Edmonton World Triathlon Championship attracts Olympians Galore
Olympians galore are heading North-by-Northwest to Edmonton the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta for the World Triathlon Championship Final on Saturday August 21.
Edmonton will welcome the world’s greatest triathletes this week-end which will see no fewer than six of the top 10 men and seven of the top eight women from the Tokyo Olympics on display.
The Championship start line will include five of the six individual medallists from Tokyo Olympic. Gold medal winners Flora Duffy, of Bermuda, and Kristian Blummentfelt, of Norway as well as men’s silver-medal winner Alex Yee, of Great Britain, and bronze medal Hayden Wilde, of New Zealand, and the women’s bronze medal winner Katie Zaferes, of the USA.
With a World Triathlon Championship Series prize money (a split of the $750,000 money pot available to both the men and women) up for grabs it is little wonder why eight of the top 10 men and nine of the top 10 women in the overall World Triathlon Series standings have entered the Edmonton World Triathlon Championships Final.
Hawrelak Park in Edmonton will be the location for the World Triathlon Championship Final. The park is set in the heart of Edmonton’s expensive and scenic river valley.The swim will take place in Hawrelak Park Lake, while the bike and run course will take athletes through the impressive scenery of Edmonton’s river valley.
The events counting for this year’s Championship Series Rankings are the World Triathlon Championships Yokohama, World Triathlon Championships Leeds, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, World Triathlon Championships Montreal – all of which carry 1000 points for the winner – and the World Triathlon Championship Finals Edmonton, which will carry 1250 points for the winner.
Current Top Ten Women’s Rankings
| `Rank | Country | Points | ||
| 1 | Flora | Duffy | BER | 2791 |
| 2 | Taylor | Spivey | USA | 2324 |
| 3 | Maya | Kingma | NED | 2315 |
| 4 | Taylor | Knibb | USA | 2236 |
| 5 | Sophie | Coldwell | GBR | 2159 |
| 6 | Katie | Zaferes | USA | 1913 |
| 7 | Laura | Lindemann | GER | 1792 |
| 8 | Leonie | Periault | FRA | 1464 |
| 9 | Jessica | Learmonth | GBR | 1461 |
| 10 | Non | Stanford | GBR | 1409 |
Flora Duffy enters straight from her Gold winning performances in last months Toyko Olympics and more recently in the new WTCS eliminator championship format held in Montreal last week-end. A week-end event that included as many as two super-sprint qualification races on Friday and up to three super-sprint final stages on Saturday.
Following her victory in Montreal, Duffy now heads the rankings board and should she win at Edmonton she will round off a remarkable year by being crowned World Triathlon Champion 2021.
Nonetheless, any slip up by Duffy and there is a potential for anyone of the top 7 women triathletes to take the World Title. Maya Kingma who took victory at Leeds or the young and fearless Taylor Knibb who show the steel she was made of taking sliver in Montreal. GB’s Sophie Coldwell cannot be ruled out having achieved several medal-winning performances in World and European Championships. And finally, but not least, Taylor Spivey who is in tremendous form coming away from Montreal with a Team Gold and an individual Bronze and may feel she has a point to prove after her shock non-selection for the Olympic Team USA.
Current Top Ten Mens Rankings
| Rank | Country | Points | ||
| 1 | Alex | Yee | GBR | 2716 |
| 2 | Kristian | Blummenfelt | NOR | 2677 |
| 3 | Marten | Van Riel | BEL | 2438 |
| 4 | Hayden | Wilde | NZL | 2265 |
| 5 | Léo | Bergere | FRA | 2061 |
| 6 | Vincent | Luis | FRA | 1994 |
| 7 | Morgan | Pearson | USA | 1781 |
| 8 | Dorian | Coninx | FRA | 1679 |
| 9 | Antonio | Serrat Seoane | ESP | 1647 |
| 10 | Kevin | McDowell | USA | 1632 |
Olympic silver medalists Alex Yee and gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt who both did not race in Montreal, are positioned 1st and 2rd respectively heading to Edmonton, but are so close that if either won, they’d not only be the Grand Final winner but winner of the World Triathlon championship as well.
But once again any slip up by the two front runner and there are waiting in the wings world class triathletes ready to pounce. None more so than the 2 x World Champion Vincent Luis who is coming back to the form that we saw when he conquered all before him. Also, in the mix is fellow countryman Leo Berege who was part of the French trio of Luis and Dorian Coninx who produced a French master class of how to take all three-podium spots in Montreal last week-end. And one cannot write off the Kiwi Hayden Wilde who put in a stunning performance to win Bronze at the Olympic Games.
The women’s event begins at 10:50 a.m. and the men’s at 1:50 p.m. local time Saturday 21st August.
Full Start Lists Here:
The 2021 World Triathlon Championship Finals close the season on Saturday, Aug. 21, while Bermuda will host the 2021 World Championships for both super-sprint and mixed relay, Oct. 15-17.
Points won at the World Triathlon Championship Series events in 2021 due to take place after Edmonton – at Hamburg, Bermuda and Abu Dhabi – will all count for the 2022 season
