Max Studer eyes World Cup gold as racing returns to Beijing

He has won back-to-back Series golds in Weihai, now Switzerland’s Max Studer is looking to follow up his hot run of form in China as he hits the Beijing World Cup on Saturday 17 October where he wears the number one.Fifteen long years since the Series was held in the city, it is to a new Yanqi Lake course north of Beijing that the athletes head for the tenth stop on the 2026 World Cup circuit, and the stars are out for the first of a four-stop Asian tour.The two-lap 1500m swim transitions to eight fast 5km bike loops to the south of the reservoir, then into the running shoes for the four-lap 10km run to the tape. You can watch it all from 9am local time / 3am CEST on TriathlonLive.io.

Max Studer’s two WTCS wins in Weihai are the best we have seen of the 30-year-old since his European title win in 2025. Largely racing in and around his adopted home of China since Paris 2024, the men’s #1 in Beijing has shown glimpses of what could still be to come as he builds towards LA28. Strong on the bike, lethal on the run, he emerged from injury to drop a 29:24 for the 10km in Weihai at the end of August to take the win and will hit the start as a huge favourite again this weekend.Alberto Gonzalez (ESP) will have plenty to say in that medal quest, too, having pulled out some of the best performances of his career so far in 2026 and been banging on the door of a Series podium since Weihai 2024. A World Cup winner in Hong Kong that year and strong across all three disciplines, the Spaniard also feels right at home in Asia and will be hungry for a first medal since then.A powerful Hungarian delegation will likely see Mark Devay, Gergely Kiss and Marton Kropko feature at the front early on, Devay a breakaway force on the bike too, Kropko eager to put himself in striking position for the first time since his injury at the season opener in Samarkand, where he was forced to pull up from a leading position.Asian Games Champion Takumi Hojo leads the line for Japan, USA’s Morgan Pearson and Seth Rider return from middle distance duties to put their focus back on harvesting LA28 points and Ben Dijkstra will kick off a four-stop World Cup tour of Asia.Other names to look out for include one of the fastest on two feet, Hugo Milner (GBR,) who is fighting his way back to top form after an injury-hit 2026. The Spanish duo Genis Grau and David Castro have serious World Cup-winner pedigree between them as do Tayler Reid (NZL) and Bence Bicsak (HUN), while at the other end of the experience spectrum, Jules Rethoret (FRA) and Euan de Nigro (ITA) could be a threat.

- World Cup winners receive 500 Olympic Ranking points, with the points awarded decreasing by 7.5% with each position thereafter. - The first LA28 Qualification Period runs from 18 May 2026 to 18 May 2027.- The second period runs from 19 May 2027 to 18 May 2028. - The full LA28 qualification explanation can be found here. - The current women’s and men’s Olympic Rankings can be found here.- From 2027, 'World Cups' will become 'T50 Cups' and form the second tier of the Triathlon World Tour.