A season like no other. The tagline of the World Triathlon Championship Series for the 2021 year couldn’t have been more accurate. A season that started in Yokohama, continued in Leeds, Tokyo for the Olympic Games, and Montreal will close out in style with the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Edmonton this weekend with the top two contenders for the men’s title separated by only 39 points. And could this be the first in history we will see an Olympic triathlon champion claiming the World title the same year?
When the 41 athletes line up in
Hawrelak Park this Saturday, all eyes will be set on Kristian Blummenfelt, crowned
Olympic champion only three weeks ago and a man with one clear goal in mind for
the weekend: to finish ahead of Great Britain’s Alex Yee.
The Norwegian may not have dazzled in
terms of the World Triathlon Championship Series rankings over the last three
years since his Series bronze back in 2017, but he is now ready to fulfil the
remarkable goal of becoming the first-ever athlete to win the World title the
same year as he won the Olympic Games. “It would mean a lot to me”, he said
when he landed in Edmonton. “To be in a position of fighting for the World
title in the last race, now with the Olympic title in my pocket, is strange. No
one has ever won both titles the same year, so it would be fantastic to be the
first one to do so”, he said.
Currently placed second in the
Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Series Rankings, only 39 points
behind Alex Yee, crossing the finish line ahead of the Brit will mean
fulfilling a dream for Blummenfelt. And he has proven to be a master of timing
great performances, having won this year not only the Olympics but also WTCS
Yokohama and Lisbon World Triathlon Cup, as well as the 2019 Grand Final in
Lausanne.
But beating Yee won’t be easy. The
young British star is the current leader of the Maurice Lacroix Rankings, and
also decided to skip WTCS Montreal to focus on the preparation for the big race
this Saturday. His victory in WTCS Leeds this year proved once again that he is
not only one of the fastest runners of the circuit, but also a regular and
consistent athlete and now with two Olympic medals of his own under the belt:
silver - just behind Blummenfelt - in the individual race, and gold in the
Mixed Relay.
But the 2021 Championships Final
won’t be a matter for only the top two. After finishing in a disappointing
fourth place in WTCS Montreal and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Belgian Marten Van
Riel is defending his current third place in the Rankings hoping for a podium
place that will grant him his best-ever finish in the World Championships.
Current World Champion Vincent Luis
will be leading the French team once again, with the extra fuel that comes from
knowing that his teammates Dorian Coninx and Leo Bergere are also placed in the
top 8 of the Series and with their own aspirations for improving their places in
Edmonton.
A bronze medalist in Tokyo, Kiwi
Hayden Wilde will also be one of the ones to watch, along with teammate Tayler
Reid, Australian Jacob Birtwhistle and Germany’s Jonas Schomburg, all of them
fast athletes perfectly suited for the flat 10km run in Hawrelak Park.
Antonio Serrat Seoane will be the
only chance of the Spanish team to have an athlete in the podium of the Series,
something that a Spaniard has managed every year since 2007, not including the
standalone 2020 World Championship event. The young Spanish athlete has had a
really consistent season, with an 8th place in WTCS Leeds and a career-best 5th
place in WTCS Montreal last week and is hunting a first WTCS podium of a very
promising career.
Of the starters, only Blummenfelt,
Van Riel and Birtwhistle know what it is to be on the podium in Edmonton, but
none of them - no one in the entire field, in fact - has ever won here before.
This is set to be a Saturday of major firsts and unmissable entertainment.
The Men’s race of the 2021 World Triathlon
Championship Finals Edmonton will get underway Saturday at 16h local time. . .
You can watch the race live on
TriathlonLIVE.tv. https://www.triathlonlive.tv/upcoming-live-streams/videos/world-triathlon-championship-finals-edmonton-men?mc_cid=d4d8060293&mc_eid=6139649918
Check here the start list. https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2021_world_triathlon_grand_final_edmonton/353164?mc_cid=d4d8060293&mc_eid=6139649918
Check the current Maurice Lacroix
World Triathlon Championship Series Rankings https://triathlon.org/rankings/world_triathlon_championship_series/male?mc_cid=d4d8060293&mc_eid=6139649918
Check the leaders' simulation for
Edmonton Finals this weekend https://triathlon.org/podium-simulator/male?mc_cid=d4d8060293&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.
MichaelPhelps Teaches Swimming - Most of us can swim, but there’s a difference between dog paddling on vacation and swimming for fitness. If you’re looking to unlock the low-impact, calorie-burning benefits of swimming, check out this course from Michael Phelps on This Skills. The 26-time Olympic gold medalist will cover everything you need to feel confidant and comfortable swimming laps. You’ll learn all the basic strokes, plus wall kicking, diving and other techniques, but you’ll also get a glimpse into the mindset of the most decorated Olympian of all time. Learn more at https://tinyurl.com/v4nmne8h
No comments:
Post a Comment