The elite circuit stops in Lausanne this weekend for the 10th stop of the 2018 ITU World Cup circuit. The vibrant Swiss city is ready to write a new chapter in its great history as Lausanne prepares to host the 2019 ITU Grand Final. And with the last two World Sprint champions crowned in the city seven years ago, Jonathan Brownlee and Barbara Riveros, returning to shine again in the Olympic capital.
This year’s Olympic distance course begins in the stunning Lake Geneva before a fast 40km bike through the city that combines fast downhill sections and challenging long climbs. That will leave the athletes with a 10km run through the city center streets to define the champions.
Men’s Preview
With the World Cup taking place less than a month before the ITU Grand Final, some teams have decided to stay in Europe for the last block of training of the season, and among them will be the Norwegian squad, vying for a repeat in Lausanne of their podium swept as they did earlier this season in WTS Bermuda. Wearing number one this Saturday in Lausanne will be Kristian Blummenfelt, currently ranked fourth and one of the stronger bikers of the circuit, looking for some valuable points after some weeks training with the Norwegian team in altitude. He will definitely use his skills in the hills of Lausanne to try a breakaway on the bike course with the help of his teammates Casper Stornes, Gustav Iden and Jorgen Gundersen, all of them also great bikers and strong runners.
But they won’t be the only strong bikers on sight in Lausanne, with British Jonathan Brownlee also toeing the start line this Saturday trying to collect some points before heading for Australia for training before the Grand Final. Even tho the double Olympic medallist -bronze in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2012- is not so used to the World Cup circuit, he knows the up and downs of the Olympic capital extremely well, as it is in this same city where he was crowned Sprint World Champion in 2010 and 2011.
After their great success in the European Championships in Glasgow, the French squad will be among the ones to watch, with Leo Bergere having the responsibility this time to try to be in the podium, while Aurelien Rafael can never be discharged and he already knows what it is to be on the podium this season, with his third place in Astana World Cup.
Also vying for his first World Cup podium of the season is Uxio Abuin Ares (ESP), who managed to get the silver medal at the 2018 European Sprint championship in Tartu, but could not finish in the Olympic distance event in Glasgow next week.
Germany’s Jonas Schomburg has had a really consistent season so far, and we can probably expect him to lead in the swim and bike sections of the demanding course in Lausanne, as will be the Polyanskyi brothers, Dmitry and Igor (RUS). Playing at home will be the Swiss, with Sylvain Fridelance, Adrian Brifford and Andreas Salvisberg ready to prove in home soil that their silver medal in the Mixed Relay European Championships was not a coincidence.
Australian Marcel Walkington and Kiwis Hayden Wilde and Daniel Hoy will be among the ones to watch, as will be young Americans Jason West, Kevin Bishop and Thomas Roop.
Women’s Preview
All eyes will be set indeed on one woman at the start line of the Lausanne World Cup, and she will be the recently crowned for sixth time European Champion Nicola Spirig. The Swiss has proved that Olympic distance races are just made for her, especially when we talk about hard and hilly courses such as the one the athletes will face in Lausanne. And counting with the home crowd cheers will also be a plus for the veteran athlete on what will be her third weekend in a row of exhausting races.
Another of the candidates to finish in the podium next to the Olympic Museum will be the U23 World Champion, Tamara Gorman (USA). The young American has had a really consistent season so far, with a podium in Chendgu World Cup and top ten finishes in Mooloolaba and Antwerp, and she has just finished a solid block of training before competing in the Grand Final in Gold Coast. She will be accompanied in Lausanne by another young and powerful biker, Taylor Knibb, as well as two fast runners such as Jessica Broderick and Nicole Welling.
Worth keeping an eye on will be most likely Spaniard Miriam Casillas. The Olympian has been out of the season for most part of the year due to an injury, but has just recently come back and done it in style, with a victory in the Malmo European Cup two weeks ago. Casillas is one of the fastest runners of the circuit, and will be trying to get some really valuable points in Lausanne to go back to the WTS circuit. The other two Spaniards, Anna Godoy Contreras and Sara Perez Sala, will also be candidates to finish among the top positions.
Japanese Juri Ide and Austria’s Lisa Perterer will also be tought to race, with some other names as Verena Steinhauser, Kaidi Kivioja or Felicity Sheedy-Ryan worth also to keep an eye on.
Elite races will take place on Saturday, August 18, and you can watch the elite races live on triathlonlive.tv and follow live updates on @triathlonlive. On Sunday, the Paratriathlon World Cup will once again shine a light on our superb paratriathletes, with Lausanne being the 6th out of eight Paratriathlon World Cups held this season.