USA TRI Elite Triathletes & Paratriathletes to Race July 11-12 at World Triathlon Championship Series Hamburg and World Triathlon Para Series Hamburg

Hamburg marks Morgan Pearson's first WTCS start of the 2026 season. The Paris 2024 Olympic Mixed Relay silver medalist won WTCS Yokohama in 2024, becoming the first U.S. man to win a WTCS race since Jarrod Shoemaker's victory in Hamburg in 2009. Pearson's most recent start came at the T100 Triathlon World Tour San Francisco on June 6, where he placed fourth.

John Reed enters Hamburg riding the momentum of his best result of the season, an eighth-place finish at WTCS Quiberon on June 20, where he ran the day's fourth-fastest 5k after a rocky start to his year that included an illness in Samarkand and a flat tire in Yokohama.

Seth Rider, also a Paris 2024 Olympic Mixed Relay silver medalist, likewise posted his season-best WTCS finish in Quiberon, placing 13th.

Darr Smith has raced in three of the four WTCS events this season and returns to a venue where he was 22nd in 2025. 

The elite men's field in Hamburg is stacked with three-time defending podium threats: Australia's Matthew Hauser is chasing a third straight win at the venue, series leader Vasco Vilaca of Portugal has medaled in Hamburg each of the last three years, and New Zealand's Hayden Wilde — a two-time Hamburg champion — makes his 2026 WTCS debut after an early-season illness.

Taylor Spivey, the 2024 Paris Olympic Mixed Relay silver medalist who finished fourth overall in the 2025 WTCS standings, leads the U.S. women into Hamburg after top-10 finishes at WTCS Samarkand (fifth), WTCS Yokohama (eighth), and WTCS Alghero (eighth) to open her season. She also raced the T100 Triathlon World Tour Spain in May, placing third for her first T100 podium. 

Gina Sereno turned in her best result of the year at Quiberon, narrowly missing the top 10 behind teammate Gwen Jorgensen in a photo finish. Erika Ackerlund also races Hamburg, having placed 17th at Samarkand in her season opener.

The elite women's field in Hamburg is led by defending champion Leonie Periault of France, who handed Cassandre Beaugrand her first Series loss in nearly two years with a surprise win at last year's race. Periault will have to get past Germany's Laura Lindemann, a five-time Hamburg medalist racing on home soil, as well as series leader Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg, who is chasing her first-ever Hamburg podium, and Sweden's Tilda Månsson, who won in Yokohama and added a silver medal in Quiberon this season. Great Britain's Beth Potter, a former series leader who has medaled in Hamburg every year since 2022 without a win, returns after sitting out Quiberon. Three-time Hamburg winner Beaugrand will be absent, opting to race the Monaco Diamond League instead.

Paris 2024 Paralympic gold medalist Hailey Danz (Denver, Colo.) leads the women's PTS2 field after winning gold in her season opener at WTPS Yokohama in May.

Grace Norman, the Paris 2024 Paralympic gold medalist, headlines the women's PTS5 class following two dominant wins in Yokohama and Montreal, where she finished more than 4 minutes clear of the field at both races. She's joined in the classification by Michelle Dynes (Waukon, Iowa), who took silver behind Virginia Ogburn at last week's Americas Para Championships Antofagasta.

The women's PTWC field features two-time Paralympic medalist Kendall Gretsch (Downer's Grove, Ill.), fresh off a photo-finish win at WTPS Montreal, and Emelia Perry (Philadelphia, Pa.), who was third in that same Montreal race.

Hannah Longmire (Coralville, Iowa) races the women's PTS3 class after a runner-up finish in Montreal.

On the men's side, Paris 2024 Paralympic gold medalist and 2025 world champion Chris Hammer (Gilbert, Ariz.) leads the U.S. in the PTS5 race. Howie Sanborn (Denver, Colo.), a Paris 2024 Paralympian, races the men's PTWC class off the back of a win at the Americas Para Championships Antofagasta on July 5.

Fans can watch the racing in Hamburg live and on demand on TriathlonLive.tv. For all USA TRI Elite news, including race results, athlete feature stories and coverage on social, visit the USA TRI Elite hub and follow USA TRI Elite on Instagram.

Elite men: 1:15 p.m. local time (7:15 a.m. ET / 4:15 a.m. PT)

Elite women: 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT). 

Para: 1:45 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. ET / 4:45 a.m. PT)

Mixed Relay World Championships: 5:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT).

Triathlon’s most exciting event, the Mixed Relay, is a fast, tactical, and spectator-friendly competition where each country’s team of two women and two men competes for the World Title. Each team member races a super-sprint swim, bike, run triathlon before tagging their teammate.

The U.S. won Olympic silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with Taylor Spivey and Morgan Pearson teaming up with Taylor Knibb and Seth Rider to capture the country's second Olympic medal in the event. Mixed Relay made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the U.S. winning silver (Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell, Knibb and Pearson).

In addition to the Olympic silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the U.S. has won several medals at the Mixed Relay World Championships, including the world title in 2016:  

2013: Bronze (Sarah Groff, Ben Kanute, Gwen Jorgensen, Cameron Dye)

2016: Gold (Gwen Jorgensen, Ben Kanute, Kirsten Kasper, Joe Maloy)

2017: Silver (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Matthew McElroy)

2018: Bronze (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell)

2020: Silver (Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Katie Zaferes, Morgan Pearson)

2022: Bronze (Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Summer Rappaport)

With the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon, fans can directly support USA TRI Elite athletes’ journeys through Elevate28, the USA Triathlon Foundation's most ambitious campaign yet. Because USA Triathlon receives no direct government funding, philanthropy fuels the world-class coaching, training environments, sport science, and international competition U.S. athletes rely on to compete and win on home soil. 

To join the movement, visit usatriathlon.org/foundation/elevate28.

• WTCS Abu Dhabi | March 28-29 (POSTPONED)
• WTCS Samarkand | April 26 | Results
• WTCS Yokohama | May 16 | Results
• WTCS Alghero | May 30 | Results
• WTCS Quiberon | June 20-21 | Results
• WTCS Hamburg | July 11-12
• WTCS London | July 25
• WTCS Weihai | Aug. 29
• WTCS Karlovy Vary | Sept. 13
• Championship Finals Pontevedra | Sept. 23-27

• World Triathlon Para Series Devonport — March 13 | Results
• World Triathlon Para Series Yokohama — May 16 | Results
• World Triathlon Para Series Montreal — June 27 | Results
• World Triathlon Para Series Hamburg — July 12
• World Triathlon Para Championships Pontevedra — Sept. 25–27

USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon, as well as duathlon, aquathlon, aquabike, winter triathlon, off-road triathlon, paratriathlon, and indoor and virtual multisport events in the United States. Founded in 1982, USA Triathlon sanctions more than 3,500 events and races and connects with and supports more than 300,000 unique active members each year, making it the largest multisport organization in the world. In addition to its work at the grassroots level with athletes, coaches, and race directors — as well as the USA Triathlon Foundation — USA Triathlon provides leadership and support to elite athletes competing at international events, including World Triathlon Championships, Pan American Games and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. USA Triathlon is a proud member of World Triathlon and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).