18 days before the 2006 ITU Madrid World Cup, a waiting list of triathletes all over the world has been created to participate in the capital of Spain next 4 June. According to the ITU rules, 75 men and women can compete in each World Cup event… and now there are 180 athletes who want to be in Madrid, the first race to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The criteria for competing in a World Cup event is the next one: the place in the 2006 ITU World Cup Ranking and the place in the ITU Points Ranking. Moreover, there are some booked vacancies for the organizing country in each World Cup event, in this case for the Spanish Triathlon Federation. By the way, if any of the waiting list athletes hope to participate in Madrid, there should be a vacant and it is difficult to happen except for an injury or an illness of any of the athletes of the Start List. The warm weather in Madrid and the nice show created including the presence of lots of fans all along the circuit make this event the favourite one for many triathletes all over the world. http://www.triatlon.org/worldcup06/index_eng.asp