World Cup Livestream: How and Who To Watch in the Oak Mountain Short Track

After stops in Australia, Greece, and the UK, the XTERRA World Cup now enters its North American leg—landing first on the red-dirt trails of Oak Mountain, Alabama. Tucked into the foothills of the Appalachians, this iconic venue has long been a proving ground for XTERRA’s best, known for its fast, clean swim in the waters of Double Oak Lake and the tight, twisting singletrack that makes up the bulk of the bike and run on the Full Distance course.

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A double-feature World Cup stop, the Full Distance race gets the weekend started on May 17 with a full tour of the battle-tested course. The winners will see 100 points added to their series tally, with the top 30 men and women earning their invite for a crack at the 75 points available in the Short Track race on May 18.

The Short Track format is off-road triathlon at its fastest and fiercest. Created with fans and livestream viewers in mind, the format packs all three disciplines—swim, bike, and run—into a condensed, spectator-friendly circuit that includes multiple laps of each leg, continuous lead changes, and almost no margin for error.

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When the horn sounds in Oak Mountain, athletes will take on a two-lap swim totaling 400 meters, three bike laps covering 7.5K of sprints, turns, and features, and a final two-lap, 3K run that will decide the series standings as the World Cup heads into the mid-season break.

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Both the men's and women's races will be livestreamed direct and for free on the XTERRA Youtube channel, starting 8:55AM local time (GMT-5).

The men’s Short Track lineup has a number of key names to watch, but none more so than America’s Sullivan Middaugh and France’s Felix Forissier. World Cup fans will remember the greatest Short Track finish of all time in Molveno last year, where Sullivan Middaugh, Felix Forissier, and Arthur Serrières crossed the line within a single second. Middaugh took that win, but this time he enters the season for the first time, while Forissier arrives undefeated in 2025 after wins in Greece and the UK.

Sullivan, however, will not be the only Middaugh to watch. Porter Middaugh will make his Elite debut in Oak Mountain as the latest talent to emerge from the Middaugh family dynasty. It’s not so much a question of ‘will he do well’ as it is ‘just how well will he do.’ Even as a 15-year-old age division athlete, Porter was getting the better of some Elites. Josiah Middaugh, their father, remains the last American to win the XTERRA World Championship title—and few would bet against another Middaugh doing it again in the years to come.

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Also in the mix is Australia’s Ben Forbes, one of the breakout stars of the season. With nearly unmatched bike strength and a growing reputation for aggressive racing, Forbes has already shown he’s a force on technical terrain. And don’t count out Steve Croucher, who’ll be racing in front of a home crowd and looking to deliver a big performance on familiar trails.

It could be a battle between the orange suits as teammates Alizée Paties and Marta Menditto arrive as the two top-ranked contenders and current #1 and #2 in the series. Paties remains unbeaten in four races—three Full Distance and one Short Track—while Menditto has been steadily improving over the last two seasons. The two will be acutely aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses as they go head-to-head for crucial Short Track points.

Putting pressure on the athletes in orange will be specialist swimmers Aneta Grabmüller and Emma Ducreux. In a race where seconds count, starting with a lead—as the Czech and French athletes so often afford themselves in the water—can make all the difference. Grabmüller has come painfully close to Short Track gold before, and this could be the day it all clicks.

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Local competition will come from veteran XTERRA powerhouse Suzie Snyder, who returns for her first World Cup race of the season with home turf advantage firmly on her side.

If you haven’t been following so far, head to the World Cup Series page to catch up on how it all unfolded in Australia, Greece, and the UK. With official results, split times, media, and more, the series page remains the central hub for everything happening across XTERRA’s global pro tour.

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All remaining Short Track races, including Oak Mountain, Czech, and Trentino, will be broadcast live and free on XTERRA’s YouTube channel, bringing the action straight from the trails to your screen.

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For event coverage and more behind-the-scenes content, XTERRA Americas on Instagram will be the go-to source for the World Cup stops in Oak Mountain and Quebec.

Two athletes remain unbeaten, but only one holds the golden jersey—for now. With Oak Mountain up next and more than half the series still to come, there’s plenty of racing ahead as the World Cup moves through Canada and returns to its most hotly contested region for the final stretch.