TRIATHLON – BAHRAIN Victorious 13 superstars Cassandre Beaugrand from France and Vasco Vilaca from Portugal powered to sensational victories in their respective races yesterday in the 2026 World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Alghero event in Italy.
Reigning Olympic champion and former world champion Beaugrand overcame a tough challenge from a star-studded field to win the elite women’s race, while world championships medallists Vilaca put in a dominant performance to triumph in a high-quality elite men’s event.
The WTCS is the sport’s top-tier international circuit, with races held around the world. Its 2026 calendar is composed of 10 events – featuring both Olympic and sprint distances – with Alghero held as the third stop so far as an Olympic-distance meeting.
Beaugrand was making her return to international triathlon competition after recently putting more of a focus on running.
She brilliantly battled back from a sub-par start in her race yesterday to climb to the top of the elite women’s podium in Sardinia for the third straight year, having also secured first in the WTCS Alghero in 2025 as well as in the WTCS Cagliari in 2024.
“My goal was just to come back and have some sparkles again racing,” Beaugrand said.
“It didn’t start very well with my swim – I got a bit stuck in the first buoy, but I tried my best to get focused and it’s not done until it’s done, so I’m just like trying my best to go back at the front, and luckily I had my nice teammates bringing me back.
“After, I thought I was doing great on the bike and just trying to keep my spot and run the best I could.”
Beaugrand fell behind by more than a half-minute at the end of the opening 1.5-kilometre swim but gradually clawed her way into contention during the 40.5km bike leg and the concluding 10km run. She then made a fantastic finish, beating her closest rivals to the tape to win by the narrow margin of four seconds.
The 29-year-old completed the race in one hour 53 minutes and 49 seconds. She clocked a time of 19 minutes 45 seconds in the water and 59:16 in her ride, but then had a best time from all athletes in the run of 33:26.
Beaugrand won ahead of Britain’s Beth Potter, while Lisa Tertsch of Germany came third in 1:53:58.
Two other Bahrain Victorious 13 athletes claimed leading finishing positions in the elite women’s race. Former Olympic and world champion Georgia Taylor-Brown of Britain was classified sixth in 1:54:40, while Olympic medallist and ex-Ironman 70.3 world champion Taylor Knibb of the US finished 11th in 1:55:55.
“I think it was a nice battle with the girls until the end and it was nice to be back,” Beaugrand said.
Of her ambitions in the 2026 season, she commented: “I don’t really have the goal of fighting for the world championships this year. I just want to have the sparkles back and I’m having some fun doing some running at the moment, so I think my point this year is just having a smile on my face every time I’m going to race and enjoying with the girls, because it’s nice having some friends around.”
Meanwhile, Vilaca produced a textbook performance to win amongst the elite men yesterday.
His victory added to his triumph in the WTCS Samarkand event held last month.
“This is incredible,” said the 26-year-old. “I couldn’t ask for a better start to the season.”
Vilaca made a late charge in the concluding run leg to claim first with a comfortable 19-second gap from runner-up Miguel Hidalgo from Brazil.
Vilaca had a total finishing time of 1:45:16, enjoying splits of 18:03 in the swim, 55:45 in the bike, and 30:27 on the run. Vilaca’s countryman Ricardo Batista came third in 1:45:45.
Following yesterday’s results, the winning Bahrain Victorious 13 pair were in strong positions on their respective WTCS rankings.
Beaugrand made a big stride after climbing 37 places to 12th this season with 1,000 points on the women’s standings, while Vilaca maintained first place in the men’s after improving to 2,000 points.
Amongst their Bahrain Victorious 13 teammates, Taylor-Brown rose five spots to sixth with 1,468.64 points and Knibb went to 26th with 458.58 points.
The next stop on the 2026 WTCS calendar is in Quiberon, France, on June 20 and 21, which will feature sprint distance races.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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