The wait is nearly over. On Tuesday 27 July, 6.30am local time, 55 women will dive into Odaiba Bay, each having navigated their own unique path to reaching the Tokyo 2020 Olympic start line over the past five years. Among them are experienced favourites, talented Games debutants and compelling stories of battling the odds to achieve their dreams. Now, all that is left is to string together the best swim-bike-run of their lives in a bid to achieve the result they crave.
The Tokyo 2020 course poses some
sizeable challenges. The water temperature is likely to be in the high 20Cs for
the two-lap, 1.5km swim. The humidity could be pushing 100% as they head out
onto a flat, technical 40km bike with 8 laps in total, where the wind could
whip through the high rises without warning. The air temperature is likely to
be hovering around 30C as they rack their bikes and head out on to the 10km
run.
Throw in all the pressures of an
Olympic competition delayed by 12 months and one of the most competitive
women’s fields in the sport’s 21-year Games history and the unpredictability,
as well as the entertainment, will be off the charts. With just five races
making up the Olympic Qualification Period leading in to Tokyo, where do some
of the pre-race favourites sit in terms of readiness to meet the challenge? See
how to watch the Games where you are here.
Even with just a single World
Triathlon race so far in 2021, Flora Duffy will undoubtedly be one to watch.
Finishing out of the medals in 8th at Rio 2016, the same year she won the first
of her two world titles, will be all the motivation she needs to deliver this
time around. Duffy has already said that Paris 2024 is not in her plans and
Tokyo 2020 will be a final shot at that elusive Olympic gold. After coming
through a gruelling WTCS Leeds in 4th place and knowing how well she can
perform in the heat, her confidence, like her ability to deliver across all
three segments and finish strongly, will be sky high.
Duffy’s bike prowess will be matched
by Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig, the Swiss star heading to an unprecedented
fifth Olympic Triathlon start line. Champion in 2012 after that sprint finish
with Lisa Norden, silver medalist in 2016 after that battle with Gwen
Jorgensen, Spirig is still in incredible shape, has peerless experience and all
the skills to push for a history-making third Olympic medal in the sport if she
can save some legs and be in the front pack off the bike.
A strong trio of American women on
the start all make compelling, varied cases for becoming Olympic medalists.
Summer Rappaport simply loves to race in Japan, scooping two Series silvers and
two World Cup golds as well as Olympic qualification on these shores. Her
biking has come a long way, her swim and run have always been her greatest
assets, and after confirming her spot back in 2019, she has been able to focus
on Olympic readiness, delivering the fastest 10km split so far this year:
33m24s in Yokohama.
Taylor Knibb is a former Junior and
U23 World Champion and this year showed she can cut it at the very highest
level, too, with victory in the season opener in Yokohama. A powerhouse on the
bike, if she has the run speed over the closing stages, she will be a threat.
Finally, Katie Zaferes was crowned 2019 World Champion after a brilliant run of
results and, following the disruptive ups and downs of a difficult
Qualification Period, has finally been able to zoom in on exactly what is
needed to fulfil her Olympic potential.
The British team have similar
firepower across all three squad members, Georgia Taylor-Brown perhaps the
biggest name as well as biggest unknown in terms of form having had to wait for
her opportunity to hit the start line in 2021 through illness and injury. The
2020 World Champion has an ability to keep calm in the most demanding
circumstances but will need to focus on the small details after so long away
from the blue carpet.
Taylor-Brown’s training partner
Jessica Learmonth has also had some injury niggles over the past six months but
came back to show why she is still a contender with a superb silver at WTCS
Leeds. Always a pace-setter in the water and on the bike, Learmonth is as tough
as they come and likely to be pressing for a podium just like teammate and 2018
World Champion Vicky Holland, as long as she can still be in striking distance
out of T2 to use her signature run.
Australia will have three women on
the start, with Ashleigh Gentle heading to her second Games eager to build on a
26th place finish at Rio 2016. Travel restrictions have meant Gentle has been
in Australia for the best part of two years, but will have wasted no time
working on exactly what she needs to challenge in Tokyo.
Cassandre Beaugrand and Leonie
Periault lead the line for France, the former having landed a World Series gold
in Hamburg in 2018 and finished in the top 10 this year in Leeds and
undoubtedly capable of a rapid and potentially decisive run split.
Japan’s Niina Kishimoto and Yuko
Takahashi will be hoping to use home advantage to their favour despite the lack
of crowds to lift them. Takahashi has great depth of experience to call upon,
while Kishimoto has a good track record in the heat but may struggle to keep in
touch with the likes of Spirig and Duffy on the 40km bike.
Maya Kingma will be another pushing
the pace across those 40km on the bike. A superb swimmer, too, Netherlands’
latest hotshot was the surprise star of Leeds last month and heads into the
Games as the 2021 Series Leader. The 25-year-old is full of quiet confidence
that this could be a huge year for her, while teammate Rachel Klamer heads to
her third Games hoping to build on 10th place in Rio
Brazil’s 2019 Pan-American Games
silver medalist Vittoria Lopes is also likely to be among the fastest through
the water, while Italy’s Alice Betto has already delivered a brilliant race on
the Odaiba Bay course, with silver at the Test Event two years ago.
Rarely to be found far from a Series
top 10, Canada’s Joanna Brown has bronze-winning experience from the
Commonwealth Games three years ago and more recently a brilliant third in
Bermuda in 2019, finishing one place ahead of Austria’s Lisa Perterer who could
thrive on racing in the heat of Tokyo and brings London 2012 experience with
her to Japan.
The ASICS World Triathlon development
team will be represented by Egypt’s first Olympic triathlete Basmla
Elsalamoney, Argentina’s Romina Biagioli and Estonia’s Kaidi Kivioja, while
Chilean legend Barbara Riveros is one of the greats to have come through the
programme and finds herself on the fourth Olympic start line of an illustrious
career.
See the full women’s start list here.
https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2020_tokyo_olympic_games/501765?mc_cid=cca5f44035&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.
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
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