The final stage of the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series takes place on Saturday in the Canadian city of Edmonton with Alex Yee and Sophie Coldwell headlining the British athletes on the start list.
Yee heads to Alberta at the top of the men’s rankings having finished first in Leeds, second in Tokyo and fourth in Yokohama. The Olympic silver medallist has a narrow lead over the man who took gold in Tokyo, Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt, who currently sits in second place.
This is the first time that Yee will have raced since medalling in Tokyo where, alongside Blummenfelt, he will be up against Tokyo bronze medallist, Hayden Wilde (NZL), Marten Van Riel (BEL) and a trio of French athletes in Leo Bergere, Vincent Luis and Dorian Coninx in a field packed with talent and champions.
In the women’s standings, Coldwell currently sits in fifth place and is in touching distance of the podium places as Olympic champion Flora Duffy (BER) tops the rankings. Duffy and Coldwell will be up against nine of the top ten ranked athletes in Edmonton, with only Britain’s Jess Learmonth missing from that line up.
The single digit places are dominated by athletes from America, with Taylor Spivey (ranked 2nd), Taylor Knibb (ranked 4th) and Katie Zaferes (ranked 6th) all well-placed and racing in Edmonton.
Lining up alongside Yee and Coldwell for Great Britain will be Non Stanford, Sian Rainsley, Beth Potter, Vicky Holland, Tom Bishop and Grant Sheldon, in fields that are packed with international talent across both the men’s and women’s races.
The winner of the races in Edmonton will receive 1,250 points, with the points per position decreasing by 7.5% with each place.
Based out of the Hawrelak Park, the athletes will swim two 750m laps before heading out for a 40km bike leg of five equal laps. Following T2, the 10km run will keep them in the park as they run four laps to the finish line.
As well as the World Triathlon Championship Series races, the U23 World Championships will also be taking place in Edmonton on Saturday, with the U23 action bookending the day around the WTCS racing.
The first race of the day is the female U23 World Championship in which Olivia Mathias, Sophie Alden, Sophia Green and Kate Waugh will all be pulling on the GB trisuit.
Above: Hear from Green about her 2021.
Mathias, who claimed the silver medal when the championships last took place in 2019, is in fine form in 2021 having made her WTCS debut in Leeds, won silver in the individual and gold in the team race at the Europe Triathlon Championships in Kitzbühel and gold at the Europe Triathlon Cup in Tiszaujvaros.
Waugh finished just off the podium places in 2019 as she crossed the line fourth whilst Alden finished 16th. Green, who competed in the Junior World Championships in 2019 and has made the step up to U23 for 2021, has also had a strong year with a series of impressive Europe Triathlon Cup results in the early summer.
In the male U23 race, Cameron Main and Connor Bentley go for Great Britain in what will be the final race of the day. Bentley claimed bronze at the U23 European Sprint Championships in Kitzbühel earlier this year, whilst Main also took bronze in the senior race at the Europe Triathlon Cup in Dnipro in June.
The Brits will be up against Australian Matthew Hauser who competed in this year’s Olympics and also raced the senior race in Edmonton back in 2019, finishing 11th. They’ll also be joined on the start line by Csonger Lehmann (HUN), silver medallist from 2019, senior race winner in Tiszaujvaros and someone with a wealth of experience across U23 and senior races.
You can view the start lists for all the races taking place in Edmonton and the schedule for Saturday by clicking on the buttons below.
You can watch the men's and women's World Triathlon Championship Series races on the BBC. Find out more about their coverage 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.
