Triathlon Blockbuster in Montreal
This week-end August 13-15, 2021, the Groupe Copley World Triathlon Championships in the Canadian city of Montreal will see the introduction of the new blockbuster WTCS Eliminator race format with qualifiers, repechage and final.
Prior to the huge success of the Mixed Relay at the Tokyo Olympics, President Marisol Casado said “the Eliminator is set to bring another fresh and exciting new format to the sport’s most prestigious events: The World Triathlon Championship Series.”
After its debut in Canada, the Eliminator will also be the format for the men’s and women’s elite races at October’s WTCS Bermuda which counts towards the 2022 season.
World Triathlon had requested the ICO to introduce this format into the Paris 2024 Games but the Olympic Programme Commission decided that no international federation will increase their medal events.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue that the sports movement is solely values-based and not commercially-driven. If the fast and furious Eliminator format gains more traction in future WTCS events there could be a case for its inclusion for the Los Angeles Games 2028, if the event can demonstrate that it will increase the commercial opportunities for the Games sponsors, advertisers and TV rights-holders.
RACE FORMAT
The Eliminator is an intense new format that takes place across two days and over a super-sprint course: 300m swim, 7.2km bike, 2km run.
Up to 60 athletes will be drawn in two qualifiers on day one. The top ten from each race will progress through to the next day, along with ten more from the repechage races for those who did not make the cut (the top ten in the case of a single repechage, the top five of each in the case of two).
All 30 athletes classified for the final round will then line up on day two to battle it out for gold over three more super sprints.
At the end of the first race, the last ten across the line will be eliminated. At the end of the second, the final ten will also be eliminated. The last race of the weekend will see the remaining 10 athletes race for gold in a dramatic finale.
SCHEDULE (local time)
Friday August 13, 2021
11:30 am : WTCS Women – Qualification wave 1 (30 athletes, best 10)
12:00 pm : WTCS Women – Qualification wave 2 (30 athletes, best 10)
1:00 pm : WTCS Men – Qualification wave 1 (30 athletes, best 10)
1:30 pm : WTCS Men – Qualification wave 2 (30 athletes, best 10)
2:30 pm : WTCS Women – Repechage (20 athletes, best 5)
3:00 pm : WTCS Men – Repechage (20 athletes, best 5)
Saturday August 14, 2021
1:36 pm : WTCS Women – Final 1 (30 athletes)
2:16 pm : WTCS Women – Final 2 (20 athletes)
2:56 pm : WTCS Women – Final 3 (10 athletes)
4:06 pm : WTCS Men – Final 1 (30 athletes)
4:46 pm : WTCS Men – Final 2 (20 athletes)
5:26 pm : WTCS Men – Final 3 (10 athletes)
To round off the week-end there will be a mixed team relay, the format which many people will now know following its huge success at the Tokyo Olympics.
Sunday August 15, 2021
3:06 pm : WTCS – Mixed Team Relay
World Triathlon, like all international sports organisations, was forced to hit the pause button on international competitions in 2020 restarting competitions in the second half of the year with fewer competitions.
Montreal is the penultimate race of the 2021 season with the Grand Final World Triathlon Championship Finals in Edmonton to decide the 2021 World Champions. The current leaders Maya Kingma (NED) and Alex Yee (GBR) are not racing Montreal, leaving the door open for significant changes in the rankings.
In the women’s race Olympic Gold Medalist Flora Duffy will be on the start line as will USA’s fourth, sixth and seventh-ranked athletes of Taylor Spivey, Katie Zaferes and Taylor Knibb, as well as Germany’s Laura Lindermann and Italy’s Alice Betto all of whom sit around 1000 points off the top spot. With 1,000 up for grabs at Montreal and 1250 point at Edmonton there is all to play for.
On the men’s side, Alex Yee GB) has a much narrower 39-point lead over new Olympic champion Kristian Blummerfelt (NOR) and 443 over third ranked athlete Marten Van Riel (BEL). The latter could top the leader board with a good display at Montreal.
You can watch all the action on TriathlonLive from 11.15am local time/16.15 (UTC+5) Friday, with the finals underway at 1.30pm local time/18.30 (UTC+5) Saturday.
