World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) and World Triathlon Para Series racing kicks off this weekend in Yokohama, Japan, and all the action can be seen live on TriathlonLive.tv. (Find out more about monthly and yearly passes here.) Here are some facts and figures for this weekend’s action:
Where:
Yokohama, Japan. The second largest city in Japan (by population) is about 40 km drive from Tokyo.
When:
- All the races take place on Saturday, May 15.
- Para Triathlon – 6:50 AM local (5:50 PM EST on Friday, May 14)
- Women’s race – 10:16 AM local (9:16 PM EST on Friday May 14)
- Men’s race – 1:06 PM local (12:06 AM EST on Saturday May 15)
How far:
- The Para Triathlon takes place over the sprint distance – 750 m swim, 20 km bike and a 5 km run.
- The WTCS event is an Olympic-distance race – 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and a 10 km run.
Women’s race:
- American Katie Zaferes will headline the women’s race – she won the world title in 2019, in part because she won the 2019 event. She’s also gunning after a qualifying spot for the US team for the Tokyo Olympics, which she can earn by being the first American on the podium on Saturday. Wearing numbers two and three are fellow Americans Taylor Spivey and Summer Rappaport.
- Beth Potter will be in the field – she’s had quite a spring with a win at the Super League Triathlon Arena Games London and running a blazing 14:41 for 5 km.
- Denmark’s Sif Bendix Madsen is the youngest competitor at 19, South Africa’s Gillian Sanders is the oldest at 39.
Men’s race:
- France’s Vincent Luis is the current world champion (he also won the world title in 2019) and will wear race #1 on Saturday. He also won the last Yokohama event in 2019. He’s joined by countrymen Leo Bergere, Dorian Coninx and Pierre LeCorre – that powerful group are all after a spot for the Tokyo Games. Only three can qualify.
- Spain’s Fernando Alarza will wear race #2. In his seven starts in Yokohama he’s finished second and third, but never taken the title.
- The youngest athletes in the field are Vasco Vilaca and Tim Hellwig, both 21-year-olds. Irving Perez, Crisanto Grajales, Rotislav Pevtsov, Dimitry Polyanskyi and Lukas Hollaus are the oldest in the field – they are all 34.
Olympic qualification:
- USA – First woman, if she is on the podium automatically qualifies. For the men, first two men in the top 8 qualify.
- FRANCE – First three men and first three women will be declared “eligible.”
- GERMANY – Second man and woman will be decided in a super sprint individual time trial next week
- SPAIN – Third man and second woman will be discretionary
- JAPAN – Athletes who finish 16th or higher in Yokohama 2021
Start lists:
