Again no Alistair, but Britain’s Jonny Brownlee will resume his long-running rivalry with Javier Gomez (ESP) at this weekend’s WTS Gold Coast, while in the women’s race Gwen Jorgensen (USA) will shoot for her eleventh victory.
Jonny comes into the race as current series leader thanks to his Auckland win with 1386 points, followed by Gomez on 1282 points and his Spanish compatriot Fernando Alarza on 1134 points.
Abu Dhabi winner Mario Mola stands fourth in the title chase with 1069 points, but has previous form on the Gold Coast, having beaten Jonny there over a sprint course for the Junior World Championship title.
>>> Jonny Brownlee takes outstanding win at WTS Auckland
The only British male athlete racing this Saturday is Phillip Graves, who posted a DNF in Auckland last month. The start list also include top athletes such as South Africa’s Richard Murray, Portugal’s João Silva and top Slovakian swimmer Richard Varga. Full start list.
The race will involve a fairly flat, technical course run over the Olympic distance (1500 swim / 40km bike / 10km run), and involve eight laps in total of the 5km route. The men’s race gets underway at 2pm local time (5am UK time).
UK viewers can watch live on the BBC’s Red Button service, or on triathlonlive.tv (£).
Women’s race
The USA’s all-conquering Gwen Jorgensen will be headlining the women’s race, leading a large USA contingent of nine female athletes. It’s now nearly a year since Jorgensen was beaten in a World Triathlon Series race – when Britain’s own Jodie Stimpson won a thrilling WTS Cape Town, finishing just ahead of teammate Helen Jenkins.
Jorgensen sits top of the series table with the maximum 1600 points, followed by Auckland’s silver-medal winner Katie Zaferes on 1480 points and New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt on 1271 points.
Given the recent debate over Zafere’s alleged drafting on the run at Auckland, and Hewitt’s unfortunate 15sec penalty for littering, the battle for silver should definitely be interesting to watch.
British athletes racing this weekend include super swimmer Lucy Hall, often to be spotted leading the bike peloton, and WTS newcomer Jessica Learmonth. Top international athletes racing include Sarah True (née Groff), winner of WTS Stockholm last year, Flora Duffy (BER) and London 2012 bronze medallist Erin Densham (AUS). Full start list.
The women’s race will get underway at 11am local time (2am UK time). It will be dedicated to Aussie triathlete and coach Jackie Fairweather, who passed away last November. While Jorgensen is currently ranked first on the series table, the No. 1 spot will be left open as a tribute to Fairweather, and the golden bike rack will also be left open in transition to remember her.
UK viewers can watch live on the BBC’s Red Button service, or on triathlonlive.tv (£).
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Who do you think will win in Australia this Saturday? Let us know in the comments!