ONES TO WATCH from around the world

Maya Kingma, 26, NED

The Dutch triathlete became familiar to British fans by out-running Learmonth and Coldwell to win her first World Series race in Leeds this summer.

Taylor Knibb, 23, USA

A breakthrough performer at all distances, Knibb won in Yokohama to seal a surprise Olympic spot; won the World Series finale in Edmonton with a stunning breakaway and even beat Daniela Ryf over 100k for Team USA in August’s Collins Cup in August.

Leonie Periault, 27, FRA Periault stepped out from the shadow of Olympic mixed relay team-mate Cassandre Beaugrand with a string of consistently impressive performances, including a fifth place in Tokyo and second in the World Series finale. Laura Lindemann, 25, GER

A former two-time junior world and U23 world champion, Lindemann is rarely out of the top 10, and was eighth in both the Olympics and the Edmonton World Series finale.

Morgan Pearson, 28, USA

The oldest of the ones to watch, but Pearson only started his tri career in 2017 at the US age-group champs. This year has seen a meteoric rise with third in Yokohama, second in Leeds, and Olympic silver in the relay.

Seth Rider, 24, USA

The American men are starting to rival the women for strength in depth at short-course tri and Rider’s fourthplace in the Series finale in Edmonton sets him out as one of the names to watch.

Hayden Wilde, 24, NZ

Being isolated in New Zealand didn’t harm Wilde’s Tokyo prep as he followed in the footsteps of Hamish Carter and Bevan Doherty by stepping on to an Olympic podium. He’d already shown his liking for the Tokyo course with a third place in the 2019 test event.

Vasco Vilaca, 21, POR

After finishing runner-up in the one-off Hamburg World Championship in 2020, Vilaca was unfortunate to be overlooked for the Olympics by Portuguese selectors. But he’s since shown his all-round talent in Super League and should be confident of heading to Paris.