By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
Lucy Evans and Coen Anderson may very well look back on their week in Singapore years from now as the moment that changed the very shape of triathlon at the Olympic Games.
The Kiwi teens are set to compete at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week, an event where traditional sport meets video gaming as the IOC ramp up efforts to future-proof the movement.
Reigning Tri NZ Junior Series champion Evans (Manawatu Triathlon Club) and NZ Secondary Schoolboys champion Anderson (Saint Kentigern College) will race Sunday’s Arena Games Duathlon, with live coverage on Olympics.com from 2pm-3:45pm.
The duathlon is one of the “exhibition matches” being staged on the sidelines of the 10 Olympic Esports Series finals: virtual cycling, archery, sailing, dance, baseball, chess, tennis, shooting, motorsport and Taekwondo.
James Barnes, who contested the recent Tri NZ Esport Series, is racing the Zwift-powered cycling finals from 3pm Friday, again live on Olympics.com.
If the duathlon has a familiar ring to it, it’s because it’s run by the Arena Games team of Super League Triathlon (SLT) fame.
Could static bikes and treadmills – and indoor pools – be the future of triathlon or at least a version of the sport offered at future Olympic Games? The following three days at the Suntec Singapore Convention Centre will go a long way towards answering that and Evans, Anderson and Canterbury youth coach Tess Mattern will be able to say they were there.
Among the other exhibition matches being contested alongside the Duathlon are VR Table Tennis, Rocket League, Street Fighter, and eFIBA NBA2K23 basketball.
