XTERRA World Championship
From two-time World Champions to the wildcards that could cause the biggest upset of the season, these are the names to watch as the XTERRA World Championship returns to the legendary trails of Trentino, Italy.
On September 28, the pinnacle event of off-road triathlon returns to the foothills of Italy’s Brenta Dolomites, where a 1.5K swim in crisp lake waters, a 32K bike ride through rock and root-laden trails, and a 10K technical trail run will decide who will take the single most coveted title in the sport of cross-triathlon.
It’s a race that is notoriously hard to win, with only a select group of icons having achieved the feat on three or more occasions in the 28-year history of XTERRA racing. Amongst the top contenders this year stand two World Champions on the hunt for a historic three-peat, but making that task even harder are some of the best off-road triathletes in the world, each with their eye on the same prize.
From the power swimmers to the specialist riders to those that will take control on the run, these are the names to watch in the fight for the title and the €100,000 prize purse.
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The 2022 and 2023 World Champion will remain the favourite until somebody can crack the code of how to beat him on the biggest stage. Last year, Felix Forissier came closest with a powerful performance that saw him lead into the final 5K of the race. But at just the slightest show of fatigue Serrières attacked, pushing hard on the final climb where Forissier couldn’t. Serrières’ run is his lethal weapon, and he uses it with a sniper’s precision. Armed with more race experience than most, the two-time World Champion has shown on multiple occasions just how good he is at pacing a race to absolute perfection.
After a slow start to the season, the Frenchman underwent a large block of training at altitude and has since only occupied the top two steps of the podium. He will undoubtedly be spending more time in the high mountains as the Frenchman has been vocal about doing what it takes to make it three for three in Italy. The battle between Serrières and Forissier is set to be an epic, but there are a few more horses in the race this year that could make the fight for first even more spectacular. But as has long been understood, heading into the run with anything under 3 minutes cannot be considered a safe lead when Serrières is on the hunt.
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If Arthur Serrières is known for his speed, his biggest on-course rival has become synonymous with sheer strength through all three disciplines. The current World Cup leader set the tone for his season with one of the most dominant and powerful performances of the year when he tore through Taiwan’s notoriously tough course, completely uncontested and seemingly with ease. Since then the Frenchman has not missed the podium in any of his 10 races, racking up 4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze all within World Cup racing.
Forissier began the season with a redemption race in Taiwan after suffering a mechanical there 2023, and now ends with a redemption race again after coming so close this time last year. One of the biggest triple-threat athletes on the circuit, Forissier will undoubtedly be in the lead pack from start to finish. Perhaps the only weakness one could point to is his tendency to overcook on the speed and power in a race that lasts the better part of 2.5 hours. But a year older and wiser, he is unlikely to gift his rival with such a mistake again.
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Unarguably one of XTERRA’s most exciting racers, Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen is hell-bent on picking up where Ruben Ruzafa left off in erasing any deficit in the water with exceptional bike riding. With over 60% of the race spent on two wheels, the math is in favour of the Dane, but what gives him the additional edge this year is that he now has a run that is comparable with the speed of Serrières. His superiority on the bike is unquestioned, taking the fastest split in all but one Full Distance race in the World Cup this year, but what will have Serrières and Forissier concerned is that in three of those races he took the fastest run split, too.
Sloth Nielsen is no stranger to the front pack, with 16 podiums to his name since the World Cup debuted last year. The only question is how early he can find the front in Trentino. If he can work his way through the field fast enough to have enough time to do significant damage on the bike, he may just be able to hold his lead on the run to become the first ever Danish XTERRA World Champion.
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Michele Bonacina appears to have returned from injury in better form than ever before. Unquestionably one of the fastest swimmers in the sport, Bonacina has held onto his lead out of the water for increasingly longer stretches in recent races, showing big improvements on the bike and the feet. In his last outing at the European Championship, the Italian went toe to toe with almost the exact same lineup he’ll be up against in Italy and came away with 4th place. With the home crowd behind him in Molveno, he may well make his way onto the podium this year.
Bonacina is also coming off the back of his win in Townsville, Australia, where he added the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship title to his growing list of accolades. He’ll have his fair share of airtime on the livestream with an early lead out the water, but just how long he can hold off the advances of Forissier, Serrières, and eventually Sloth Nielsen, will determine just how much chance the Italian has of delivering a big result for the home crowd.
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Wildcard by nature but certainly not by name. Sullivan was born and raised in the XTERRA environment, with father, coach, and mentor being none other than World Champion and 15-time USA Champion Josiah Middaugh. Yet the young talent has long since stepped out from his father’s shadow with three consecutive regional championship titles to his name already and an impressive 5th place finish at the World Championship last year.
At the 2023 World Champs, he displayed the kind of speed indicative of the status quo soon to be shaken up by a new generation of champions. This year he could send an even stronger message. The 20 year old has largely stepped away from off-road racing this year to focus on his training as part of USA Triathlon’s Project Podium. Odds are that he’s made strong gains on both his swim and his run that will be on full display in Molveno as he goes on the charge to become the first American World Champion since his father in 2015.
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Since winning her first World Championship title in 2022, Solenne Billouin has become a puzzle that the female field has struggled to solve. In 2023 the French athlete added a second World Championship title to her cabinet, and now looks poised to make it three in a row after a dominant season that has seen her heading into the final stop of the World Cup with an almost guaranteed series title coming her way.
Much like Forissier, Billouin’s strength comes in her sheer power across all disciplines, with the ability to push hard through almost every section of the course. She has the engine to push on the climbs, the technical skills to gain time on the descents, and the gas tank to maintain her speed through the entirety of the race. Swimming may be the weakest of her disciplines, but she will quickly make up the deficit on the bike and run. In her 6 World Cup Full Distance races this year, she has recorded the fastest bike split and fastest run split on three occasions. Expect the World Champ to find the front of the race on the bike, with those unable to match her pace likely to see their Championship aspirations disappear into the distance.
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One race was all it took for Loanne Duvoisin to announce herself as the single biggest threat to the female field at the World Champs this year. Absent from XTERRA racing in 2024 due to her focus on road triathlon as part of the Swiss national team, Duvoisin returned only once to defend her title as the European Champion in Czech last month, and did so in emphatic fashion. Once a podium regular on the XTERRA circuit, Duvoisin put a full 3 minutes on her biggest rivals to send a clear message that she still means business.
Duvoisin’s strength lies in her run, which could make for an epic finish if it comes down to the Swiss chasing down a lead. However, in Czech, where she was up against an almost identical start list, Duvoisin posted the second-fastest time across all three disciplines, meaning she may already be part of the lead pack when it comes time to deploy her strongest discipline.
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Sandra Mairhofer enters not only as the most well-rounded athlete but also as the strongest biker in the field. While specialist riders often fall short in the water or on the run, this is far from the case for Mairhofer, who is renowned for her multisport prowess and a stacked trophy cabinet through her exploits in mountain biking, winter triathlon, and XTERRA racing.
Mairhofer has not raced consistently through the season due to her participation in other competitions, but she has picked up big wins in big races. Her 4 podium finishes in 6 races this season include two outright Full Distance wins that will give her confidence heading into the biggest race of the year. She has come painfully close to clinching the title with a 2nd place finish in 2022, but with the support behind Italy’s ‘Multisport Queen’ growing ever stronger, expect to see 2-time European Champion push her competitors to their limit across all three disciplines.
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Since turning pro at the start of 2023, Alizée Paties has built one of the most consistently impressive résumés in off-road triathlon, securing 18 podium finishes from 22 races. Her only exceptions include two fourth-place finishes and two mechanical DNFs, marking the rare occasions she didn’t climb the podium. After winning the World Cup title in 2023, the French athlete has set her sights squarely on the World Championship title for 2024.
The bike has always been Paties’ strongest discipline, with her superior handling skills pointing to the two long descents as her biggest opportunities to gain time on her rivals. The battles between Paties and Billouin became legendary during the 2023 World Cup, with Billouin edging out Paties at the World Champs to deprive her of double-championship status in the final race. This year, the tables may be reversed, with Billouin now leading the World Cup and Paties dead set on the biggest title of them all.
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Aneta Grabmüller enters the top contenders list as the fastest swimmer in the sport and the biggest breakout athlete of 2024. Grabmüller has led the field out the water in every race she has entered this season, with the Czech athlete becoming increasingly hard to catch on the bike for XTERRA’s top flight. After returning to the XTERRA circuit in late 2023, Grabmüller will take great confidence in the fact that last month she went up against the strongest field of the year at the European Championship and held off all but Loanne Duvoisin.
Grabmüller will play a pivotal role in this World Championship as she sets the initial pace for the rest to follow. She has struggled a bit with her Achilles' heel in recent times, but if time has been enough for her to sort that out, she could have her growing Czech fanbase on the edge of their seats as she looks to hold the lead through the entire 43.5K of the race.
The 2024 XTERRA World Championship will be livestreamed directly from the trails of Trentino, and will be available for free on the XTERRA YouTube channel. The World Championship event also will include the final Short Track race of the World Cup, as well as the debut races of the long-awaited XTERRA Youth World Championship. Get everything you need to know here, and be sure to be tuned in when the action begins.
World Cup Stop #7 Short Track
Date: September 26
Time: 14:00 (GMT +2)
2024 XTERRA World Championship
Date: September 28
Time: 09:45 (GMT +2)
2024 XTERRA Youth World Championship (Youth A)
Date: September 29
Time: 09:20 (GMT +2)
2024 XTERRA Youth World Championship (Youth B & Junior)
Date: September 29
Time: 11:20 (GMT +2)
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