PREVIEW: WTCS Yokohama
The first race of the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series is to be held this weekend in Yamashita Park in Yokohama City, and the racing is set to be ferocious.
The Olympic Distance event will see the athletes swim two laps of a 750m course, cycle nine laps of 4.9km around Yamashita Park before running 4 x 2.5km laps to complete the 10km run. Whilst the buildup to the race will have been a little different to anything else they have experienced; all athletes will be focused on racing their best to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games which are set to be held this August. All international athletes will have no fewer than five Covid-19 tests between their arrival and exit in Tokyo, with all necessary precautions being taken to ensure the race can go ahead in a safe and secure environment.
The athletes have been subjected to strict social distancing rules, with all training inside, three meals a day having to be taken in their rooms, and a strict schedule leaving the athletes with only one chance for swim familiarisation this Friday and a bike familiarisation in the 30 minutes before their races this Saturday. It will be interesting to see if any tactics emerge from the designated swim groups that have been allocated to each National Federation in the lead up to the race, with British athletes having shared a lane with French, German, Spanish and Danish athletes this week. All will be revealed on Saturday!
Men’s Race – 04:06 BST, Saturday May 15th
Can anyone stop Vincent Luis? The two-time World Champion from France has managed to remain undefeated in ITU racing since the Banyoles World Cup in 2019, where he outsprinted Mario Mola and Tyler Mislawchuk to close out the last full season of triathlon. Since then, he’s won races in Hamburg, Karlovy Vary, Arzachena and Valencia, not to mention the 2019 edition of the Yokohama race.
His main challengers in this race look to be 2nd ranked Fernando Alarza, who has podiumed here before and already secured his spot for Tokyo, as well as the versatile Gustav Iden, who most recently won Challenge Daytona back at the start of the year. Additionally, Vincent’s teammates and Belgian duo Jelle Geens and Marten Van Riel will keep the race honest, as will Brit’s Alex Yee and Jonathan Brownlee.
In all honesty, this race is the most stacked field I have ever witnessed, with the only notable exceptions being two-time Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee, Tokyo Test event winner Tyler Mislawchuk and Rio 4th place finisher Richard Murray, who has recently been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation (Get well soon Richard!).
There are just shy of twenty ITU WTS podium placers racing, including Hungary’s Bence Bicsak, 2020 Vice-World Champion Vasco Vilaca and 2011/2012 Yokohama winner Joao Silva of Portugal. If you are a triathlon fan, you cannot miss this race, it may possibly eclipse the Olympics, and is going to be one of the greatest fields assembled all season, with many gunning for Olympic Selection.
There are five US men in the field, all chasing that elusive Top 8 that will secure their place at the Games, as well as the Japanese athletes like Jumpei Furuya who will be competing for the chance to represent his country at a home games.
Women’s Race – 01:06 BST, Saturday May 15th
Whilst the women’s start list also boasts a whole host of great athletes, the absence of 2020 World Champion Georgia Taylor Brown, 2018 World Champion Vicky Holland and Commonwealth Games champion Flora Duffy will surely have to be taken into consideration when we look ahead to Tokyo.
Katie Zaferes is the number one seed in Yokohama and is joined in the Top 10 by three other American women – Taylor Spivey, Summer Rappaport and Taylor Knibb. Other athletes who will be looking to make their mark in the first WTCS race of the season are Brit’s Beth Potter and Non Stanford, with Potter looking to build on a string of Super League podiums that have bought her to the attention of many triathlon fans ahead of this season.
Cassandre Beaugrand of France is an athlete who has perhaps struggled to live up to the potential she showed in 2018, where she ran away from the field in Hamburg which included Duffy and Zaferes, but will look to start 2021 on the right foot.
Look for World Champs podium placer Laura Lindemann of Germany and Commonwealth Games medalist Joanna Brown of Canada to also feature. Prepare for a hot contest for the podium, with many names looking to make a mark in the absence of some big players.
