The Pho3nix Sub7 and Sub8 project will see Kristian Blummenfelt, Lucy Charles-Barclay, Alistair Brownlee and Nicola Spirig try to break seven hours for men and eight hours for women for a full-distance triathlon. The event, which will take place sometime in 2022, now has a new sponsor – Zwift. Earlier this year Zwift also sponsored the Tri-Battle Royale, the race between Jan Frodeno and Lionel Sanders.
“We are delighted to be a part of this extraordinary event and support these athletes on their journey,” says Eric Min, Zwift CEO and co-founder. “We’re immensely proud that so many of the world’s professional triathletes choose to train on Zwift. In this event every second will count towards breaking the ambitious targets. We are confident that Zwift will play a significant part in helping the four athletes to achieve their goals whilst having some fun along the way.”
Like the Nike Sub-2 project a few years ago, the Sub7 and Sub8 Project will see the competitors “control every conceivable variable to deliver the fastest time humanly possible.” That means the athletes will be able to utilize “individual pacemakers” and support crews throughout the race as they look to break the seven and eight hour barriers.
Like Frodeno and Sanders, Brownlee, Blummenfelt and Charles-Barclay are regulars on the Zwift platform, and we’ll no-doubt see them on Zwift throughout the winter.
The announcement of the new presenting sponsor didn’t come with any specifics on a venue or a date for the race. Blummenfelt and Charles-Barclay will certainly be favourites at both the Ironman World Championship events next year – St. George, Utah in May and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in October. One would expect that Brownlee will also be a top contender if he has recovered from the ankle injury that sidelined him in his attempt to make the Olympics in Tokyo last summer. Fitting another full-distance race into a schedule that includes two world championship races (not to mention the 70.3 world championships, which Charles-Barclay will likely want to defend next year) will certainly prove to be a scheduling challenge.
You can find out more about the Sub7 and Sub8 Project here.
