The new World Triathlon Cup season begins with the 2024 World Triathlon Cup in the coastal city of Napier on New Zealand's North Island. New Zealand is well known for hosting triathlon races, but this will be Napier's first World Triathlon Cup. The race schedule will span Saturday, February 24th and Sunday, February 25th.
On Saturday, the 2024 Oceania Triathlon Junior Championship Napier and 2024 World Triathlon Cup Napier will take place, with the world's best athletes competing for the all-important Olympic qualification spots in Paris 2024. Sunday will feature age group races, the Oceania Junior Mixed Relay and the 2024 World Triathlon Mixed Relay.
The 2024 World Triathlon Cup is a sprint distance triathlon (750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run) starting along Napier's iconic waterfront called Perfume Point. The 2024 event will be combined into a triathlon festival featuring the New Zealand Sprint Distance Championship. As the world's best athletes gear up to compete in the sprint-distance format of the first race of the 2024 World Cup, players will be testing out how their pre-season builds are going and finding out how they're feeling. It's time to show off. Elite women race. Line-up starts at 4pm local time on Saturday, with men lining up at 6pm local time, all available to watch on the TriathlonLive.tv (live and on-demand) platform.
wild favorite
New Zealand's Olympic bronze medalist and world No. 2 Hayden Wilde will be wearing the number 1 jersey at the opening World Cup in Napier, New Zealand on Saturday. The Wild are solid favorites to not only win their first World Cup of the season, but also qualify for New Zealand at the next Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. He has spent the last few weeks training at his home in New Zealand and is looking forward to kicking off the season with a strong result before heading to the Middle East and then Europe to continue his Olympic preparations.
young gun ready to fire
Wild will be joined by Portugal's Ricardo Batista, a sprint specialist known for his gutsy performances until the end. The most thrilling sprint between Batista and New Zealand's Taylor Reid decided the silver and bronze medals at the 2023 World Triathlon Cup in New Zealand in New Plymouth, but the Portuguese was content to settle for third place. I had to. . Batista won a silver medal at the 2023 World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong at the end of last season, followed by a fifth place at the World Cup in Miyazaki after receiving a penalty. Portuguese athletes will be sprinting for medals this weekend in Napier. Reed will also have strong competition on Saturday at the Sprint Distance World Cup.
Rising New Zealand star Dylan McCullough, winner of the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Games and his first World Cup medal at the 2023 World Cup in Miyazaki, won silver at the 2024 Oceania Triathlon Cup in Wanaka last weekend. He showed great performance. Mr McCullough will be in line for action in Napier and will be keen to get a result that will help him prepare for the Olympics in Paris in 2024.
Olympic dreams are at stake
Hungarian Olympian Gabor Fardum is an experienced triathlete and is motivated to make another Olympic delegation this summer. Fardum finished in the top 10 at the 2023 World Triathlon Cup in Chengdu, proving his mettle against some of the world's best rising stars in the sport.
Australia's Commonwealth Games representative Luke Willian and rising star Brandon Copeland are hoping to test their early season form in Napier on Saturday. Both athletes have expressed their intention to compete and represent the country at the next Olympic Games to be held in Australia. Napier offers a great opportunity to earn valuable Olympic points. Willian finished 7th at the 2023 World Triathlon Cup Chengdu, while Copeland finished 9th at the 2023 Tongyeong World Cup and 6th at the Miyazaki World Cup.
British troops prepare for decisive battle
Britain's talented squad, featuring Daniel Dixon, Samuel Dickinson, Hugo Milner and Ben Dijkstra, will start the World Cup season in Napier. Milner showed his incredible talent at the end of 2023, running the best race of his career and winning the 2023 World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki.
What's noteworthy
Spain's Genis Grauheiden could also be one of the hot candidates on Saturday. Grau won his first World Cup gold medal at the 2022 World Cup in Huatulco, and finished fourth at the 2023 Mexico World Cup in both sprint-distance race formats.norwegian casper stones
Check out the 2024 World Triathlon Cup Napier – Elite Men's start list and watch the men line up on Saturday, February 24th at 6pm local time live and on-demand on TriathlonLive.tv.