After a front pack swim that placed her in the top six bike breakaway, Beth Potter gradually edged toward the front, then broke away with a women’s-best 16:46 on the run to hit the tape in 57:56 with an 18-seconds margin of victory over fellow Brit Sophie Coldwell.

Potter broke away from a duel with Coldwell on the final gentle climb of the run to take her very first gold in a WTCS event. Coldwell overcame a 10-second penalty for a false start on the swim to take the silver by 13 seconds over third place finisher Taylor Spivey of the U.S.

“It’s always a bit of an unknown the first race of the season, but I’ve been training well and Johnny (Brownlee) texted me last night and said ‘you’re gonna win’ and I couldn’t believe it!” Potter told World Triathlon media. “I knew I could potentially attack and run hard over the top of the [final] hill, so it was back to my cross country days there!.”

Emerging first from the water with a 9:27 swim at Yas Marina, Coldwell joined Potter, Americans Summer Rappaport and Taylor Spivey, Lena Meissner of Germany, and Luisa Baptista of Brazil in a six-women breakaway.

In a surprise, number one Georgia Taylor-Brown was 30 seconds in the front-runners’ wake. As expected, after 18 months away from the sport due to the birth of her first child, 2019 World Champion Katie Zaferes was 40 seconds arrears.

With the leaders of and running away, Taylor-Brown, Kirsten Kasper of the U.S. and Verena Steinhauser of Italy led a large chase pack pushing hard to stay in touch. In futile pursuit, the chasers fell 28 seconds back after two laps and 47 seconds at the fifth – and bell - lap.

In a tight fight, Coldwell emerged from T2 with a short lead. Baptista was first to fall back, while Rappaport took a brief lead. Potter then charged out front with Spivey 4th and Meissner 5th.and only Coldwell could stay in touch.

At the bell, the British duo seized a 10 seconds margin over Spivey and Rappaport with Emma Lombardi, Verena Steinhauser and Cassandre Beaugrand of France closing on Meissner.

With the two Brits hungry for a first WTCS gold, Coldwell took a slim advantage over Potter. By the small hill on the final lap, Potter attacked with 500 meters to go and Coldwell could not respond and took the silver. Frustrated after a year of 4th place finishes, Taylor Spivey hung tough for her first podium in a while for a bronze while Rappaport and Meissner took 4th and 5th.

“To be honest I wasn’t even planning on racing here, so to come second was amazing,” Coldwell told World Triathlon media. “I’m lost for words. I was just too keen to get the season started! As soon as I dived, I thought i’d gone early, so just wanted to keep my head down and relax. I didn’t really think it was a breakaway course so I was surprised we managed to get it going and surprised the gap went out to nearly 50 seconds.”

“To say i’m pleased is an understatement,” Spivey said. “At one point I was in fourth and I just thought ‘I can’t let this happen again.’ I went into this race after being sick for 5 months so it’s been a bit of a rough off-season.”

World Triathlon Championship Series – Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina
March 3, 2023
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Women

1. Beth Potter GBR S 9:40 T1 1:18 B 29:52 T2 00:24 R 16:46 TOT 57:56
2. Sophie Coldwell GBR S 9:27 T 1 1:28 B 29:54 T2 00:23 R 17:04 TOT 58:14
3. Taylor Spivey USA S 9:35 T1 1:19 B 29:55 T2 00:24 R 17:18 TOT 58:27
4. Summer Rappaport USA S 9:31 T1 1:20 B 29:59 T2 00:24 R 17:24 TOT 58:35
5. Lena Meissner GER S 9:33 T1 1:21 B 29:56 T2 00:24 R 17:29 TOT 58:39
6. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA S 9:52 T1 1:23 B 30:23 T2 00:26 R 16:38 TOT 58:39
7. Nina Eim GER S 10:16 T1 1:18 B 30:00 T2 00:23 R 16:51 TOT 58:45
8. Emma Lombardi FRA S 9:58 T1 1:22 B e30:15t T2 00:23 R 16:50 TOT 58:46
9. Verena Steinhauser ITA S 10:03 T1 1:21 B 30:10 T2 00:22 R 16:55 TOT 58:48
10. Lisa Tertsch GER S 10:18 T1 1:17 B 29:59 T2 00:24 R 16:59 TOT 58:53
15. Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR S 9:58 T1 01:25 B 30:13 T2 00:25 R 17:10 TOT 59:08
25. Kirsten Kasper USA S 9:53 T1 1:20 B 30:21 T2 1:20 R 17:32 TOT 59:28.

**

Alex Yee of Great Britain Blazed to a Race-best 14:26 5km run to a 6-Sconds Margin of Victory over Vasco Vilaca of Portugal.

Yee was happy to banish his depression over his surprise loss to Frenchman Leo Bergere at the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Final with a golden start to the 2023 season. Yee started the day 30 seconds back of the leaders on the swim, caught the lead pack early on the 20km bike leg, then shed most of the top running talent before the drama came down to a three-man duel with Vasco Vilaca of Portugal and Manoel Messias of Brazil.

“I came here with no expectations and raced free and I guess that’s the outcome when you enjoy what you’re doing!” Yee told World Triathlon media. “It’s just so good to be back racing these guys. I just wanted to see how the last weeks of training in Australia had gone, so it’s worked out well, and I was feeling pretty good today.”

With last year’s leading trio of Yee, Leo Bergere and Hayden Wilde on the right side of the pontoon, two-time World Champion Vincent Luis of France took his chances in the middle and scored with the fastest 8:57 split of the day, which gave him a 2 seconds lead on Dorian Coninx, 20 seconds on Vasco Vilaca of Portugal, 23 seconds on Yee, 24 seconds on 2022 World Champion Bergere, 29 seconds on Roberto Sanchez Mantecon of Spain. 33 seconds on Adrien Briffod of Switzerland and 34 seconds on Matthew McElroy of the U.S,

Trailing by 45 seconds was Hayden Wilde of New Zealand, Manoel Messias of Brazil, The 2022 Ironman World Champion Gustav Iden of Norway was at the back of the field, and so was Wilde, who suffered an early race flat.

On the first of five bike laps, a 10-deep pack powered by Coninx, Jamie Riddle of South Africa, Kenji Nener of Japan and Matthew Hauser of Australia led Portuguese duo Vilaca and Ricardo Batista, with Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk. Ten seconds back were Bergere, Yee and Matthew McElroy of the U.S.

Soon, all leads were erased and melded into a huge 50-man pack on the Yas Marina circuit.

First to explode out front on the run was Brandon Copeland of Australia, soon caught by Max Studer and Matthew Hauser. Then the cream rose to the top as Vincent Luis led with Messias on his shoulder.

Yee then edged his way to the front at the first time on the hill while Messias and Vilaca were unable to answer.

Yee then ran away from all chasers, erasing his Championship Finals pain. with Vilaca holding off Messias for silver.

“It has been three years since I was on the podium in Hamburg and it’s amazing to start the season like this,” Vilaca told World Triathlon media. “It was amazing to run with Alex and Manoel going all in to the end.”

Men

1. Alex Yee GBR 9:20 T1 1:14 B 27:33 T2 00:23 R 14:26 TOT 52:53
2. Vasco Vilaca POR S 9:17 T1 1:14 B 27:35 T2 0:22 R 14:32 TOT 52:59
3. Manoel Messias BRA S 9:40 T1 1:14 B 27:15 T2 00:27 R 14:32 TOT 53:06
4. Vincent Luis FRA S 08:57T1 1:15 B 27:54 T2 00:22 R 14:45 TOT 53:11
5. Dorian Coninx FRA S 8:59 T1 1:15 B 27:53 T2 00:22 R 14:48 TOT 53:14
6. Leo Bergere FRA S 9:21 T1 1:16 B 27:28 T2 00:21 R 14:51 TOT 53:15
7. Roberto Sanchez Mantecon ESP S 9:26 T1 1:16 B 27:23 T2 00:23 R 14:52 TOT 53:18
8. Matthew McElroy USA S 9:31 T1 1:13 B 27:23 T2 00:22 R 14:52 TOT 53:19
9. Max Studer SUI S 9:32 T1 1:16 B 27:22 T2 00:21 R 14:51 TOT 53:20
10. Adrien Briffod SUI S 9:30 T1 1:14 B 27:25 T2 00:21 R 14:51 TOT 53:24