COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Eleven U.S. elite triathletes will race in Hamburg, Germany, at the fifth ITU World Triathlon Series stop of the season on Saturday. The action continues Sunday, as Team USA looks to defend its world title at the ITU Triathlon Mixed Team Relay World Championships.
Both the individual WTS races and the Mixed Team Relay championship will be broadcast live online at triathlonlive.tv. The WTS races will also air on Universal HD from 4:30-6:30 p.m. ET on Monday, July 17. Visit nbcsports.com for a complete schedule of Olympic sport broadcasts and channel information.
ITU World Triathlon Series Hamburg
Saturday’s WTS race will feature a 750-meter swim, six-lap, draft-legal 21-kilometer bike and two-lap, 5-kilometer run course. Leading the U.S. women on the start list is Kirsten Kasper (North Andover, Mass.), who is currently ranked No. 1 in the overall WTS standings. Kasper earned a bronze medal at the ITU World Triathlon Series stop Yokohama in May and placed fourth at World Triathlon Leeds in June.
U.S. Olympian Katie Zaferes (Hampstead, Md.), the No. 2 seed in the race, is ranked second in the WTS overall standings. Zaferes took silver in Yokohama and placed fourth in Gold Coast, Australia, in April.
Also racing for the U.S. women on Saturday are Taylor Spivey (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who earned her first WTS podium with a silver in Leeds; Summer Cook (Thornton, Colo.), who took gold at World Triathlon Edmonton in 2016; Renée Tomlin (Ocean City, N.J.); and Chelsea Burns (Seattle, Wash.).
The U.S. women are set to race at 8:10 a.m. ET (2:10 p.m. local time). Visit wts.triathlon.org for the complete women’s start list.
The top-seeded Americans in the men’s race are 2016 U.S. Olympian Ben Kanute (Geneva, Ill.) at No. 29 and Kevin McDowell (Geneva, Ill.) at No. 30. Kanute earned a top-20 finish at World Triathlon Abu Dhabi in March (16th). McDowell placed 11th at World Triathlon Gold Coast in April and was top-five at the Madrid ITU Triathlon World Cup in May.
Joining Kanute and McDowell on the men’s start list are Matt McElroy (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who took silver at the New Plymouth World Cup in April; Eric Lagerstrom (Portland, Ore.); and 2016 ITU junior world champion Austin Hindman (Wildwood, Mo.).
The men’s race begins at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. local time). Visit wts.triathlon.org for the complete men’s start list.
Triathlon fans can feel like part of the action with TRIFECTA, the official triathlon fantasy game of the ITU World Triathlon Series. Registration for TRIFECTA is open now at trifecta.usatriathlon.org, and podium picks must be submitted prior to the start of the first race.
ITU Triathlon Mixed Team Relay World Championships
On Sunday, a team of four select athletes will aim to defend Team USA’s world title at the ninth edition of the ITU Triathlon Mixed Team Relay World Championships. The race is set to go off at 8:54 a.m. ET (2:54 p.m. local time).
In 2016, this event drew more than 7 million TV viewers worldwide and 250,000 spectators lining the streets in Hamburg. It will be even more intriguing to fans this year, as the International Olympic Committee in June announced that Triathlon Mixed Team Relays would be added to the program of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
In the Mixed Team Relay race format, four athletes from the same country — two men and two women — compete on each team. Each athlete completes a super-sprint-distance course covering a 300m swim, 7k bike and 1.6k run before tagging off to the next teammate, with the fastest combined time winning the race.
In 2016, the four-person U.S. team of Gwen Jorgensen (St. Paul, Minn.), Kanute, Kasper and Joe Maloy (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) took the win in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 29 seconds.
Australia and Germany battled it out in a sprint finish for second and third, with Australia ultimately taking the runner-up spot and Germany placing third as both recorded times of 1:20:58.
Team rosters for the relay will not be finalized until Saturday afternoon after the WTS race, and all U.S. athletes on Saturday’s start lists may be considered. The final relay start list will be posted at triathlon.org. In total, 21 teams are set to compete for the world championship crown.
Click here for more information about Triathlon Mixed Team Relay’s inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
About USA Triathlon
USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon, as well as duathlon, aquathlon, aquabike, winter triathlon, off-road triathlon and paratriathlon in the United States. Founded in 1982, USA Triathlon sanctions more than 4,300 races and connects with nearly 500,000 members each year, making it the largest multisport organization in the world. In addition to its work with athletes, coaches, and race directors on the grassroots level, USA Triathlon provides leadership and support to elite athletes competing at international events, including International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships, Pan American Games and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. USA Triathlon is a proud member of the ITU and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
