Norway’s second city Bergen will host its first ever World Triathlon Cup on Sunday, the beautiful coastal region known as the ‘city of seven mountains’, ‘gateway to the fjords’ and now ‘home of Olympic and World Champions’ is ready to reveal its magic. The hometown of current Olympic and World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt, the women’s race will see Lotte Miller, Stine Dale and Solveig Lovseth flying the flag for Norway.
The sprint distance challenge begins with a 750m swim in the chilly Vågen waters, transitioning onto a technical and demanding bike course on cobblestones and asphalt for 20km and four laps, each including the Nordess Hill climb and snaking descent, before the 5km run wraps things up in style on the postcard-perfect harbour.
The women get the action underway at 14.35 local time (CEST) on Sunday 28 August and you can watch it all unfold over on TriathlonLive.tv.
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The USA’s Kirsten Kasper wears the number one for the first time since 2018, ready to continue her march back to form that saw a top 10 finish at the WTCS Yokohama season opener and 12th in Leeds. Currently just outside the top 10 in the Maurice Lacroix rankings, the chase for Olympic points is well and truly on for a place on her team’s Paris 2024 squad.
Zsanett Bragmayer will be one to watch out of the water and has been in great form over the past 12 months, finishing just off the podium in last year’s WTCS Hamburg, earning bronze in the Haeundae World Cup and showing her versatility with her Arena Games win in Singapore at the start of the year, all underlining the Hungarian’s capacity to finish races as strongly as she invariably starts them.
Kate Waugh was one spot higher on that Haeundae podium and scooped a second silver in succession in Tongyeong in October. A solid 12th at July’s WTCS Hamburg followed by fifth in Pontevedra have helped set out the 23-year-old’s path towards filling the shoes of Vicky Holland and Non Stanford on the British women’s team.
Denmark’s Alberte Kjaer Pedersen finished just off a first WTCS podium in Montreal after a disappointing Leeds, and the 2021 Huatulco World Cup champion will be eyeing another potential gold in neighbouring Norway. Sweden’s Tilda Mansson was crowned 2022 Junior World Champion in Montreal and will start only her second World Cup in familiar Scandinavian surroundings fresh from a Junior Continental Cup win in Riga.
Sandra Dodet and Audrey Merle lead the line for France, both part of their country’s bronze-winning Mixed Relay squad at WTCS Leeds and with Dodet something of a World Cup specialist with no fewer than seven podiums to her name and hungry to make Bergen an eighth.
The Australian contingent sees Emma Jackson, Charlotte McShane, Emma Jeffcoat and Jaz Hedgeland all with strong shots at a medal, while Poland’s Paulina Klimas and Switzerland’s Cathia Schar are two of the strongest contenders for a first World Cup podium this weekend.
The race will provide another good test of fitness for Belgium’s Valerie Barhelemy as she continues down the road of recovery from Covid and a foot injury, the ever-positive Lotte Miller also seeking the kind of performance that could put to rest her back issues in recent months.
The young Italian duo of Constanza Arpinelli and Carlotta Missaglia are both very capable of rising to the big occasion and could produce some Bergen fireworks, while New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe and Japan’s Yuko Takahashi will want to deliver the kind of display they know they have in the locker.
For the full line ups, click here.
