Little could Bermuda’s hero Flora Duffy have imagined that the summer of 2021 would be the most special of her career. Three weeks after becoming the Olympic champion, the Bermudian has again already been showing magnificent form, claiming her first WTCS victory since 2018 in Montreal and landing in Edmonton with a comfortable lead on the Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Series Ranking. With a circuit that looks like designed for her - tough bike, flat run - only a handful of athletes can prevent the Bermudian claiming a record-equaling third women’s world title and becoming the first triathlete in history to win Olympic gold and the World Championships in the same year.
The athletes will take the stage on
Saturday at10.50am local time for the World Triathlon Championship Finals on a
course well known by the athletes. The 38 women face a beach start for a 2
-lap, 1500m swim in Hawrelak Park lake to then take to their bikes for 8 hilly
and rather technical laps. The race will be decided in the final 10k run, four
laps around the lake to finally crown the 2021 World Champion.
Only a week ago, Duffy proved in WTCS
Montreal not only that she is one of the strongest athletes in the circuit, but
that she is also a master when it comes to race tactics, and that she knows how
to economise efforts. Saving some legs and still claiming the victory in
Montreal could be decisive for the Bermudian this Saturday, when she will have
to battle once more with “The Taylors”: USA’s Taylor Spivey and Taylor Knibb.
Currently ranked second in the
Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Rankings, Spivey has never been on
top of a WTCS podium, but no place would be better for her first than Edmonton
this weekend to consolidate her podium position in the World Championships
after the disappointment of not being selected for the USA’s Olympic team.
Spivey will have teammates Knibb and
Katie Zaferes lining up with her, both trying to consolidate a top five place
in the World Championships or even to step up on the podium, and both of them
have proven they can produce the goods on tough Olympic-distance courses.
It is a similar case with
Netherlands’ Maya Kingma, the rising star of the beginning of the season after
claiming silver in WTCS Yokohama and gold in WTCS Leeds, bringing valuable
Series points that have put her in position to fight for the World
Championships podium, only 9 points behind Spivey. A specialist in the
Olympic-distance races, Kingma’s powerful bike skills put her in a position to
push hard for a breakaway with the likes of Knibb, Duffy, Spivey and Zaferes.
With the top British duo of Georgia
Taylor-Brown and Jessica Learmonth not racing in Edmonton, the hopes for the
British team will be pinned on Sophie Coldwell, Non Stanford, Beth Potter and
Vicky Holland, all of them in great form and holding some of the better running
splits of the women lining up in Hawrelak Park this Saturday.
Talking about impressive running
splits, French Leonie Periault is vying for her first-ever WTCS podium after a
top 5 last week in WTCS Montreal and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Laura
Lindemann (GER), Alice Betto (ITA) and Nicole Van der Kaay (NZL) will also be
among the ones to watch, always consistent during the last few races and ready
to go one step forward.
You can watch the race LIVE on
triathlonLIVE.tv. https://www.triathlonlive.tv/upcoming-live-streams/videos/world-triathlon-championship-finals-edmonton-u23-men?mc_cid=fb99ea9b42&mc_eid=6139649918
See here the full entry list. https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2021_world_triathlon_grand_final_edmonton/353165?mc_cid=fb99ea9b42&mc_eid=6139649918
Check the current Maurice Lacroix
World Triathlon Championship Series Rankings https://triathlon.org/rankings/world_triathlon_championship_series/female?mc_cid=fb99ea9b42&mc_eid=6139649918
Check the leaders' simulation for
Edmonton Finals this weekend https://triathlon.org/podium-simulator/female?mc_cid=fb99ea9b42&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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