Former Under 23 World Champion, Matt Sharp will get his 2013 season underway this weekend on Sunday 17 February at the 2013 Cape Town ITU Sprint Triathlon African Cup.

He is the lone British athlete in the race, which will be dominated by South Africans and include the current world ranked number five athlete, Richard Murray.

Matt, a member of the UK Sport Lottery funded British Triathlon World-Class Podium Potential Squad based in Loughborough will be using the event to test his winter form and get some race practice before the season gets fully underway in April.

Matt ended last season with a sixth place finish at the ITU U23 Triathlon World Championships in New Zealand. He recorded the joint fastest run split in New Zealand and will be aiming to deliver a strong performance in Cape Town following a solid six-week block of training in South Africa.

Richard Murray is the favourite to win having triumphed at the Dextro Energy World Triathlon in Hamburg last year ahead of Olympic silver medallist, Javier Gomez.

Speaking before the event, Matt commented: “I’m really excited to be racing again, my training has been going well and I’m hopefully acclimatised after being out here for six weeks.”

The Cape Town event, which covers a 750m sea swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run, is well known to British athletes, with Tim Don having finished eighth and Non Stanford tenth in 2012.

The event start lists are available here.