Only a couple of weeks after Germany was crowned as the 2023 Mixed Relays World Champion, another 19 teams will have a second shot on the chase for really valuable points on the Mixed Relay rankings in Sunderland. And with Team GB, Team France and Team Germany already having qualified their Teams for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, it is a matter now of staying on top of the rankings to guarantee that next summer, the teams are ready for another brilliant display of fast and furious racing.
Two male and two females from each country, with each athlete performing on the 300m swim, 7km bike and 1.7km run course of pure drama all the way to the tape will delight spectators and fans alike this Sunday in Sunderland. And as usual, with the final line-ups not confirmed until two hours before the race, let’s take a look at some of the teams worth follow.
As the current World Champions, Team Germany will be wearing number one this Sunday, but they will be lining up a completely different team than last year, with Lasse Lührs, Marlene Gomez-Göggel, Johannes Vogel and Anabel Knoll vying for another podium that will place them in a great position ahead of the Paris Test Event next August. They will have to hold on the pressure of being one of the favourites, with Team USA, Team New Zealand and Team France.
In fact, the host nation of the next Olympic Games is lining up a Team in Sunderland - they decided not to do so in Hamburg and Montreal earlier in this season - and will have WTCS Sunderland winner Pierre le Corre and runner up Emma Lombardi lining up alongside Tom Richard and Leonie Periault. All of them have proven that the cold waters and hilly course in Sunderland suits them well, so they will not be easy to beat.
For Team USA; they have selected Chase McQueen, Erika Ackerlund, Darr Smith and Gwen Jorgensen, a rather unusual team but with some members that already know what it is to finish on a Mixed Relay podium this season, after their gold at the America Championships.
Team Great Britain is bringing some fresh legs for the Mixed Relay, with Beth Potter, who didn’t race the individual race this Saturday, lining up along with Barclay Izzard, Max Stapley and Olivia Mathias, a strategy that GB also used at the World Championships in Hamburg, where they brought Sophie Coldwell just to do the relay.
Team New Zealand has decided to give a rest to the current World Triathlon Championship Series Rankings leader, Hayden Wilde, who has done quite a few races in the last month, and is lining up Tayler Reid, Nicole Van Der Kaay, Dylan McCullough and Brea Roderick, while for Team Switzerland, current bronze medallists at the World Championships, the ones in charge of defending the colors of their country will be Max Studer, Julie Derron, Adrien Briffod and Cathia Schär, who was key to get the team on the podium with one of the fastest splits of the day at the World Championships.
Team Norway has selected their usual team for this season, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn, Lotte Miller, Casper Stornes and Solveig Løvseth, all looking to classify their team directly for the Olympics for the first time, while for Team Australia the athletes will be Brandon Copeland, Charlotte McShane, Jacob Birtwhistle and Emma Jackson.
Alessio Crociani, Alice Betto, Nicolò Strada and Ilaria Zane will be representing Team Italy; Gábor Faldum, Karolina Helga Horváth, Márk Dévay and Zsanett Zita Kuttor-Bragmayer will be the athletes racing for Hungary and for Team Spain, their selected team will be Sergio Baxter Cabrera, Miriam Casillas García, Antonio Serrat Seoane and Noelia Juan.
Belgium, Mexico, Netherlands, Brazil, Portugal, South Africa and Japan will complete the start list.
