After a scintillating Saturday of WTCS Hamburg action, the course now shrinks and the teams become close to finalised for Sunday afternoon’s 2024 Mixed Relay World Championships.
‘Close’ to final in as much as the deadline is still to come for submitting the final compositions of the 19 teams competing, set at two hours before the 3pm start horn. And with the Olympic Games around the corner, Sunday’s line ups are set to see opportunities for the likes of Team Italy and Team Switzerland to prepare the squad for the big stage in Paris, and for USA and Germany to bring in some upcoming names ready to make a reputation for themselves. Maybe even step onto a world championship podium for the first time.
The order is men-women-men-women as it has been across this Olympic cycle, the course will be a 300m swim, 2 x 3.5km bike laps and a 1.75km run passing twice through the baying crowds overlooking transition, and you can watch all the action from 3pm local time, on TriathlonLive.tv.
Defending champions Germany will wear the number ones. Winners at two of the last three editions, the hosts have propelled themselves into contention not just for the tag of world title favourites, but also Olympic.
The likes of Taliswoman Laura Lindemann, Jonas Schomburg and Tim Hellwig may not be racing this weekend, but the German talent pool is deep with athletes ready to step up to the plate. Lasse Luhrs and Lisa Tertsch were the top-ranked in the individuals, and in Henry Graf and Annika Koch there is the firepower and growing experience to mount another defence of the title.
With no French team lining up, the British will also be among the favourites, the final team looking likely to feature Max Stapley off the back of his best ever WTCS result of 9th, Olivia Mathias, Paris 2024 Olympian Samuel Dickinson and the return of 2018 World Champion Vicky Holland.
Callum McClusky steps in afresh for Team Australia along with Natalie Van Coevorden, Brandon Copeland and Charlotte McShane as they look to return to a podium they once dominated.
Team Switzerland will look to reignite their 2023 bronze-winning form, Max Studer ready to roll along with Julie Derron, Simon Westermann and Cathia Schar, the Swiss clearly looking to sharpen their Olympic medal potential with all featuring.
Fourth last year, Team USA picked their top four from the individual races, meaning Morgan Pearson going out first, Katie Zaferes second and John Reed and Erika Ackerlund bringing it home. Spain’s hopes rest on the resurgent Vicente Hernandez, Noelia Juan, David Cantero del Campo and Cecilia Santamaria Surroca.
Portugal will count on the experience of Melanie Santos and Vasco Vilaca alongside last year’s Junior World Champion Joao Nuno Batista and newcomer Madalena Amaral Almeida, and the Belgian Hammers field the same squad that won bronze at the Paris Test Event, Jelle Geens, Claire Michel, Arnaud Mengal and Jolien Vermeylen taking up duties.
New Zealand could be on course for another big result even without Hayden Wilde, as Nicole Van Der Kaay takes up the final leg from Dylan McCullough, Ainsley Thorpe and Tayler Reid. The Italians will be looking for something special from a potent foursome of Alessio Crociani, Gianluca Pozzatti, Alice Betto and Bianca Seregni and Maya Kingma and Rachel Klamer team up with youngsters Mitch Kolkman and Niels Van Lanen for Netherlands.
