Lisa Tertsch Steals WTCS Title in Dramatic Grand Final, Matt Hauser Triumphs on Home Soil

Lisa Tertsch won the first world title of her career in Australia on Sunday.

The 2025 World Triathlon Championship Series wrapped up in Wollongong, Australia, on Sunday, with Germany’s Lisa Tertsch and local favorite Matt Hauser both taking the wins on the day to secure the overall series world titles for the year. These are the first world crowns of both Tertsch’s and Hauser’s careers, and the pair won them in two very different ways.

Hauser won the WTCS title after standing atop the standings for much of the year, winning four of the eight races in the series. Tertsch’s path to the title was much different, and she had a comeback for the ages, jumping from fourth to first with her win in Wollongong and knocking off France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and Britain’s Beth Potter in the process.

Tertsch’s Dream Comeback

In 2024, Tertsch closed out the year just off the WTCS podium, finishing fourth behind series champion Beaugrand, second-place Potter and Beaugrand’s fellow Frenchwoman Emma Lombardi. She got 2025 off to a great start, winning the first WTCS race of the year in Abu Dhabi. However, neither Beaugrand nor Potter were in the lineup for that race, so Tertsch had to wait to really test her legs against the reigning top two in the series.

Tertsch followed that hot start up with a third-place finish at WTCS Yokohama in May, but she went most of the summer without another podium result in the series. In mid-September, though, she kicked off a three-race stint that saw her finish third at WTCS Karlovy Vary, second at WTCS Weihai and finally first in Wollongong, climbing the ranks in the final three events of the year.

Despite her two podium results leading into Wollongong, Tertsch had to have the perfect day on Sunday if she wanted a shot at the world title. She also needed Beaugrand, Potter and recent Supertri champion Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg (who was in third ahead of the race this weekend) to have bad days, as simply beating them wasn’t enough.

Cassandre Beaugrand is so often the main threat at WTCS races, but she turned out to be a non-factor in Wollongong.

The race started with Britain’s Tilly Anema (who was making her WTCS debut) leading out of the water. Anema completed the 1,500-metre swim in 19:07, followed closely by Beaugrand, Tertsch and a number of other women.

Potter, Beaugrand and Tertsch joined a group of other leaders on the bike, eventually completing the 25-mile course in just over an hour. The run was where the race was won (and lost), and it set up the battle that everyone had been anticipating all season long: Beaugrand versus Potter, the 2024 champion versus the second-place contender.

The lead group consisted of six women, and the gap to the chasers was around a minute as they set off on the run. Tertsch had a great chance to climb onto the series podium, but in order for her to win the title, she needed to come in first and have both Potter and Beaugrand finish in fifth place or worse. It would have been surprising enough to see either of these women blow up on the run and miss the podium, but no one would have bet on it happening to both.

Slowly, however, things started to change. The group of six women dwindled to five, with the leaders shockingly dropping Beaugrand (who was eventually passed by the chasers and ultimately pulled out of the race). At that point, the world title was Potter’s to lose. All she had to do was hang in with the lead pack and she would take the series victory, but she, too, fell off the pace.

Like her rival Beaugrand, Beth Potter faded hard on the run, opening the door for Tertsch.

All of a sudden, Tertsch had a legitimate chance at the title, and she didn’t fumble it. She used a 33:56 10K to run to the win, crossing the line in 1:56:50, 14 seconds clear of second-place Bianca Seregni of Italy and 26 seconds ahead of Lombardi in third. Potter finished more than two minutes back in 16th place.

With the win, Tertsch claimed the world title. France’s Leonie Periault finished fourth on the day to climb to second in the series standings, and Potter dropped to a disappointing third-place result for the season. With her DNF, Beaugrand fell to seventh in the rankings.

Hauser Stays on Top

In 2024, Hauser finished eighth in the WTCS standings. This year, he had a real opportunity to do something special, as the top three from last season (Alex Yee, Hayden Wilde and Leo Bergere) all shifted focus to different events.

He had a remarkable 2025 campaign, racing in seven of the eight WTCS events and missing the podium just once. He took home wins in Yokohama, Hamburg, the French Riviera and Wollongong, finished second in both Abu Dhabi and Alghero, and ran to eighth in Karlovy Vary.

Hauser went into the race in Wollongong with a solid hold on first place in the WTCS standings, a couple hundred points clear of second-place Miguel Hidalgo of Brazil and third-place Vasco Vilaca of Portugal. The women’s race showed that anything can happen, no matter how much of a lead the pre-race favorites might have, but Hauser was all class on his way to the win.

Matt Hauser has been on fire all season long.

Hauser led out of the water in 17:49. He slipped in transition, but it didn’t affect his progress too much, and he joined a group of six other men at the front of the race on the bike. Meanwhile, 18 seconds back, Vilaca and Hidalgo had some work to do if they wanted a shot at dethroning Hauser in the standings.

The gap to the chase pack continued to grow, hitting 30 seconds by the halfway mark. By the time the lead men hit T2, they had about a minute on the next group. Like Beaugrand and Potter earlier in the day, all Hauser had to do was make it to the line among those leaders, but he couldn’t take anything for granted until he crossed the finish.

After a little over halfway on the run, Hauser climbed into solo control of the lead. He ran the third-fastest 10K of the day in 29:16, flying to the race win in 1:42:42 and the overall world title. Spain’s David Cantero Del Campo finished in second in 1:43:15, and Italian Alessio Crociani rounded out the podium in a final time of 1:43:22.

Hidalgo and Vilaca finished just three seconds apart from one another in fourth and fifth, respectively, but they were a full minute behind Hauser. Their results were enough to keep them in second and third on the year.

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