[Credit – World Triathlon]

Pontevedra will hold the highly anticipated World Triathlon Grand Final and Junior Triathlon World Champs this week, Wednesday 23 through to Sunday 27. The 2026 Worlds will draw top athletes from across the world over the sprint format, with Pontevedra yet again playing host to a World Champs, having last held the Elite Worlds in 2023. Thursday sees the Junior World Champs for both the men and women, competing upon the streets of Pontevedra for the prestigious title of Junior World Champion.

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Junior Women:

GB have 3 athletes in the Junior Women’s race: Lauren Mitchell, Emma Graham-Brown and Kitty Scott. Lauren Mitchell starts her second Junior World Championship after finishing 33rd in Wollongong last year, with Pontevedra being debut Worlds for both Graham-Brown and Scott.

The women’s side take a young team, with both Graham-Brown and Scott still Youth athletes, although showing their quality at international events already this season, taking 4th and 3rd respectively at the Quarteira Junior European Cup, in March and being part of the Junior Mixed relay team which took the European title in Poland, last month.

All 3 come off recent success at the European Sprint Championship in Elblag, Poland, where Emma Graham-Brown was leading Brit home in 17th, followed by Kitty Scott in 18th and Lauren Mitchell in 29th.

With a stacked start list other names from across the globe will be looking to make their mark. The Hungarian Fanni Szalai comes in arguably with the most experience, having made her WTCS debut already, claiming 9th in Hamburg and 13th in London earlier this summer. She’ll look to go one better this year from her 2nd in Wollongong at the World Champs last year. Anouk Danna ranked #2 on the start list comes into the race following strong form this season with wins in both her European Junior Cups this year and taking the Junior European title in Poland, in July. Brooke Rousselle is the highest ranked non-European, with the Canadian entering the race as the current Americas Junior Champion.

Junior Men:

The Junior men’s side sees Lucas Gorrill and Reuben Wadey line up as the two GB athletes on the start list. Both are debutants at the World Champs, and come off the back of top 5 results at the European Champs in Poland last month, where Wadey took 5th and Gorrill claimed 2nd. Both were also part of the mixed relay winning team there, and will be looking for good form in Pontevedra this Thursday.

Jelle Kaindl sits top of the start list, having shown his ability at Elite levels already, with an Elite European Cup win in Rzeszow in May and taking 19th in his Elite World Cup debut, in Edmonton, earlier this summer. He took 3rd at the European Sprint Champs in July, where Luxembourgish athlete Sebastian Ziekman took gold, who will also looking to perform this Thursday, having taken 19th in Wollongong last year.

The South Americans will be looking for a repeat of success from last year’s World Champs, with Ecuador’s Thomas Francisco Perez in strong form, following his bronze at the Americas Championship in July and Chile’s Sebastian Zurob, looking to improve on his 10th from last year.

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Where to Watch:

The racing over this week will be nothing short of exciting. To see all the action live on trusted sources, all the Junior, Elite and Mixed Relay racing across the week can be found both on Triathlon Live here and on the World Triathlon YouTube channel here.