Vicky Holland returns to the location of her first ever ITU World Triathlon Series victory in Cape Town this weekend. Holland and Non Stanford are starting their 2016 seasons at the Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town, joining Jodie Stimpson, Jonathan Brownlee and Adam Bowden in the line up for Sunday’s races.
Racing takes place over the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), prompting a fast-paced start to Holland and Stanford’s Olympic year campaigns.
Holland finished ahead of Katie Zaferes (USA) and Olympic Champion, Nicola Spirig (SUI) in a thrilling tight finish exactly a year ago.
She said: “This was the race that gave me the confidence to believe I could aim for the top of the podium, it was quite a break through last year, so it’s great to be back. This year it’s a sprint rather than Olympic distance, and my first race of the season, so it’s quite different, but I’m looking forward to getting out there."
Stimpson starts as the second highest ranked athlete in the race having won the opening round in Abu Dhabi and finished 12th on the Gold Coast two weeks ago. Flora Duffy (Bermuda) occupies the number one slot.
Number one in the men’s race is Spain’s Mario Mola, who is undefeated since his win at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Chicago last September.
Jonathan Brownlee will relish the cooler conditions in Cape Town after suffering with heat exhaustion when he finished third behind Mola and Fernando Alarza (ESP) in Australia. However, he’ll be without his brother, Alistair, who has not recovered from illness in time to compete this weekend.
The women’s race starts just after 2pm local time in Cape Town followed by the men’s race at 4.30pm. Live coverage is available at 1pm and 3.30pm UK time via the BBC Red Button & triathlonlive.tv.
Highlights will be shown on Monday at 10am on BBC2 and will include exclusive interview footage with Helen Jenkins following her win on the Gold Coast.
British triathletes racing Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town; 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run:
Vicky Holland
Non Stanford
Jodie Stimpson
Adam Bowden
Jonathan Brownlee
