Sian Rainsley, Olivia Mathias, Kate Waugh and Gordon Benson will all race in Hamburg on Saturday as the German city hosts the first race of the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series
Raced over the sprint distance, the event returns to its familiar surroundings of the city centre having taken place with Hamburg’s Stadtpark last year. The action gets underway at 2:30pm BST with the women’s race taking place first.
In 2020, Georgia Taylor-Brown took gold in the women’s race to be crowned world champion in a one-off championship race. This time around, Rainsley, Mathias and Waugh will be looking to emulate their compatriot and make a winning start to their 2022 season.
Benson will be back racing traditional swim, bike, run having competed at Super League Triathlon London at the beginning of September. Earlier in the year, he was part of the British team who won mixed relay gold at the 2021 Europe Triathlon Sprint and Relay Championships Kitzbühel.
This is the 20th edition of the event and will start with a 750m swim in Binnenalster Lake, which includes the unique 40m stretch in the dark as they swim under one of the city’s bridges.
Once they’ve completed the swim, a six-lap bike course that includes two 180◦ turns will provide athletes with a technical challenge as they race around the city’s streets for 21km. This tight, 3.5km course is a demanding one for bike-handling and will overlap with the two-lap run course which could cause issues for any backmarkers on the bike should the frontrunners open up enough of a lead.
A flat, 5km run will ultimately provide the race winners and determine the first points of the 2022 series. Finishing in front of the Rathaus (townhall), the winners will cross one of the most iconic finish lines on the World Triathlon Championship Series and head for home with the first ranking points of the new series.
Rainsley is ranked seventh having made her debut on the World Triathlon Championship Series earlier this year in Leeds. Laura Lindemann (GER) wears number one in her home country and is joined by fellow Olympians Alice Betto (ITA), Summer Rappaport (USA) and Verana Steinhauser (ITA) on the start line.
Mathias also made her World Triathlon Championship Series debut in Leeds in June, whilst for Waugh, the race in Hamburg will be her first at this level.
Among the international athletes competing in the men’s race will be Leo Bergere (FRA) who finished on the podium at the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Finals in Edmonton last month having raced in Tokyo, home favourite Jonas Schomburg (GER) and Antonio Serrat Seoane (ESP) who finished 8th in Edmonton.
You can see the full start list by clicking here.
Sunday sees mixed relay racing taking place in Hamburg. The Great Britain team will be two from Rainsley, Mathias and Waugh, and two from Benson, Connor Bentley and Dan Dixon. Bentley and Dixon are not racing in the individual race but are available to be selected for the relay.
The relay starts on Sunday afternoon at 1:40pm BST and, following, a 300m swim, athletes will ride the same bike course as Saturday but only complete two laps (7km). The run is a different course and the leg will total 1.7km per athlete, made up of a 0.95km lap and a 0.75km lap.
All three races will be live on the BBC, with more information available on the button below.
All the action will be shown live on TriathlonLIVE.tv and British Triathlon Home Nation members can access an exclusive 75% discount off the price of a monthly subscription for TriathlonLIVE.tv for the 2021 season in their member benefits area here.
