If New Zealand’s LA ‘28 hopefuls needed reminding how tight the fight for places at the next Olympic Games will be, World Triathlon Cup Chengdu became exhibit A on Saturday.
Officials required several minutes to separate Germany’s Laura Lindemann and Athlete of Individual Neutrality (AIN) rep Valentina Riasova in a women’s race photo finish so tough to call its been described as one of the closest finishes in World Cup history.
The men were at it too in China with just two seconds covering the top three of Luke Willian (AUS), Nils Serre Gehri (FRA) and Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN).
For further context, consider this: less than a minute separated Willian in 1st and Tayler Reid, the first Kiwi home, way down in 35th – 00:50:14 plays 00:51:08 for the 750m swim, 19.4km bike and 5km run sprint.
The LA ‘28 qualification window opens this coming weekend and Chengdu illustrated just how tough the fight for ranking points is going to be. Remember this was a second tier World Cup, a level below the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS). However, the combined lure of the Olympics and a disrupted start to the year courtesy of the US-Israel-Iran War meant Chengdu had the deepest men’s field at World Cup level in two years.
Reid’s start to 2026 has been complicated by a rib injury with China just his second start after a 4th at the Oceania Super Sprint. With his proven pedigree, expect the Gisborne scrapper to be fighting near the pointy end of races soon.
A big mover in the Kiwi camp is Sydney-based Joel Lange who was the second best Kiwi in Chengdu, 43rd (out of 65) in 51:21 – just 13 seconds adrift of Reid. LA might be a bit soon for the UK-raised swimmer-turned triathlete but don’t be surprised if the sprint specialist is in the conversation for Brisbane ’32 the way he’s trending.
Saxon Morgan was 50th in 51:37 and William Taylor 59th in 52:15 in a field undoubtedly one of the toughest he’s ever experienced.
The interesting splits between the Kiwi men? Reid was fastest in the swim by three seconds from Morgan while the 5km run split for each was: Reid (14:58), Lange (15:10), Morgan (15:28) and Taylor (16:14).
Willian emerged in the men’s race after a mass peloton on the bike leg was smashed to bits on the run, the Aussie producing the fastest run the day (14:03) to seal victory.
Lindemann won the women’s race by less than 2.5cm from Riasova after officials required several minutes to separate the pair following a dramatic sprint finish on the blue carpet. Kate Waugh marked her return to World Triathlon short-course racing after her 2025 T100 world title with bronze a second back in 00:55:28, a relative age in the circumstances, as a 50-athlete lead group set up a decisive 5km run in Chengdu’s Jintang District.
New Zealand’s Amara Rae was 60th in 1:03:14 – 7mins 47sec down on Lindemann.
On Sunday, Spain won the first-ever Mixed Relay contested at World Triathlon Cup level with Ana Carballo Gómez, Pelayo González Turrez, Sara Guerrero Manso and Antonio Serrat Seoane (pictured below). Great Britain took silver with a composed and controlled performance from Jessica Fullagar, Max Stapley, Sian Rainsley and Jack Willis, while the bronze medal went to Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk, Sophia Howell, Martin Sobey and Isla Britton after a tense sprint for third against the United States. With only one Kiwi woman racing in Chengdu, NZL were unable to field a team.
Full MEN’s results
Full WOMEN’s results
Full MIXED RELAY results
