WORLD PARA SERIES
The second round of the 2026 World Para Series is set to take place in Yokohama, with the action kicking off at 06:50 (local time) on 16 May or 15 May 22:50 in the UK (BST). After the fireworks of the season opener in Devonport, the arrival of multiple world champions for their first races of the year means that something special could be in store.
WOMEN’S RACE
With three wins in her last four WTCS starts, there’s little doubt that Beth Potter is the in-form athlete heading to this weekend’s WTCS Yokohama. On a course she knows well, in conditions likely to be much improved on last year’s chilly soak-through, the Brit will be looking to go one better than her 2025 silver when the horn sounds on 16 May.
It was Jeanne Lehair (LUX) who beat her 12 months ago and arrives on the back of sharing last month’s podium in Samarkand, but there are big-name returnees in the form of T100 Champion Kate Waugh and Emma Lombardi of France, and a frustrated defending World Champion in Lisa Tertsch, 33rd in Samarkand, to reckon with in Japan.
It’s a familiar, Olympic-distance challenge around the iconic harbour, where the weather is set fair and hot for the gruelling 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run course. Watch it all unfold on Saturday from 10.15am local time, 2:15am UK (BST).
Potter x Lehair x Tertsch round two
Last year, Beth Potter’s 33m38s was the fastest run of the day, but not quite fast enough to catch Jeanne Lehair who had gapped the entire field early in the 10km then held tough long enough to take the tape for the first time in her career. Last month, Potter put together an untouchable 10km to win in Samarkand and show she is right back in the kind of form that earned her the 2023 world title. A second win this weekend would really put the early pressure on her title rivals.
It was a barnstorming swim on the heels of Therese Feuersinger that set up Lehair’s debut Series gold, instilling a new confidence within Luxembourg’s number one that was in evidence again as she ripped another podium in Samarkand. That remarkable solo Yokohama run in the rain is what will be living in her head, though, as well as her out-witting two of the last three world champions on her way to the line.
Lisa Tertsch’s early bike crash in Samarkand may have delayed her title defence, but what had to become a training race in the end will have left the reigning world champion’s competitive edge even more razor sharp heading back to the site of her 2025 bronze medal success.
With no Leonie Periault or Cassandre Beaugrand for France, Emma Lombardi returns to lead the line for the tricolore, and on a course where she made a stunning Series debut, scoring 4th here back in 2022 at just 21 years-old. Since then she has rarely been out of the top 5, but is yet to taste WTCS victory. With only four outings in 18 months to her name, the test will be to find race-sharpness quickly in Yokohama, where she can always be a threat.
Britain’s T100 World Champion Kate Waugh makes her first Series start in almost a year and will use the race to judge where she is at over the shorter distance at the start of the long, slow build towards LA28.
Laura Lindemann arrives fresh off a trademark win and a thrilling sprint finish against Waugh in Chengdu just a week ago, and hoping for no ill effects from that race and the travel to Japan. Sian Rainsley and Jess Fullagar will complete the GB line up, with Series silverware becoming an ever closer target for both, Australia’s U23 world champion Richelle Hill should relish the chance to test herself against the best in the world at her first WTCS.
The USA team is packed with top-tier experience and firepower in the form of Taylor Spivey, Kirsten Kasper and Gwen Jorgensen, and Sweden’s Tilda Mansson will look to build on a promising Samarkand opener as she continues her return from injury.
MEN’S RACE
Hot on the heels of last month’s WTCS Samarkand season opener, the World Triathlon Championship Series returns on Saturday 16 May at the classic WTCS Yokohama course. With added firepower in the form of reigning World and Olympic Champions Matt Hauser and Alex Yee joining last year’s Series #2 Miguel Hidalgo and race #1 Tim Hellwig, all eyes will be on the return of two stars for their first Series action of 2026.
It’s an Olympic distance course, the two-lap, 1.5km harbour swim transitions to a 10-lap bike each of 4km, and then a four-lap, 10km run to the tape. The horn will sound at 1pm local time, 4am UK (BST).
With the entire top 12 from WTCS Samarkand skipping this stop, wearing the number one will be Tim Hellwig, after the German followed back-to-back World Cup silvers in Lanzarote and Haikou with 13th place in the Uzbekistan season-starter. Hellwig looked well-placed for another big finish on the Silk Road, but a hard ride in the heat took its toll at the tail end of the 10km.
Things got even worse for Miguel Hidalgo, who had looked in control out front before his legs blew up and ended his challenge entirely, but leaving him more hungry than ever for redemption on a Japan course that he has scored a bronze medal and 8th finish in his most recent outings.
So with Samarkand winner Vasco Vilaça sitting this stop out from the top of the standings, the headliners are undoubtedly last year’s World Champion Matt Hauser and Paris 2024 gold medallist Alex Yee.
Hauser has already had a T100 hit out in the heat of Singapore this year, priming him for a very different challenge on Saturday, but one where the heat could also play a part with temperatures expected in the high 20 Celsius. After gold here last year with a 29:43 run, plus back-to-back silvers, the Australian knows exactly what success looks like here. What he doesn’t know is where the legs of rival Alex Yee will be.
Set for his first Series race since the French Riviera last August and a first at this distance since the 2024 Torremolinos Finals, Yee has found gold here before back in 2022 and never finished outside the top 5. The Brit’s winning run time four years ago: 28m50s, the only sub-29 ever recorded on the course. How much pressure Hauser can put on him across the swim and bike will surely be the decisive factor.
Kenji Nener leads a 10-deep Japanese delegation chasing silverware on home turf, while Luke Willian (AUS) arrives off the back of a World Cup win in Chengdu and on a course where he scored his first Series medal with bronze two years ago.
Max Stapley and Jack Willis complete the British trio of podium potential, while the USA’s breakaway bandit from Samarkand, Chase McQueen, is back and ready for a strong finish along with teammate John Reed and the returning Reese Vannerson.
