Triathlon takes the stage at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships starting from Thursday. Alistair Brownlee and Jessica Learmonth are two of the stars of the British team competing in Scotland and there is Age-Group action alongside the elite racing. Elsewhere, Junior athletes head to Latvia for the Junior European Cup.
2018 Glasgow ETU Triathlon European Championships
Elite and Age Group athletes compete from Thursday afternoon and through the weekend as Learmonth tries to defend her European title and Alistair Brownlee lines up at the Strathclyde venue where he memorably won the 2014 Commonwealth title.
The women’s line up also features India Lee, European Champion in 2016, but don’t expect the Brits to have it all their own way. A very motivated Nicola Spirig (SUI) is hungry to add to her impressive list of international titles which, of course, includes 2012 Olympic gold. There’s also the highly impressive Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) who ran away to victory at the ITU World Triathlon Hamburg (sprint distance).
Completing the British line up, Beth Potter undertakes her first ever Olympic distance race on her local turf. Non Stanford has withdrawn through illness and Sophie Coldwell has withdrawn after winning the European Sprint title last month.
The men’s team comprises Brownlee, local hero, Marc Austin and youngster, Barclay Izzard. Their main competition is likely to come from the Spanish team, which includes Fernando Alarza, who is a regular podium finisher on the ITU World Triathlon Series.
The Mixed Relay team for Saturday’s won’t be confirmed until after the individual races, and will feature at least one athlete who is not taking part in the individual races. The GB Age-Group team features 615 athletes, including the inspirational Mike Smallwood going for a 26th international podium finish.
Schedule:
Thursday: Women’s elite race 13:30
Friday: Men’s elite race 16:00
Saturday: Age Group Sprint Championships 7:00, Elite Mixed Relay 17:35
There will be coverage of the action on the BBC and full live stream on the ETU website. Find a schedule here.
Start lists for the event can be found here.
Elite Men: Marc Austin, Alistair Brownlee, Barclay Izzard
Elite Women: Jessica Learmonth, India Lee, Beth Potter
2018 Riga ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup
Fresh from his junior win at the London Triathlon, Matt Willis will be on the starting line in Latvia on Sunday. Other juniors joining him on the start line will be Guy Evans-Haggerty, Sam Hart and Tyler Hutchinson. Iona Miller will be joined by Sophia Green, Hollie Elliott and others as they take on this course for the first time.
Junior Men: Guy Evans-Haggerty, Marcus Dey, Daniel Dixon, Sam Hart, Tyler Hutchinson, Forbes Jackson, Cameron Main, Joel Roura, Nathan Smith, Matthew Willis
Junior Women: Rosie Allen, Sinead Clark, Hollie Elliott, Sophia Green, Imogen Maroney, Annabel Morton, Alice Patterson, Freya Thomson
Challenge Turku, Finland
Athletes including Sarah Lewis and Sam Wade head to the next middle-distance race in the Challenge Family series on Sunday.
Elite Men: Tom Davis, Sam Wade
Elite Women: Emma Deary, Claire Hanna, Sarah Lewis, Frankie Sanjana