Triathletes will up the tempo this weekend as the ITU World Triathlon Series stops off in Hamburg for a sprint distance race and the Mixed Relay World Championships. Britain’s Helen Jenkins and Jodie Stimpson are up against the ITU World Champion, Gwen Jorgensen (USA), whilst Adam Bowden is in reach of his first ever podium finish.

Stimpson is currently ranked third in the Series and is focussed on amassing as many points as possible to take to the Grand Final in Mexico in September. She starts as number one this weekend given the absence of Flora Duffy (BER) and Andrea Hewitt (NZL).

Helen Jenkins is using this as part of her final preparations for Rio and has finished on the podium in all three of her Series outings so far this year. Joining her is ETU European sprint champion, Lucy Hall, and European standard distance champion, India Lee. Sophie Coldwell makes a welcome return to the Series too.

None of Britain’s male Rio Olympians will race in Hamburg, leaving Adam Bowden and Tom Bishop to fly the flag. Bowden had a stellar season so far, indicated by his third place ranking at the start in Hamburg.

He said: “I’m having a dream season in many ways. Being up to fifth in the Series rankings, with a brilliant opportunity to score well this weekend is a great place to be. I’m really enjoying every race and this one promises to be a lot of fun with the huge crowds that always come out to support us.”

The men and women’s races take place on Saturday afternoon and will feature live on the BBC Red Button at 15:35 for the women’s race and 17:35 for the men’s race. There are also highlights at 12:30 on BBC2 on Sunday. The Mixed Relay takes place on Sunday and well be televised on the BBC Red Button live from 13:30.