One weekend, two World Cups, two continents, one huge goal: Paris 2024 Qualification. As we reach the pointy end of the chases for places on the 30 July Olympic start line, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, gets ready to host an Olympic-distance thriller that could decide the 2024 Games destiny of several athletes.
Bermuda’s Tyler Smith will be on the start line for the two-lap, 1500m swim with no out-and-back-in at halfway, before an attritional 40km ride with rolling climbs, a dead turn and two s-bends on each of the 6 laps, before four flat, tight 2.5km run laps to the tape.
Smith is the sole male member of Team World Triathlon in Samarkand, the Bermudian will be looking to secure the big finish that would pay off the hard work on the bike in recent outings.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Hawley to Compete in Samarkand World Cup
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With qualification opportunities for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games now down to their final fortnight, the first-ever Samarkand World Cup assumes huge significance for many of the 37 women including Erica Hawley set to toe the line on Saturday morning in Uzbekistan.
Zuzana Michalickova from Slovakia stands 10 places behind Hawley, Bermuda’s latest talent and the last name currently in the automatic qualification slots. Hawley has been a central figure of Team World Triathlon in recent years, the development squad dedicated to helping athletes from smaller National Federations with fewer resources to realize their Olympic potential.
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Emotional Duffy Speaks after Triathlon Return
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As we reported Dame Flora Duffy returned to the World Triathlon scene finishing 7th in Yokohama.
Following the race, Duffy was full of emotion after more than 500 days since her last event.
Earlier this year, Duffy revealed the extent of her injury, which she first started to notice during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years ago, where she won the individual Gold Medal.
It was confirmed later on that she had a partial patellar tendon tear, with further scans revealing “a very bad looking tendon in general, that was very thick with some cartilage damage and oedema on my tendon and my fat pad”.
After a lengthy recovery process, that was filled with highs and lows, Duffy was finally able to get back on track towards the end of 2024, and since then has been building back up for a return to racing.
Duffy was making her 100th World Triathlon start in Japan, the 36-year-old extended what has already been a fantastic career, with 44 World Triathlon podiums and 27 wins to her name, as she guns for Gold once again this summer.
Friday, May 10, 2024
Duffy Finishes 7th in Triathlon Return in Yokohama
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Reigning Olympic Champion Flora Duffy competed in her first event since November 2022, following a prolonged period on the sidelines injured, as she was in the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama Women’s Elite Field.
The Bermudian, who is also a multiple time World Champion and Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist, finished 7TH clocking a time of 1:53.38.
Duffy last raced short course Triathlon at the WTCS Grand Final over a year and a half ago, which she won ahead of Georgia Taylor-Brown.
In 2024, the national hero and Triathlon icon will attempt to become only the second Triathlete ever, and the first female, to successfully defend her Olympic title, alongside Britain’s Alistair Brownlee in 2012-2016.
Duffy finished 1:10 behind winner Leonie Periault from France who clocked 1:52.28.
Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Duffy Set to return in Yokohama
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Yokohama is ready to get the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series rolling on Saturday morning, and anticipation is running red hot with the prospect of an almighty first Olympic distance test for the athletes in this huge year for the sport.
The 2021 World and Olympic Champion Flora Duffy was sadly absent from the blue carpet for the whole of 2023 as a knee injury kept her from racing. Yokohama marks her first action since retaining her world title at the 2022 Championship Finals Abu Dhabi, and it will be fascinating to see how she stands up to the exertions of an Olympic distance return and how far she can push it on the 10km run.
The last time Duffy and Gwen Jorgensen shared a start line was the 2016 Grand Final Cozumel, finishing first and second respectively. Here, Jorgensen knows that a podium finish – and above any other US athlete - is required to complete her remarkable comeback to the top and qualify for Paris 2024. If 2023 was marked by some vintage performances on the World Cup circuit, then this year demands the same but at the top tier.
