The Triathlon Mixed Relay is back after its blockbuster Olympic debut and ready to take to the streets of Montreal for the very first time on Sunday, with ten teams of four - two men, to women - set to do battle across super-sprint distance races.
Hailed as one of the revelations of
Tokyo 2020, the triathlon world knew very well what fireworks were to come when
the Games unveiled the format on the biggest stage, and will once again be able
to watch some of the very best – albeit minus Olympic Champions Great Britain –
get back on the podium hunt in Quebec.
After the 300m swim, the bike course
consists of two fast, flat loops of 3.3 km as the athletes wind through the
historic streets of Montreal’s Old Town, returning to transition on the Grand
Quai on each loop. The 1.9km run course is made up of 2 laps of 950m and
follows the same route as the bike from the Grand Quai to de la Commune St,
only coming through transition for the final lap and tag on the pier.
With final line-ups not confirmed
until Sunday morning, only a couple of places look nailed on. New Zealand’s
familiar faces of Hayden Wilde, Nicole Van Der Kaay, Tayler Reid and Ainsley
Thorpe likely to reunite once again after their Olympic outing, while Lisa
Berger, Alissa Konig, Adrien Briffod and Sylvain Fridelance will go for
Switzerland. Hosts Canada are set to announce who will join the individual duo
of Amelie Kretz and Jeremy Briand as possible starters after the untimely
injury to Tyler Mislawchuk in Tokyo.
Elsewhere, a combination of form and
fitness from Saturday’s intense super sprint schedule plus the first building
blocks towards Paris 2024 plans will dictate the teams for the likes of France,
Australia and USA. All three teams have plenty of options from the individual
races, the USA’s including three of their four Olympic silver medallists: Katie
Zaferes, Kevin McDowell and Taylor Knibb. Seth Rider, Kirsten Kasper and Taylor
Spivey could also feature.
Leonie Periault was in great form in
Tokyo and may be joined by Audrey Merle or Jeanne Lehair for France, while
their three Olympic men Vincent Luis, Leo Bergere and Dorian Coninx are all in
contention along with Tom Richard.
Australia will want to stamp their
authority back on the format too, and have plenty of firepower to call upon
including Olympians Jacob Birtwhistle, Aaron Royle and Matthew Hauser, as well
as Brandon Copeland. Six women could join them, with Jaz Hedgeland the sole
female member of their Tokyo 2020 delegation in Canada.
The German team is once again full of
options with four men and four women available and only Justus Nieschlag
missing from the Olympic team that took sixth place at the Games. Team Italy
looked so strong at the qualification event in Lisbon, and Gianluca Pozzatti
and Alessandro Fabian are set to start, with the likes of Alice Betto, Angelica
Olmo and Verena Steinhauser all in Montreal and raring to go for the azzurri.
Japan boasts a squad of six women and
three men to choose between including Olympian Niina Kishimoto and the
experienced Juri Ide, while the Czech Republic look set to start with Jan
Volar, Radim Grebik, Tereza Zimovjanova and Alzbeta Hruskova.
Start lists will be available here
once confirmed.
You can watch all the action on
Sunday from 3pm local time on TriathlonLive.tv.
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
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