With less
than ten days to close the Olympic qualification period, all eyes are set this
weekend on two different spots: Samarkand, in Uzbekistan, and Huatulco, in
Mexico. Both cities will host this weekend’s World Triathlon Cups that will
award some of the last available Olympic points up for grabs, as the race to
get a ticket to Paris24 heats up. Most of the athletes who are competing in the
World Triathlon Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification Event in Huatulco this Friday
are staying for the World Cup during the weekend. Sprint distance, beach start,
heat and humidity… buckle up! The women’s field in Huatulco is stacked with
talent and the Olympic hopes are higher than ever.
Huatulco
is already a classic stop on the World Triathlon Cup circuit, but on this
edition, the venue has changed slightly, to Playa Chaué, 800m away from the
town center. The athletes will face a 750m swim with a beach start that will
take them to open and choppy Pacific Ocean waters to do one lap
counter-clockwise, to then face a long 400m run to transition. The bike course
is also challenging, with four laps planned, of 5km each, with a considerable
climb on each lap, to then finish with a fast a technical 5km run.
Wearing
the number 1 on the beach of Huatulco this Saturday evening will be Rachel
Klamer. The Dutch woman was back on the podium of a World Cup last year in
Karlovy Vary and seems to be again in great running form, and she is always a
very dangerous one when the race is to be decided in the last leg. Huatulco,
with a long run out of the swim and a hard bike and run course, looks like a
perfect scenario for Klamer to return to the podium.
The beach
start and the long run to transition are actually great factors in favour of
Zsanett Kuttor-Bragmayer. The young Hungarian’s goal is to qualify the team for
the Olympic Games on Friday at the Mixed Relay Qualifier, but has also eyes set
on the individual race. She arrived in Huatulco one week ago to get her body
ready used to the extreme weather conditions in Mexico, and seems to have
adapted really well to the heat and humidity.
Another
athlete who knows extremely well what it takes to race under the weather
conditions in Mexico is Elizabeth Bravo (ECU). Aiming for her fourth
consecutive Olympic Games, the Ecuadorian would be on the start list of Paris
if things stand as they are now, but a good result in Huatulco will give her
enough points to breathe calmly the last days of the qualification period. In a
similar situation are Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto (COL) and Lisa Perterer
(AUT). Both of them are currently on the last spots of the rankings, and need
desperately a good result in Huatulco, since some of the women who are also
fighting for those last spots are racing in Samarkand -an Standard distance
race that gives more points than a Sprint distance-.
For Maria
Carolina, silver medallist at the 2023 PanAmerican Games, the season started
really well with a second place at the Wollongong World Cup but she was not
able to finish the race in Chengdu, and is in need for some points that will
give her a bit of a rest. She is well used to the conditions in Huatulco, where
she has finished in 9th place the two years that she lined up here before.
Since Colombia dropped last minute the team for the Mixed Relay race, she will
be a bit more rested than Perterer, who has to double up on Friday to try to
secure her country two spots on the Paris 24 Olympics, and then on Saturday on
the individual race.
Gina
Sereno and Erika Ackerlund will be leading the USA team, joined this time by
2017 U23 World Champion Tamara Gorman, who is returning to the circuit after
multiple injuries that kept her out of the blue carpet. The three of them are
fast runners and are used to the extreme weather conditions of Mexico. Another
fast runner that will enjoy the long run out of the beach will be indeed
Alberte Kjær Pedersen (DEN), ready to shine on a course that seems to fit her
really well, and another athlete that will have the benefit of toeing the start
line fresh.
The hard
bike course seems to fit extremely well the likes of Solveig Lovseth (NOR), one
of the strongest bikers on the circuit, and who is looking to consolidate her
Olympic rankings as well, and so are Romina Biagoili (ARG) and Vicky Van Der
Merwe (RSA), who have secured their presence at the Paris 2024 Olympics via the
new flag classification.
The
Women’s race in Huatulco will unfold at 17.30h local time in Mexico on
Saturday, and you can watch it live on TriathlonLIVE.tv.
Check the
full start lists here https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2024_world_triathlon_cup_huatulco/630337?mc_cid=bdfd26744c&mc_eid=6139649918
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