A four-month goal achieved together - France's Marjolaine Pierre and Clement Mignon took Ibiza by storm as they won the 2023 World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in May. Taking the tape just minutes apart, it was an iconic finish to two outstanding races by the couple that have been together since racing the Junior National Championships back in 2018. That was the end of a long and difficult road for both of them, but now the ambitions are turning to Nice and Kona.

Portugal's Vasco Vilaça heads to WTCS Cagliari as the world number one after an electrifying start to the 2023 season saw back-to-back podiums in Abu Dhabi and Yokohama. We catch up with him and World Triathlon photographer Tommy Zaferes from his base in Sardinia to find out what makes him tick on and off the blue carpet and who is the FIFA king of the JFT training crew.

episode notes

02'50 - FIFA wars - Vilaça vs Geens vs Bicsak

08'50 - Natalie Van Coevorden - passenger imposter

11'50 - Swim cap crying - losing the coveted no.1 cap

15'35 - WTCS Yokohama rewind - cramping capers, Hauser pounces

20'10 - Battling the waves in Cagliari - tips from a former lifesaver

31'40 - Sprint finishers - who you got, Coninx or Bergere, Wilde or Yee?

34'35 - Eagle versus Falcon

25'20 - Race no.1: passing the time on the starting line

38'00 - Pre-race nerves and the power of the nap

43'00 - Abstinence among athletes

45'30 - Fantasy Triathlon League: Tommy kiss of death obstri.com/fantasy

51'50 - What's next in 2023 and Paris 2024 plans

The USA's Erika Ackerlund spoke out recently about the paralysing nerves she felt at the start of the 2022 season, and where the pressure she had unwittingly placed on herself had put her mental health. The 26-year-old reveals what helped her through it, and how she hopes to channel her nervous energy into something positive in 2023.

Hans Christian Tungesvik has played his own part in Norway's triathlon explosion in recent years, an Ironman and Norseman champion who made the switch to Winter Triathlon in 2021 in triumphant fashion, winning individual and relay golds on his championship debut. With the 2023 World Championships being held in his native Skeikampen, we catch up with one of the favourites for this year's title and hear just what it takes to become an extreme tri world champion, and how Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have reshaped Norway's triathlon landscape.

It was one of the most gripping climaxes to a season possible as a dramatic final 500m of the men's 2022 World Triathlon Championship Finals saw Leo Bergere eventually emerge with gold and the world title at the end of a hard-fought campaign. Ahead of his return to the desert for the 2023 season opener, we caught up with Bergere in Girona to hear how he finally got the better of Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde and what makes the French squad such aa force to be reckoned with heading in to the new year of racing.

Watch WTCS Abu Dhabi on 3 March on TriathlonLive.tv

With the start of the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series just around the corner, World Triathlon met up with Vincent Luis in the Girona hills where he lives and trains. This bonus episode is a short excerpt from the full interview with the two-time World Champion, and will be available to watch soon exclusively on TriathlonLive.tv along with all of the new season's action from the blue carpet.

Stand by for the season launch on 17 February.

In mid-December, the word was finally out - Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Gwen Jorgensen was coming back to World Triathlon racing in 2023. A seven-year break from the blue carpet, two children and some serious marathon running since she hung up her tri-suit, one of the best of all time is back and eyeing a spot on the USA Mixed Relay squad for Paris 2024. Hear how it all came about and why on the latest episode of the World Triathlon Podcast.

Netherlands' Maya Kingma kicks off the new season of World Triathlon podcasts, the rising talent who fought through the pain barrier at the end of 2022 to help determine the outcome of WTCS Bermuda, was caught up in a bike crash in Abu Dhabi, and is looking to ease into the new year fully fit and ready to consistently hit the heights she has shown over the past two campaigns. After a little glitz at the first ever Global Triathlon Awards!

Gillian Sanders and Tommy Zaferes join the podcast to give their own inside takes on a season that has had it all, and look ahead to the big one - the 2022 Championship Finals Abu Dhabi, where the headline battles between Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee, Flora Duffy and Georgia Taylor-Brown for the men's and women's world titles are set to provide the season's final chapter of unmissable action!

Ahead of his first race back from an injury that has kept him off the blue carpet since Abu Dhabi 2021, we are in Chile to speak with USA's Morgan Pearson at the Vina del Mar World Cup and catch up on where the Olympic Mixed Triathlon Relay silver medallist is at mentally and physically as he builds back towards the all-important Paris 2024 campaign.