry significant weight in determining the overall standings. Nevertheless, the three best men in 2024 were on average the three best performers in the discipline. Thus, while transition itself might not have necessarily been the point of difference, it was a clear instance of the mastery of the smaller details that elevated the podium over their peers.

The top-10

If we turn to the rest of the overall top-10 we can see further details that help to unpack the differences between the best and the rest. Matthew Hauser (8th overall) and Vincent Luis (7th overall) were the top swim performers of the cohort with average positions of 3.4 and 5, respectively. In general, though, a swimming advantage did not make a huge difference to the top performers.

By contrast, the bike seems to have been a clear point of strength for the overall podium against the rest of the top-10. After the overall medallists, Csongor Lehmann (5th overall) had the best average bike position of the top-10: 14.5. This is already a slight cut below Yee, Bergere and Wilde. Luis and Luke Willian (6th overall) were the only other men in the top-10 with an average bike position under 20, with 16.6 and 17. It therefore seems as though the overall podium were on average slightly better on the bike than the rest of the top-10, which may have contributed to the differences in final position at the end of the year.

The run was then a clear separator of the top-10 from the rest of the field. Pierre Le Corre (4th overall) had one of the best average run positions in the Series with a 4.6. Only one man, Willian, made it into the overall top-10 with an average run position of over 15 (his stood at 17.3). The conclusion, then, is that athletes could carry a slightly weaker swim or bike and still make the top-10, but they generally could not cover up a weaker run.

Consistency vs stronger disciplines

At the same time, Willian had the smallest difference across all disciplines of the men in the top-10. His average swim position of 21.8 was his lowest, while his best average was the 14.5 he achieved in T2. With a difference of 7.3 between his worst and best averages, we can see that Willian’s consistency across the different facets of the sport was one of his main advantages.

Aside from Bergere (who had a gap of 8.2), no one else in the top-10 overall men had a difference between their worst and best averages under 10. As a result, we see two models in the average performances: either an athlete must be extremely consistent across all bases if they are to make the top-10, or they need at least one point of strength, represented with an average position of under 10 in a given discipline.

Finally, Lehmann and Luis managed to keep their averages in all disciplines under 20, matching the feat of Yee and Bergere. Hauser’s average position of 31 on the bike was the only instance of a man inside the top-10 logging an average over 25.

Best by discipline

The lesson of the 2024 WTCS appears to be that consistency and running performance were the separators of the top-10 versus the rest, while the bike and transitions were important markers that showed how the top-3 stood apart from the top-10. To conclude, though, we will now turn to the all-important bragging rights of the season: the men that had the best averages of each discipline.

Starting with the swim, Miguel Tiago Silva took an average position of 1. It should be noted, however, that his average came from a solitary Series appearance where he led the swim in Torremolinos. Alessio Crociani had the next best average with 1.3 while Hauser rounds out the top-3 with his 3.4.

On the bike, Henry Graf had the top average position of 2, with Yanis Seguin close behind with his average of 4. Similarly to Silva, though, these averages only came from one Series appearance. Ricardo Batista had an average bike position of 4.3 and was therefore the best cyclist, in terms of average split position, of the men with more than one appearance.

Yee and Wilde were the best runners of the WTCS which will come as no surprise to anyone. Clearly, the run was hugely important to their success, although as we have seen there were other factors that cannot be overlooked. Milner was the third best runner with an average position of 3.8.

Looking ahead to 2025, then, the above averages offer some insight into where the top performers in the Series were strongest and where those looking to usurp them will have to improve if they are to break through next season.