It has been a long time coming, but the race to become the women’s 2022 World Triathlon Champion picks up once again this Saturday, with the return of WTCS Yokohama. With two races down and now seven left separating the athletes from their destiny in Abu Dhabi in November, the familiar surrounds of this technical Japanese Olympic distance course is always a good test of just how sharp and ready they are for the long months ahead. As always, you can follow every moment as it happens and watch back on demand over on TriathlonLive.tv .
If 2021 contained everything that
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy dreamed of achieving last year, it also left her
tantalising close to another huge milestone in women’s triathlon: an
unprecedented fourth World Triathlon title.
Only Australia’s Emma Snowsill has
been crowned World Champion as many times and, after Duffy’s victory in Abu
Dhabi last November, a win in this year’s curtain-raising WTCS Yokohama would
set her right back on top of the Maurice Lacroix Rankings after three races of
the season.
Plain sailing for the Olympic
champion it certainly won’t be of course. The weather looks set to be almost as
challenging as the typhoon-hit Tokyo 2020 race that took every ounce of
concentration from the athletes just to stay upright and in the hunt, and heavy
rain is again forecast across the weekend that could also have last-minute
implications for the course route.
Duffy was far from alone in her
prowess on that Tokyo course however, and the likes of Georgia Taylor-Brown
(GBR), Laura Lindemann (GER) and Valerie Barthelemy (BEL) will hit the Yokohama
start equally flush with confidence after their excellent Olympic campaigns,
the German following hers up with a first WTCS gold in Hamburg last September.
Taylor Knibb scored her first WTCS
gold here last year with the kind of domination of the bike segment that we
have come to know and expect from her. Another battle on the bikes with Duffy and
a breakaway on this course could set the podium agenda once again.
There are some notable absences from
the start, with USA’s Summer Rappaport and Katie Zaferes missing, both regulars
on the podium here. That could certainly open the door to the likes of
Cassandre Beaugrand and Beth Potter, both coming off the back of superb,
form-sharpening Arena Games Triathlon displays, to make medal plays of their
own.
Taylor Spivey may not have had the
2021 she had hoped for, but overall third in the standings was her best-ever
Series finish and it would be no surprise to see the American – so consistent
over all three disciplines – there once again at the pointy end of Saturday’s
race.
Of the young guns toeing the line,
U23 World Champion Emma Lombardi is undoubtedly one to watch as she continues
her step up into the WTCS level off the back of that brilliant win in Edmonton.
Youngest in the field Barbara De Koning (NED) continues her remarkable 12
months that has included both Junior and U23 World Championship appearances, a
WTCS debut, full Arena Games Series and still not 20 years of age.
After their strong showings in 2021,
Maya Kingma (NED) and Leonie Periault (FRA) will both be eyeing the medals in
Yokohama and highlighting the quality throughout the women’s field in a race
that could certainly throw up some surprises. Kingma dazzled in WTCS Leeds last
year after an impressive bronze here, while Periault scored her first WTCS
podium with silver at the Championship Finals Edmonton.
WTCS Yokohama
14 May, 3am CEST
TriathlonLive.tv
Full start list available here. https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2022_world_triathlon_championship_series_yokohama/544223?mc_cid=af9479c209&mc_eid=6139649918
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.
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