The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has announced the 2020 ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS) calendar, in a year that will also be marked by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“The World Triathlon Series is the pinnacle of elite triathlon racing,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado. “The WTS has been paramount in bringing international attention to triathlon by holding races in iconic locations that are broadcast to a global audience. And in 2020 we will be once more delivering top tier events around the world to give our top elite athletes the opportunity to shine and earn really valuable points in the race to the Olympics.”
The 2020 WTS will get underway, as it has become a tradition in the last few years, in Abu Dhabi, in March for a Sprint race and a Mixed Relay Series event. Elite triathletes then head to Bermuda for the first of the 2020 Olympic distance WTS, in the middle of April, and it will serve also as a test event for the paradise island, which will host the Grand Final in 2021.
In May, teams will have a last chance of qualifying for the Olympics at the Chengdu Mixed Relay Qualification event, a race that will be exclusively for the nations that haven’t secured 2 male and 2 female athletes for the Olympics after the last Mixed Relay Series event in Abu Dhabi.
And the following week long-time WTS host Yokohama lines up as the third leg of the series before the circuit then touches down in Europe for a stopover in Leeds, UK.
In July, the German city of Hamburg will welcome once again not only the WTS race and the ITU Mixed Relay World Championships, but also more than 12,000 age groupers for the open races as they have done since its inception in 2009.
The elite triathletes will head to Japan for the one of the most important dates in the 2020 calendar: the Tokyo Olympic Games. This will see triathletes competing on 27th July for the men, on 28th July for the women and on the 1 August for the Mixed Relay.
Once the Olympic champions have been crowned in Tokyo, it will be time to head to Edmonton, Canada, for the ITU Grand Final that will decide the World Triathlon champions of the year.
Edmonton will welcome thousands of age group athletes for sprint and Olympic distances, along with junior, U23, & elite athletes for a packed week of triathlon.
2020 ITU World Triathlon Series calendar:
- Abu Dhabi, UAE – March 6-7 – Sprint and Mixed Relay
- Bermuda – April 18-19 – Olympic
- Chengdu, China – May 9-10 – Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification Event
- Yokohama, Japan – May 16-17 – Olympic
- Leeds, Great Britain – June 6-7 – Olympic
- Hamburg, Germany – July 11-12 – Sprint and Mixed Relay World Championships
- ITU Grand Final – Edmonton, Canada – August 21-23 – Olympic
Another race is in the process to be added to the 2020 WTS calendar in the coming weeks, with the dates and location to be announced after the 2019 ITU Congress in Lausanne.
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