Following the successes at the London 2012 Olympic Games triathlon in Hyde Park, the world’s best triathletes are already focusing on a return to London as the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final comes to London in September. As Jonathan Brownlee contemplates his world title defence on home soil, the major international calendar dates are already well established in the minds of Britain’s elite triathletes.

The ITU World Triathlon Series picks up exactly from where it finished, with April’s opening round taking place on the same course as the 2012 Barfoot and Thompson ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland. The early April date (6-7) will suit those based in the southern hemisphere, but is unlikely to feature the Olympic Champion, Alistair Brownlee, who is starting his season at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (2-3 March).

Having stated that he wanted to take on some new challenges following his Olympic gold, Alistair Brownlee has already committed to Abu Dhabi event, which covers a 1.5km swim, a 100km non-drafting bike and a 10km run.

The challenging new bike course at the ITU World Triathlon Kitzbühel (6-7 July) is likely to appeal to the Olympic Champion, who has won there for the last two years. The new course ascends the Kitzbühel Horn Mountain, offering 867 meters of climbing over 11.5km of hairpin mountain roads.

Brownlee also regularly lists the ITU World Triathlon Series race in Madrid as his favourite course, and Spanish fans will hope to see an exciting battle with Olympic Silver medal winner, Javier Gomez (1-2 June).

However, it is the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final London (12-15 September) that will provide the season highlight and a legacy opportunity for around 4000 amateur athletes to compete for Age-Group world titles on the Olympic course.

Jonathan Brownlee commented: “The prospect of going back to Hyde Park to defend the world title in September is really exciting. The home support helped us a lot in the summer, so I’m looking forward to that already.

“The World Championship Series is my focus of the season. I expect San Diego in May will be my first major race, but we’re several months away from that at the moment and the focus is on some solid hard work over the winter and do some cross country racing.”

Britain’s elite junior, U23 and paratriathletes are also relishing the prospected of racing in London.

Juniors Gordon Benson, 18, and Georgia Taylor-Brown, 18, have all been included in the interim UK Sport Lottery funded British Triathlon World-Class Performance Squad and will have the benefit of going to London with home crowd support and the experience of having raced to top ten finishes at the ITU World Championships in Auckland. 

Boosted by confirmation of UK Sport Lottery Funding, Britain’s five ITU Paratriathlon World Champions will target gold in London as they plan for Paralympic success when the sport makes its debut in Rio in 2016.

British Triathlon is set to welcome a new Performance Director, Brendan Purcell, in January, and in addition to international competition schedule, there is the prospect of seeing top-class international racing at the British Triathlon Championships in July.

ITU World Triathlon Series 2013

• 6-7 April: ITU World Triathlon Auckland, New Zealand
• 20-21 April: ITU World Triathlon San Diego, USA
• 8-12 May: ITU World Triathlon Yokohama, Japan
• 1-2 June: ITU World Triathlon Madrid, Spain
• 20-21 July: ITU World Triathlon Hamburg (sprint distance and ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships), Germany
• 24-25 Aug: ITU World Triathlon Stockholm, Sweden
• 12-16 Sept: ITU World Triathlon Grand Final London, Great Britain