It’s been six months since Vicky Holland lifted the tape at the last World Cup event, but this weekend sees a trio of British athletes take to the start line in Karlovy Vary as World Cup racing returns in 2020.
Fresh from her World Championship win in Hamburg last weekend, Georgia Taylor-Brown headlines the British team on Sunday 13 September as she looks to improve on her second place from March’s Mooloolaba World Cup.
Having secured a Mixed Relay World Championship bronze medal alongside Taylor-Brown in Hamburg, Jess Learmonth will also take her place as one of the favourites for a podium finish in a high-quality field.
The two British athletes will be up against 2019 World Triathlon Series champion, Katie Zaferes (USA), two-time champion Flora Duffy (BER) and Laura Lindemann (GER) who finished second and third behind Taylor-Brown last weekend.
Pulling on the GB trisuit in the men’s race will be Ben Dijkstra, with the young Brit hoping to step onto his first World Cup podium having finished fourth last time out in Australia.
He’ll be up against a host of household names, with 2019 and 2020 World Champion Vincent Luis (FRA), Gustav Iden (NOR), Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) and Jelle Geens (BEL) amongst those on the start list.
The athletes will dive into Lake Rolava for complete two 750m laps, seeing them exit the water before diving back in for the second lap. The anti-clockwise swim will take the athletes in-between the two islands in the lake as they look to gain an early advantage.
Having navigated T1, the field will then complete the 40km bike course. Following a 6.5km approach to the main route, they will then race for seven challenging and technical laps before making their way to a separate transition for T2.
A four lap run on mixed terrain will ultimately see the winners crowned, with the 10km bringing the athletes to the finish line at the top of the second transition zone.
Both races are available on TriathlonLIVE on Sunday 13 September, with the men’s race starting at 9am BST and the women’s race starting at 2pm BST.
