Africa Triathlon

The 2013 World Cup season continues in Alicante this weekend, with big fields turning out for the second event in Spain this year. It’s the first World Cup event in the coastal city and the course will take in a two-lap 1.5km swim in the Port of Alicante, followed by a hilly and technical six-lap 43km bike course and finishes with a four-lap flat 10km run. Click here to view the course.

Elite Women
Just two weeks after claiming fourth in the 2013 World Triathlon Grand Final London and the overall 2013 ITU World Championship silver medal, Great Britain’s Jodie Stimpson will line up in Alicante wearing the No.1. While Stimpson will be favourite to another World Cup title to the one she claimed in Guatape last year, especially on a bike course that has a tough hill, she will be tested by a deep field.

The start list includes the Netherlands Rachel Klamer, Italy’s Alice Betto, the Czech Republic’s Vendula Frintova, Great Britain’s Katie Hewison, Austria’s Lisa Perterer, Australia’s Felicity Sheedy-Ryan, South Africa’s Gillian Sanders, Belgium’s Katrien Verstuyft and Germany’s Rebecca Robisch. Frintova is already a World Cup winner, while Klamer picked up the elite women’s 2013 European Championship title.

At home though, keep an eye on the vastly experienced Ainhoa Murua. The three-time Olympian finished 10th in London, her best result of the WTS season which indicates she could be primed to do well in Alicante.

The field also includes many athletes that made an impact in the U23 and Junior Women’s World Championship races in London, like Great Britain’s brilliant swimmer Lucy Hall who almost pulled off an incredible solo swim-bike in Hyde Park, New Zealand’s Simone Ackermann, Germany’s Hanna Philippin and Ireland’s Emma Sharkey.

Click here to view the start list

Elite Men
Russia’s Dmitry Polyanskiy finished just off the podium in the elite men’s final in London, which was enough to put him in the top-10 in the season for the second year in a row and he comes to Alicante as the top ranked man. Helping his case for another career podium is that Polyankskiy has also already had good form in Spain this year, finishing second in the Palamos World Cup. But Switzerland’s Sven Riederer and Germany’s Steffen Justus also put forward an argument to be considered favourites as they aim to finish their 2013 seasons on a high.

Riederer has been known for his brilliant grand final races, he finished on the podium in the 2011 and 2012 events in Beijing and Auckland, but claimed 13th place in London this year. While apart from an excellent fourth in San Diego, Justus’ season has failed to reach past heights with four WTS finishes in the 20s, a World Cup win would be a nice way to lift his year.

But the field is deep in Alicante and it also includes World Cup winners Mark Buckingham (GBR), Brendan Sexton (AUS) and Simon De Cuyper (BEL), as well as Italy’s Davide Uccellari, Germany’s Gregor Bucholz, Russia’s Igor Polyanksiy and Andrey Bryukhankov. There is also a big team flying the flag at home in Spain, including Francesc Godoy and Jesus Gomar.

The field also includes some of the up and coming stars who raced in London in the U23 and Junior Men’s races, including Italy’s Matthias Steinwandter (5th in the U23 men’s race) and Great Britain’s Marc Austin and Grand Sheldon, the junior men’s silver and bronze medallist respectively.

Click here to view the start list

Both the Elite Men’s and Elite Women’s races will take place on Sunday September 29 in Alicante, the women at 9am followed by the men’s race at 12 noon. You can follow all the action with our live blog and results at www.triathlon.org/live and through our Twitter account @triathlonlive.