The last time Gwen Jorgensen sported the number one at a World Cup in Asia she took the win, thanks to a fierce final surge in Miyazaki in 2024. The current world number 22 arrives in Beijing this weekend having clocked the second-fastest 10km time at last month’s Championship Finals Pontevedra and ready to get back to winning ways on the World Cup circuit.
The two-lap 1500m swim transitions to eight fast 5km bike loops to the south of the reservoir, then into the running shoes for the four-lap 10km run to the tape. You can watch it all from midday local time / 6am CEST on TriathlonLive.io.
Five wins, two silvers and a bronze at this level since her return in 2023, Gwen Jorgensen has not missed a World Cup podium in eight races, and will have no intention of missing out here with 500 LA28 qualification points also for the winners.
Six US women in the ranking top 30 tells its own story with a maximum of three slots available for that huge home Olympics on the horizon, and Jorgensen once again looked in rare form on the run in Pontevedra. What she will want to execute here is a swim-bike-run akin to that we saw in Weihai in August, as she looks to tee up a crucial 18 months ahead of a possible third Games appearance.
For Marta Kropko (HUN), a first World Cup podium in Edmonton back in July, a European Mixed Relay title and back-to-back Series top 10s, all fed in to what was a career-defining Championship Finals race, finishing 4th in Pontevedra before an unfortunate DSQ. Now, she is back on a start line for the first time since, an altitude block in St Moritz behind her and renewed appetite for success.
It was Kate Waugh who crossed one place in front of the Hungarian to take a second successive Finals podium in Pontevedra, and after an injury ravaged season, the Brit follows up Mixed Relay gold in Rome with an Asian World Cup double ahead of WTCS Abu Dhabi. A first World Cup win for the 2022 U23 World Champion would be a boost into her LA28 campaign.
China’s own Xinyu Lin is again joined by newcomer Anqi Huang on the start, whose 4th place in WTCS Weihai was the best result by a Chinese woman in the history of the Series.
The 2025 U23 World Champion Richelle Hill returns to racing for the first time since being taken ill in the Hamburg Mixed Relay World Championships, Germany’s Nina Eim continues her impressive march back to form after an injury lay off, and Japan’s swim maestro Manami Hayashi arrives fresh from a bronze at the Asian Games.
- World Cup winners receive 500 Olympic Ranking points, with the points awarded decreasing by 7.5% with each position thereafter.
- The first LA28 Qualification Period runs from 18 May 2026 to 18 May 2027.
- The second period runs from 19 May 2027 to 18 May 2028.
- The full LA28 qualification explanation can be found here.
- The current women’s and men’s Olympic Rankings can be found here.
- From 2027, 'World Cups' will become 'T50 Cups' and form the second tier of the Triathlon World Tour.
