It is to
the idyllic Italian island of Sardinia that the triathlon world’s attentions
turn on Saturday morning, where the beautiful setting will be the stage for
wildfire racing as the final ranking points for Paris 2024 are awarded and
Olympic destinies are written.
This will
be the third edition of WTCS Cagliari, a race where, until now, two women have
dominated and a tough beach swim has blown apart ambition before it even had
time to take root. It’s 1.5km in the water, 40km and 10 laps on the rolling
bike course, 10km and 4 laps on the run, all under the baking Sardinian
sunshine.
For those
from several countries including USA, Great Britain, Australia, Spain and
Italy, this is the last opportunity to shine before the discretionary Paris
2024 spots are picked. The podium places will therefore assume even greater
significance than usual as a statement of intent.
There
will be fireworks in Cagliari, and you can watch the action from 11am CEST over
on TriathlonLive.tv.
Periault
so good in Yokohama
Wearing
the number one and fresh from her debut Series gold in Yokohama, Leonie
Periault of France is the latest to be thrust into the limelight ahead of the
tantalising prospect of a home Games. The hammer went down early in the run two
weeks ago and the pace never let up, the 29-year-old fulfilling the promise of
recent seasons.
Building
on her fifth place in Tokyo 2020 will be the target again now, but first an
Olympic-distance challenge on a course that hasn’t been a favourite in the
past. A puncture in 2023 and with 46th in 2022, a big result here would be the
self-confidence injection that could kick start a big Paris campaign.
France
versus GB round three
Last
year’s World Champion Beth Potter starts for the first time since winning the E
World Triathlon title in London, where the Brit defeated Cassandre Beaugrand to
claim the prize just as she had in the Pontevedra Finals last September.
If 2023
was the year of Potter vs Beaugrand, from the title race to the Test Event in
August, then 2024 could see the two locked into an even more engrossing battle.
Potter admits she became addicted to winning after that first gold in Abu
Dhabi, Beaugrand looked every bit as invincible as she triumphed in Sunderland
and Hamburg. Both have two top 10s in Cagliari, but the podium will be a big
target this time around.
Georgia
Taylor-Brown (GBR) has the two wins and a 100% record so far in Cagliari, Emma
Lombardi (FRA) the two silvers. The Brit makes her first WTCS start since June
last year after an injury-hit 2023 knowing her place on the GB team could hinge
on her performance this weekend. The matter of an individual Olympic silver and
relay gold to her name will surely boost those chances dramatically.
For
Lombardi, bronze in Yokohama was a fourth Series medal for the 23-year-old, her
place in Paris as assured as her temperament has been while making the
transition from U23 World Champion to the elite look disarmingly easy.
Add in
the 2023 WTCS Yokohama champion Sophie Coldwell and Pontevedra Finals silver
medallist Kate Waugh, and the British challenge for places in Paris couldn’t be
much closer to call.
USA
qualification goes down to the wire
The only
nation that looks harder to call on the women’s side is the USA, where five
athletes still chase the two unfilled places on the Olympic squad alongside
Taylor Knibb. After their gutsy 4th and 5th places in Yokohama, Taylor Spivey
and Kirsten Kasper will feel they are well placed, Summer Rappaport will want
to banish her race to the history books and Katie Zaferes arrives in Cagliari
looking to seize the moment. A big showing here could be enough to open the
Paris door and follow up that individual bronze and relay silver in Tokyo.
Sophie
Linn, Natalie Van Coevorden, Charlotte McShane and Jaz Hedgeland are on their
own quests for a place on the Australian Olympic squad, while question marks
remain over the Italian team: Bianca Seregni and Verena Steinhauser head into
the race as the top-ranked women, Ilaria Zane now firmly in the top 30, Alice
Betto in 42nd and in need of delivering something special on home soil.
Duffy’s
defence underway
It was a
thrilled Flora Duffy who finished WTCS Yokohama with 7th place and, more
importantly, with no sign of the injury that kept her off the blue carpet for
18 months after her 2022 world title win. The Olympic Champion has never raced
Cagliari, and will use the inherent uncertainties of a new course as a test for
her adaptability ahead of a very different new challenge in Paris.
Maya
Kingma’s flat tyre halted a promising Yokohama charge and redemption may well
await in Cagliari. Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair will hope to bounce back from a
disappointing showing a fortnight ago and Denmark’s Alberte Kjaer Pedersen
arrives off the back of a big World Cup win in Huatulco.
FULL
START LIST
WTCS
Cagliari
25 May,
11am CEST
TriathlonLive.tv
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