#85 BREAKTHROUGHS OF '23: CATHIA SCHAR

Reunited full-time with his coach Joel Filiol, back on extended training camps with nothing more to think about than form and focus, the enormous carrot of a home Olympics now just five months away, the two-time World Champion Vincent Luis is ready to pounce on every opportunity 2024 sends his way.Dialling in at the end of four weeks in Lanzarote and ready for the season opener in Abu Dhabi, Luis is open about the likelihood of this being his last full season of short course racing. The blue carpet will undoubtedly miss one of the greats but, as the 34-year-old reflects on his career on the latest episode of the World Triathlon Podcast, the feeling will be mutual.Before any discussion of retirement can begin, there is a season for the ages ahead of him. Injury may have seen him a mere spectator as teammates Dorian Coninx, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre hoovered up the prizes in 2023, but the experience has also left him hungry. Three spots available, four world-class athletes competing for them, one huge decision ahead for the selectors. All Luis wants to do is produce the results that mean, purely based on form, he can still be one of them.

Standing at #32 in the Olympic Rankings at the start of 2024, Kiwi Dylan McCullough looks set to join Hayden Wilde on the New Zealand team for Paris 2024 if he can continue the form he produced in 2023. He talks team tactics for the big races, becoming Youth Olympic Champion and going face to face with Justin Bieber.

We continue our look back at some of the names breaking out in 2023 and with ambitions set fully on Paris in the company of Hungary’s exciting talent Marta Kropko.Still only 20 years old, this season saw Marta cement her place in the Hungarian Mixed Relay squad after what was a tough debut in Leeds in 2022, this time helping the team to 5th place at the World Championships in Hamburg, 3rd at the European Games Krakow and now suddenly eyeing an Olympic qualification spot that would guarantee two men and two women on the Paris start lines.The U23 Aquathlon World Champion after winning in Ibiza, Marta scored a first World Cup top 10 in Weihai in August and is now hunting a first WTCS start in 2024, all fitting around an Economics degree in which she is in her third year at Budapest University.

With a huge Olympic year ahead it is the perfect time to look back at some of the younger names that made an impact in 2023 and suddenly have Olympic places in their sights.We get underway with 22-year-old Cathia Schar, who anchored the Swiss Team to Mixed Relay World Championship bronze in Hamburg, took 4th place in the U23 World Championships Pontevedra and then crushed her first World Cup podium with bronze in Rome.Currently 33rd in the Olympic Rankings, Paris 2024 is suddenly a very real prospect for both the individual and mixed relay, so we get to grips with the journey there, overcoming self-doubt and proclivity for a party to emerge from the COVID years as a new force in Swiss triathlon.

OLYMPIC-SIZED AMBITIONHe has only been in the sport for two years, but at 6'4" tall and with his first World Cup win already secured in Miyazaki, could Hugo Milner be the Next Big Thing in British Triathlon? He honed his run skills in Harvard, his swimming in Nottingham and his bike handling in Derby, and it looks like the fist test of a WTCS start line could be heading his way in 2024.

In 2013, Dorian Coninx became Junior World Champion in London, beating two rising British talents on their own patch. A decade later, the Frenchman went into the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Finals as a long-shot title prospect, fifth in the rankings, the much-fancied Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde among those ahead of him. Once again, the underdog title suited him down to the ground, but now Coninx must prepare for a home Olympics in Paris next year as the new World Champion and the name on everyone's lips. He has learned and matured enormously since the dark days of his Rio 2016 campaign, but how will the 29-year-old cope with going into Paris as a favourite?

In September, Great Britain's Beth Potter capped a phenomenal year with a World Championship-winning display in Pontevedra. With her 2024 Olympic Games place now also booked thanks to that title and victory in the Test Event, Potter now has the freedom to plan her perfect Paris build up. Tune in for a revealing 45 minutes in her company as she dissects life on and off the blue carpet, including pre-race insomnia, post-race elation and how she plotted her way past Cassandre Beaugrand to become world champ at the 2023 Championship Finals.

Could Vincent Luis be a CrossFit Champion? Who are the ultimate athletes - triathletes or CrossFitters? Could you row a marathon?Hailing from San Diego, California, Lauren Fisher is a 7 x CrossFit Games athlete and former Junior national weightlifting champion in the US who tuned in to the world of CrossFit from a young age initially to help with her basketball training. The multi-dimensional fitness competitions soon took over as her sport of choice, however, and after a decade competing at the top level, she now also runs her own signature fitness programmes and retreats for those looking for a slice of the Lauren lifestyle. Lauren hit her first Olympic distance triathlon in Hamburg's open races and thinks there could be more crossover potential between the sports. Listeners can receive a 50% discount for Lauren's Grown Strong fitness programme for women using the code worldtriathlon

Will McCloy is best know to triathlon fans as the commentary voice behind the Arena Games and Super League, for whom he has been calling races for over five years. The Australian took a first dip into Age Group World Championship racing in Hamburg in mid-July, where he puked, fought walls and raced actual former elite champions. McCloy reveals the importance of testing himself, the power of preparation and the potent competition to be found among middle-aged men on an AG triathlon start line.

Rasmus Henning (DEN)Two-time top 10 Olympic triathlete ✅ Multiple World Cup and Ironman winner ✅ One of Denmark’s most successful triathletes of all time ✅Back in 2010 he joined an elite club of male athletes to complete a sub-8hour Ironman and posted one of the fastest ever times at Challenge Roth, a four-time Kona vet, he could most recently be seen rolling back the years and tearing up the course at the WTCS Hamburg Age Group Sprint World Championships, winning silver in the 45-49 category. He is also the CEO and performance director of Triathlon Denmark after recently working with the Danish Olympic Committee.Denmark's triathlon titan Rasmus Henning found his competitive edge was as sharp as ever as he returned to the blue carpet in Hamburg. After picking up silver at the AG World Championships as legends like Daniel Unger and Stuart Hayes took to the opportunity to get back to competition, the Great Dane relives the Hamburg magic, the unique tussles of the $200,000 Hy-Vee race and missing out on winning a Hummer.