Portuguese athlete Vasco Vilaça secured his first-ever Triathlon World Championship stage victory this Saturday, April 25, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, following a dozen previous podium finishes. Vilaça completed the first of nine races in the 2026 World Championship season in 01:43.33 hours, finishing ahead of German Henry Graf, who took second place four seconds behind, and Canadian Charles Paquet, who finished third eight seconds back. Ricardo Batista, who placed sixth in Paris 2024, finished eighth, 35 seconds behind his compatriot, who had placed fifth at the last Olympic Games. Miguel Tiago Silva finished in 12th place, 1:15 minutes behind, while João Nuno Batista rounded out the top 20, 2:18 minutes behind Vilaça. Portugal is competing in the Samarkand Triathlon World Championship with four athletes in the world top 25.