ITU Worlds Preview

Hey All,

Only 2 days until the big boys (and girls) race in Vancouver and there is a lot on the line. For some, like Simon Whitfield, being World Champion would complete his triathlon resume. For others, this is the last shot at making an Olympic team (more below). For still others, they are working hard at solidifying their country's 3-person team for Beijing.

Ok, let's start there. Right now, 3 countries are fighting for spots 7 and 8 on the men's side. A reminder that only the top 8 nations get 3 spots at Beijing. 9th only gets 2. So Russia, the US, and Australia are all fighting hard for that third spot. Australia is currently 9th, but things are so tight that it will basically come down to who finishes where between Matt Reed (US), Brendan Sexton (Aus), and Dimitry Polyansky (russia). Right now Matt Reed is fighting for his own spot while Sexton is trying to get Greg Bennett to Beijing. This should be a sweet fight!

Team Canada will be decided. 5 Canadians have Part 1 of the Qualifying done (3 women - Carolyn Murray, Kirsten Sweetland, Kathy Tremblay and 2 men - Kyle Jones, Paul Tichelaar) by finishing in the Top 8 so far this year in a World Cup race. By finishing Top 8 on Sunday they are supposed to guarantee themselves a spot in Beijing. What if all 3 women finish in the Top 8? Hmmm, the rules dont really take that into account. So I'm thinking that if you want a spot, you better beat the other Canadians and finish Top 8. I'm predicting Tichelaar will finish in the Top 8, and Sweetland and Murray both making it on the womens side, with Sweetland just outrunning Murray for the automatic spot. We'll see what happens!! There is also room for a "discretionary spot" so athletes who don't make it on Sunday still have some hope. It will be fascinating to see the results but Team Canada should be super-competitive at Beijing.

1,1, DNF, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. What the heck? Those are the results the last two years for Vanessa Fernandes. 15 wins in 19 races, including last years Worlds. She is simply amazing. And with Emma Snowsill, her only real competition, not participating at Worlds this week, Fernandes should be a shoo-in for the title on Sunday. And she's still only 22! From the triathlon.org website, here are some numbers on Fernandes...
- Most world cup titles (20) of any ITU triathlete in history
- Has won 10% of all world cups ever staged
- Had made the podium in 77.4% of the world cups she’s entered
- Won 64.5% of the world cups she’s entered
- More world cup titles than all of France and Switzerland combined
- If Fernandes was a country, she’d rank 6th for most world cup wins by a country
- Only triathlete to win at least one world cup for 6 consecutive years (2003-2008)
- One of 3 triathletes (Emma Carney & Brad Beven) to win 6 world cup titles in a single year (all have done it twice)
- Only triathlete to win the same event for 6 straight years (Madrid 2003-2008)
- More European championships than any other athlete (5)
- Last year became the 2nd triathlete to win triathlon and duathlon world championships in the same year (Jackie Gallagher was the first in 1996)
- As an 18-year old, she finished 8th at the 2004 Athens Olympics, making her one of the youngest in the competition
- Introduced to triathlon 1999 by her father Venceslau, a former cyclist and winner of the 1984 Volta a Portugal




Ok, time to make some predictions. On the men's side, my faves for the podium are Whitfield, Gomez, and NZ's Bevan Docherty. But a rising star to watch for is Alistair Brownlee. Only 20, this Great Britain youngster already has two ITU podiums, and won the World Juniors in 2006 before finishing 2nd in 2007. His brother also podiumed yesterday in the World Juniors! Pretty fast family. He looks to follow in the recent successes of British triathletes, including Tim Don, Chrissie Wellington, Leanda Cave, and this year's super-rookie Hollie Avil.

On the women's side, if anyone beats Fernandes, i'd be stunned. But I'm picking Laura Bennett and Ms. Sweetland to round out the podium, just beating out one of the Aussies. We'll see what happens!

Races start at 1 pm on Sunday for the women, 4 pm for the men (Vancouver times). Enjoy the race live on triathlon.org!