It has been about seven years since the ITU World Cup series has been hosted in the United States, so as the 2017 Sarasota ITU Triathlon World Cup and 2017 Sarasota ITU Paratriathlon World Cup are about to kick off this Saturday, some of the athletes gathered to share their thoughts on the upcoming event.

USA’s own Katie Zaferes and Ben Kanute, along with Dominika Jamnicky (CAN) and Great Britain’s Andrew Lewis of paratriathlon came together to chat about #SarasotaWC, so take a look at what they had to say:

Zaferes
When I raced here in 2013, I am pretty sure it was one of the first races here so when I arrived for this weekend’s race it looked completely different, there wasn’t even a road on the other side of the lake. So it is pretty amazing to see how much has been developed, it is just amazing the venue and I am just excited to race the course.

Kanute
This is my fourth weekend of racing in five weeks. I have done everything from super sprint at Super League to half ironman distance in Chattanooga and the Olympic distance at the Rotterdam Grand Final, so I am super excited to finish off this block of racing here in Sarasota with a world cup that doubles up as the National Championship. I think this is a good way to cap off a good racing block.

I think everyone in the triathlon community knows how I race, which is just fast from the beginning. My strengths are the swim and the bike. The field this weekend is looking like it is really strong in the bike, so I think you can expect some fast racing. Like Dominika (Jamnicky) said it is going to be a fast bike without there being any corners and being relatively flat; hopefully it splits up the pace a little bit.

Jamnicky
This will be my fifth time racing at the Nathan Benderson Park, so you could say that I know this course like the back of my hand. It is a really good venue, but it is highly exposed. So, it is not very technical in terms of biking, but with the winds it can create some gaps on the bike. It is in favour of my strong cycling. It is a very good course, it is flat and fast. I am ready to have a good time this Saturday.

Lewis
For me I used to come to Florida as a kid with my Mom and Father and go to the parks and things. I have been back once since then with my own family with my own two kids, to the parks. So when I had seen after the season, about June time a serious accident, I thought my career was going to be over, let alone my season. But the GBR guys really picked me back up with the physios and worked with me and got me ready for World Champs. So, then I obviously went on to win that. But to be here, it is great to be here with the Irish guys who are with me, we kind of came over together so we experienced a little bit of what Florida has to offer. But to be here today, we ran around the lake this morning fairly early and it was beautiful. We have something very similar in the U.K., but it is not as big as this, America always seems to do that very well. I am just really looking forward to a no-pressure race for me, even though my season has been quite packed with races and the results have been there I just want to come out and race and have a little bit of a break as well.