With WTS London getting underway in Hyde Park tomorrow (31 May), Britain's Helen Jenkins has admitted that her training is not really geared to the sprint format of this year's race and hopes that the home support will give her a boost.
“I’ve been really pleased with how this year has gone so far and I’m just really pleased to be able to train and race," said the Welsh athlete, who recently returned to the sport following a two-year absence due to injury. "My training isn’t geared to sprint races particularly, but my plan is to enjoy this one with the home support and see what happens."
While Jenkins sits in third place in the rankings thanks to her bronze in Auckland and silver in Cape Town, the woman to beat remains fellow Brit and points leader Jodie Stimpson, who scooped gold in the season's first two races but then picked up a foot injury that required five stitches at WTS Yokohama earlier this month. Stimpson says that her foot is now fine and she's "ready to race":
Jodie Stimpson: 'the foot is fine it's been a testing couple of weeks but I'm ready to race'
— PruHealth World Tri (@WorldTriLondon) May 29, 2014
The men's race (preview here) is likely to again be a three-way battle between the Brownlee brothers and reigning world champion Javier Gomez (ESP), who have dominated this race in the past five years, with Alistair and Gomez both winning two apiece. In a recent 220 interview with Jonny, he revealed that losing last year's Grand Final in Hyde Park still hurts, adding: "It's motivated me to train harder this year, I don't want to lose the world championships in a sprint like that again."
The men's race will get underway at 2.30pm, starting with a 750m swim in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake from a pontoon start, followed by a four-lap 20km bike that involves some very sharp turns, and finishing with a three-lap 5km run along the Serpentine. The women's race will begin at 4:05pm on the same day. The age-group races will be held on Sunday 1 June, with the first waves setting off at 7am.
(Main image: Delly Carr/ITU)
All the action can be watched live on the BBC's Red Button service, or online at triathlonlive.tv. We'll also be tweeting all the action as it happens from @220triathlon