Chris “Macca” McCormack thinks the latest Bahrain Endurance 13 team roster is the best version of what he says is “the most successful endurance team in history” thanks to the 20 world titles the team has claimed.
The team is made up of 13 athletes and the 2021 roster includes: Alistair Brownlee, Cassandra Beaugrand, Daniela Ryf, David Plese, Henri Schoeman, Holly Lawrence, Jan Frodeno, Javier Gomez, Kristian Blummenfelt, Lauren Parker, Tyler Mislawchuk, Vicky Holland and Vincent Luis.
“Over the past few years we’ve brought in the short-distance triathlon presence to build across all facets of racing within the sport,” McCormack says of the versatility of this year’s roster. “If we’re the world’s best team, then we need to be the best across all distances. Olympic triathlon, which makes up the bulk of World Triathlon Series championship racing and is the distance done at the Olympic Games, is a quarter of the length of an Ironman. Super sprint, which is the kind of racing Super League Triathlon and the mixed team relay world championship focuses on, is even shorter.”
He summed up the dominance of the Bahrian Endurance 13 team in the middle and full distance events with this;
“At its outset, the team was built around long-distance triathlon — Ironman (which involves a 3.8-kilometer swim, 180-kilometer bike and 42-kilometer run) and 70.3 (half the Ironman distances in each leg). Our team patron and captain, His Highness Shaikh Nasser, is an Ironman world champion in his own right, and we have continued to build on this heritage to remain the most dominant team and group of racers in this space.”
The team has already been off to a great start with Australia’s Lauren Parker’s national championship defense late last month.
Text continues below pictureThe team will be hoping to make a strong appearance at Ironman 70.3 Dubai later this month with Daniela Ryf set to start. The team was looking forward to having another race-favorite start next Friday night at Challenge Miami, but as we reported, Jan Frodeno will potentially miss the race.
Two-time Ironman world champ McCormack summed up his relationship with the Bahrain team with this;
“In our seven years of existence the Kingdom has made great leaps and strides in sport, and not just in triathlon. Only recently, the Bahrain Victorious cycling team signed Ahmed Madan, making him the first Bahraini to make a World Tour roster. He came through the Bahrain national team and the Bahrain Cycling Academy.”
“We look forward to the time when a Bahrain youngster will be a part of the high-performance team and win a World Championship as a by-product of being inspired by all we have done. We are literally only a few years away from this reality, and that is exciting.”
