Of the 15 editions of the Mixed Relay World Championships in the Series era of the sport, all but five have been held in the format’s spiritual home: Hamburg, Germany. And in recent years, it is only the German Team that has been able to halt what was looking like the unstoppable charge of France in the chase of the world titles.
From 2018-2022, Cassandre Beaugrand was the ever-present link in the French chain of command, helping secure four consecutive titles. For the past two years, however, it has been the hosts who have dominated, a surge of form that included a famous smash-and-grab on the Olympic title in the French capital one year go.
Heading into the 2025 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships, it looks even harder than ever to pick the team compositions, let alone the podium. Line-ups can be changed up to two hours ahead of the race start, and while many will be based off results and fitness after the previous day’s WTCS Hamburg individual, there is always the strong possibility of a few special guests flown in specifically for the relay…
Watch all the relay action on TriathlonLive.tv from 1.30pm CEST on Sunday 13 July.
For hosts Germany, the defending World Champions and reigning Olympic Champions, it would be a surprise not to see last year’s line up of Henry Graf, Annika Koch, Lasse Luhrs and Lisa Tertsch in action, though Nina Eim and Tanja Neubert would both have very strong claims for a start.
For France, Cassandre Beaugrand and Dorian Coninx look like certs, Emma Lombardi and Leonie Periault, Tom Richard and Yanis Seguin those on the individual races that would vie for a team spot if so.
Olympic silver medallists the USA have youth on their side in John Reed and Reese Vannerson as well as Chase McQueen and Darr Smith, while their relay regular Taylor Spivey is back on the blue carpet from T100 duty and likely to start with Gwen Jorgensen, Erika Ackerlund and Gina Sereno also in contention.
The New Zealand team have back-to-back World Championship podiums but without the injured Hayden Wilde may struggle, last year’s silver medallists Switzerland likewise look less of a threat if Julie Derron doesn’t race given the Olympic silver medallist’s T100 focus.
Individual comeback race-dependant, Great Britain will be able to count on the returning Georgia Taylor-Brown as she lines up for the first time in 2025 on Saturday, but there is considerable strength in depth led by Beth Potter and Kate Waugh, while the men’s selection looks wide open between the likes of Hugo Milner, Max Stapley and Ben Dijkstra, with Alex Yee still not on the individual start list but ramping up his training again.
Portugal continue to be a huge threat with Vasco Vilaça and Ricardo Batista, Maria Tomé and Melanie Santos a formidable foursome, and Sophie Linn could return for Australia to race along with Matt Hauser and Brandon Copeland or Callum McClusky.
For the full line up of countries, click here.