Photos: World Triathlon
By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
World Triathlon’s premier series was always going to be a tricky proposition in this Olympic year as athletes walked the tightrope between qualifying as quickly as possible and then trying to peak physically for Paris.
Now, the race to be crowned World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) champion has an altogether new dynamic with the cancellation of the first round post the XXXIII Olympiad.
World Triathlon confirmed Friday that WTCS Montreal, originally scheduled on September 14-15 and to include a Mixed Relay which would have featured Team Radix NZL, had been striked from the calendar. It comes after adverse weather in the UAE saw the March 8-9 WTCS Abu Dhabi, the opening round of the season, abandoned.
Fortunately, World Triathlon Cup Wehai, scheduled for September 27, has been upgraded to a WTCS event to replace Montreal which has been a regular stop on the world governing body’s global short course circuit.
A lack of “public funders’ has been blamed for Montreal’s withdrawal.
“World Triathlon would like to thank the China Triathlon Sports Association for stepping up as hosts and for ensuring the same number of [WTCS] events can be maintained in the 2024 Series,” World Triathlon said in a media release.
The curve ball for those hoping to be crowned world champions in 2024 came in the following paragraph:
“With the last-minute cancellation of WTCS Abu Dhabi in March, 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series ranking points will be awarded at the four Series events of WTCS Yokohama, WTCS Cagliari, WTCS Hamburg and WTCS Weihai, at the Continental Championships, plus the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Championship Finals Torremolinos-Andalucia. The athletes with the most points achieved at three of those six potential events plus the Championship Finals will become our 2024 World Triathlon Champions.”
How this will impact New Zealand’s leading hope, Hayden Wilde, remains to be seen but the addition of the continental championships into the points allocation is controversial as they’ve already been raced in Oceania. Indeed, this could be seen as an unfair advantage to European and North American athletes who can now rejig their campaigns.
Wilde was scheduled to race in Abu Dhabi and had reportedly earmarked Cagliari as his only other WTCS start pre Paris. Given he has missed the already completed Oceania championships in Devonport (sprint) and Taupo (standard distance), the reigning world No.2 will either need to add Hamburg or Weihai to his plans in addition to Cagliari and Paris to meet the three race minimum and be eligible for WTCS revenge at the finals in Torremolinos-Andalucia.
A trip to China seems most likely as it would have less impact on his carefully plotted Paris plans although nothing has been confirmed by the Wilde camp. Interestingly, given rumours of Wilde racing T100 post Paris, Weihai clashes with the T100 Ibiza on September 28-29.
Wilde placed 2nd in Canada in 2022 but did not race Montreal last year with Dylan McCullough 14th ahead of Tayler Reid in 20th and Kyle Smith in 46th. Ainsley Thorpe was the leading Kiwi female in 30th, four places ahead of Brea Roderick on WTCS debut while Nicole van der Kaay crashed on the bike and limped home in 42nd place. The Mixed Relay scheduled for the following day was cancelled due to poor air quality created by Quebec’s wildfires at the time.
The 2024 World Triathlon Para Series Montreal on June 29 has not affected by the WTCS cancellation and will go ahead as scheduled.
2024 World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS)
Scheduled
May 11 – Yokohama, Japan (Standard distance)
May 25 – Cagliari, Italy (Standard distance)
July 13-14 – Hamburg, Germany (Sprint distance & Mixed Relay)
September 27 – Weihai, China (Upgraded from World Triathlon Cup)
*Olympic qualification window closes May 27.
Finals
October 17-20 – Torremolinos-Andalucia, Spain
Cancelled
March 8-9 – Abu Dhabi, UAE (abandoned due to weather)
September 14-15 – Montreal, Canada
