Fresh from his mammoth debut World Triathlon Championship Series win in Karlovy Vary, Germany's latest triathlon talent Henry Graf joins Doug Gray and Tommy Zaferes for a full run-down of the latest and greatest Battle of Bohemia! 📈 Being nearly two metres tall in an era of smaller, faster triathletes 🍿 Winning your debut the same day as Ironman short-distancers light up Nice – shouts to Casper Stornes, Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt and friend Jonas Schomburg 💪 Taylor Spivey’s mega bike effort to catch onto Maya Kingma’s mega bike effort 🐠 Oliver Conway’s impressive debut with 4th place new talent coming off the GB production line 💥 Beth Potter back on top of the podium and Jeanne Lehair bouncing back from bashing the barrier 🦿 Hitting the KV roads hard with breakaway boys Tjebbe Kaindl and Mark Devay ✍️ Hayden Wilde’s pre-race car incident, Swim behaviour penalties, John Reed clocking the rapid runs, prospects for a Series podium and his chances of taking Csongor Lehmann’s crown in Tiszy

Third in the world heading to WTCS Karlovy Vary on 14 September, it was in the south of France last weekend that Jeanne Lehair ripped up her coach's notes and took the race to Cassandre Beaugrand at WTCS French Riviera. Photographer Tommy Zaferes is back on the podcast this week as we pick through the ashes of that race and look ahead to the penultimate action of the Series ahead of the Championship Finals Wollongong, where the moves were made that decided things in Frejus and the 'what if' of whether Jeanne could she have found one more push to hold off the Olympic Champion in her back yard.

The newly crowned European Sprint Triathlon Champion, Belgium's Jolien Vermeylen now heads to Istanbul chasing the Olympic Distance title at the end of August. On episode 105, the 31-year-old opens up about having her post-Paris 2024 words twisted and the resulting social media pile-on, putting her 70.3 ambitions on hold to chase a career-best Series ranking and the career arc of taking up the sport after reading the Brownlee book on holiday and then winning supertri gold for Brownlee Racing in Toronto. "You can read subtitles on my face. If I like something I show it and if I don’t you’ll know it. But maybe for racing I need it!"

In recovery after suffering a bad bike crash at WTCS Hamburg in mid-July, Roksana Slupek is our guest this week, and the Poland number one shares her reflections on the highs and lows of her journey to the Paris 2024 Olympic start line. From attacks of self doubt and depression to ultimately qualifying for her life’s dream, and the harsh realities of racing on – and crashing out of – the world’s biggest triathlon series, the 26-year-old shares an eye-opening hour of life as an elite athlete, and how recent events have made her re-evaluate her attitude towards her fellow competitors on the World Triathlon Championships Series.

A second individual gold in the 2025 World Triathlon Championship Series strengthened Matt Hauser's grip on the Series Rankings after WTCS Hamburg marked the halfway point of the season. The 27-year-old followed it up with one of the greatest Mixed Relay legs you will see as he reeled in a 20-second deficit to 2023 World Champion Dorian Coninx and helped secure Australia their first World title since 2017. Now it's all eyes on France and the WTCS French Riviera at the end of August to see if he can take the maximum 3000 points into a home Championship Finals in Wollongong, Australia, in October, where he will look to become the country's first men's world champion for 20 years.

The first Brazilian to win a World Triathon Championship Series gold in the modern era, Miguel Hidalgo now has his sights set on a first World Championship title, but knows all too well just how far there is still to go if he is to be challenging in October's finals in Wollongong, Australia, against the likes of home favourite Matt Hauser.

If you achieved your dream double of becoming Olympic and World Champion in the same year, what would you do? For Alex Yee, the answer was simple. Test himself over running's marquee distance on one of the biggest stages of them all: The London Marathon. We headed to Brockley, south London, just a few miles from that start line, to speak to one of the most understated, unflappable and, quite simply, impressive triathletes of all time and hear about the emotion and exhaustion of the day as he strived for something remarkable. From the training loads to the heat of battle and what lies ahead, Yee is the epitome of relaxation and ambition as he recounts the journey from the backyard of the house he grew up in. FOLLOW HIS RACE ON STRAVA: https://strava.app.link/iZJX5Kxn2Sb [00:00:00] Post-Marathon Reflections Yee reflects on the surreal experience of finishing 14th in the marathon and the emotional significance of the start line. [00:03:00] Marathon vs. Triathlon Pain The unique physical challenges of marathon running—mental endurance vs. muscular fatigue. [00:05:00] Purpose Beyond Olympic Success Seeking purpose and new challenges post-Olympic and World Championship victories. [00:09:00] Training Volume and Adaptation The training details - up to 600km/month- with triathlon elements still retained. [00:16:00] Philosophical Perspective and Gratitude Maintaining internal motivation, gratitude, and broader perspective after his serious crash in 2017. [00:20:00] Emotional Finish Line at London Marathon The powerful emotions and pride of his hometown Marathon [00:26:00] Performance Analysis and Heat Impact The performance dip in the final 8km and hitting the data, including heat and heart rate drift. [00:29:00] Collaborative Coaching Approach Just how he and coach Adam Elliot worked with experts across disciplines to prepare for the marathon. [00:39:00] Physiological Learnings from Marathon The unexpected physical adaptations and how they may influence future triathlon training. [00:45:00] Triathlon culture and his Blue Carpet Future Where next for the Marathon Man as he builds towards defending his triathlon title at LA 2028

A very special guest joins the podcast to mark the 100th episode, the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon Champion Cassandre Beaugrand! It is a deeply honest hour in the company of our Olympic and World Champion, each story revealing a little more about just where all the grit, determination and competitive spirit that has taken the 27-year-old to the very top of the sport came from. Cass explains why she so cherished the support of teammate Leonie Periault, even when she was being ‘a nightmare’ to train with, why she was so envious of the cool, calm spirit of Andrea Hewitt, and why she threw up all over her feet next to Georgia Taylor Brown in Paris. SHOW NOTES 02:20 – "All change" - Why she is joining coach Glenn Poleunis in Girona and saying goodbye to Loughborough 13:17 – ‘How success feels’ - Releasing the pressure, the 5km French record and Lievin 19:40 – ‘Early years’ - Growing up in Paris, losing her mum, moving to Antibes 23:50 – ‘All change’ - Leaving her father as coach and moving to Montpelier 27:45 – ‘Bad mindset’ - Being hard to coach and pushing too much in training 31:37 – ‘Good people’ – Support of Stephanie Gros and Leonie Periault 33:25 – “Christmas present’ – Being the youngest woman at Rio 2016 37:20 – “Shattered dreams” – The trouble with Tokyo 41:40 – “I need a plan” – The move to Loughborough 45:26 – “Pain threshold” – Pain and gains in WTCS Cagliari 52:08 – “Paris panic” – The rain returns on Olympics day 57:00 – “Lost at sea” – Turning it around in TorremolinosA very special guest joins the podcast to mark the 100th episode, the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon Champion Cassandre Beaugrand!

The start of an exciting new series taking a wider look at the World Triathlon ecosystem towards the LA 2028 Olympic Games with insight from Olympian turned Head of Commercial Kris Gemmell. We cover the rise and rise of Cassandre Beaugrand to the best triathlete in the world and just days after winning the first new-look T1 Indoor World Cup, the magnetic lure of a home Games for Taylor Knibb and USA Triathlon, and Hayden Wilde calling Kris out at the athlete briefing. And don't forget to email podcast@triathlon.org with any questions for Cassandre, our very special guest on the next podcast - our hundredth episode - for a chance to win a year's subscription to TriathlonLive.tv, home of the World Triathlon Championship Series and World Cup racing.

🚨 RACE WEEK! 🚨 Two of the stars of the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon - and indeed Tokyo 2020 - Hayden Wilde and Morgan Pearson (Morgan from 20m30s) look ahead to the weekend's big season opener WTCS Abu Dhabi. They talk title chances, the young contenders ready to try and ramp the run pace up even further in 2025, and the prospect of some big T100 debuts. Stand by for full the in depth interviews coming to a screen near you soon! 📺 WATCH WTCS ABU DHABI ON TRIATHLONLIVE.TV 15 February from 2pm

The second Olympic Qualification Period saw a meteoric rise to the Paris 2024 start line for Sweden's Tilda Mansson. From 2022 Junior World Champion to multiple World Cup podiums in the space of a whirlwind 12 months, the 20-year-old has bypassed U23 racing entirely and heads for a remarkable third Championship Finals of a young career in Torremolinos. With LA 2028 the next major target, the interim years will be earmarked for refining her talent, but the memories - and stories - from the Paris swim and beyond still have plenty of time to be told... Watch Mansson's brilliant Bergen World Cup win

USA's John Reed heads into this year's U23 World Championships on a mission to crown what has already been a brilliant breakthrough 2024. The rising star discusses his debut Series appearances, first World Cup win in Karlovy Vary and a sparkling WTCS Weihai, and hits his last U23 start line knowing that if he can take home a medal, it would catapult him into the next Olympic cycle and towards a huge home Games at LA 2028.

We catch up with Great Britain's defending Paralympic Champion in the PTS5 Triathlon Lauren Steadman, USA's PTS2 medal hope Mohamed Lahna and compatriot and Rio 2016 PTS5 champion Grace Norman fresh from the swim familiarisation in the Seine River ahead of their big races on 1 September.

She is just 28 years old, but Italy's Veronica Yoko Plebani has already squeezed more into her young world than most do in a lifetime. Contracting bacterial meningitis at 15 could have been the end, too, but instead signalled a new beginning, one that has taken her to representing her country at three Paralympics in snowboarding, canoeing and triathlon, grace the cover of Italian Vogue and write a celebrated novel telling the story of a young woman whose life is altered but refuses to lie down.

Two stars of the Para Triathlon visually impaired class, Italy's 2023 World Champion Francesca Tarantello and Australia's Continental Champion Sam Harding are ready to hit their first Paralympic Triathlon start lines on 2 September, and reveal their rapid rises through the ranks to the sport's biggest stage: Paris 2024.

As the Multisport World Championships hit Townsville, we rewind to Ibiza last year with Great Britain's Georgia Bell, when she became Age Group Duathlon World Champion before embarking on an Olympic odyssey that saw her win 1500m bronze in one of the most nail-biting Paris 2024 finishes since... well, Yee vs Wilde. Hear why she credits cycling and duathlon racing with her staying power on the track, and how she was able to turn the tables on broken dreams and return to the biggest stage of them all having thought world-class racing was behind her.

Sunday sees the first day of familiarisation on the Paris 2024 Olympic Triathlon course and a chance to catch up with some of the men ready to do battle on 30 July at 8am in the heart of the French capital. 0m50s - KENJI NENER (JAPAN) 5m35 - JAMIE RIDDLE (SOUTH AFRICA) 14m06 - MARTEN VAN RIEL (BELGIUM) 19m37 - SAM DICKINSON (GREAT BRITAIN) 26m05 - ELOI ADJOVAN (TOGO) 33m30 - JEAN GAEL LAURENT L'ENTETE (MAURITIUS)

Saturday is Day One of Paris 2024, and we take a trip to Poissy, 30 minutes west of the French capital, to catch up with defending Olympic Triathlon Champion Flora Duffy and one of the favourites for the men's gold, Hayden Wilde. Then we head across the city to a cafe in La VIllette and get the full men's and women's race previews with TriathlonLive.tv commentary team Trevor Harris and Helen Jenkins. 1m10s - Hayden Wilde 10m10s - Flora Duffy 20m20s - Trevor and Helen men's preview 30m45s - Trevor and Helen women's preview