Yee & Wilde Go Toe to Toe Again | Athletes to watch
Hayden Wilde & Alex Yee (Crown Racing & Brownlee Racing)
From now on, we're going to group these two together. The score is currently 1-1 between them in the 2024 supertri League after Wilde bounced back from the disappointment of being edged out at the finish line in Boston to win convincingly in Chicago, where Yee finished a disappointing 8th.
Adding to the excitement, both athletes have an outstanding record on the course in West India Quay. Yee won his home race last year, though Wilde missed out due to illness. Wilde, however, has won this race in his last two starts in London.
Who's the favourite? It's impossible to separate the two, but Alex will have the support of the crowd. That might be the difference in such a close race.
Georgia Taylor-Brown (Crown Racing)
Georgia Taylor-Brown has been the woman to beat in this year's league. She was narrowly edged out in Boston by an exceptional performance from Podium's Jeanne Lehair but returned to the top spot in Chicago, defeating her teammate and Olympic champion, Cassandre Beaugrand.
GTB appears to have regained top form after missing the 2023 league due to injury. Having already won the overall title twice, she'll be eager to secure a third and become the first athlete in supertri history to achieve a hat-trick of individual titles.
Emma Lombardi (Stars and Stripes Racing)
Emma Lombardi makes her eagerly awaited return to supertri racing this weekend. 2023 was a breakout year for the 22-year-old, with a second-place finish in Malibu and third place at her home race in supertri Toulouse, propelling her to third in the overall individual series.
Lombardi also placed fourth in both the individual and mixed team relay events in Paris. Despite not competing in Boston or Chicago, she enters London as a strong contender for a podium spot. Stars and Stripes will be hoping she can secure valuable points for the team, as they currently sit at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Vasco Vilaca (Stars and Stripes Racing)
It's unlikely anyone could have predicted Vasco's results in the supertri League so far. He went from being eliminated in last place in Boston to rounding off the podium in Chicago. To be fair to Vasco, he was battling illness in the series opener, and had he been fully fit, he likely would have been near the front of the race.
His performance in Chicago was outstanding. Finishing just four seconds behind Wilde, he would have gained immense confidence from his race. Although he lost five seconds on the final run, Vasco consistently makes up time in transitions. Averaging 13 seconds per transition, Vilaca's speed helped him stay ahead of competitors Wilde and Bergere, who averaged 16 seconds. This efficiency in transitions could be a game-changer in the tight races to come.