PEOPLE POWER
Big turnout expected for triathlon
It's an opportunity for a city in Canada to give the Olympic medal winners what the people of Japan and the rest of the planet weren't able to deliver in their moment.
And it looks like Edmonton is going to do it.
It's Saturday's World Triathlon Championships at Hawrelak Park and the North Saskatchewan River valley where all the tickets for the grandstand are long gone and free admission to take up positions around the rest of the park and out on the bike and run courses are expected to create the crowds the competitors haven't experienced in two years.
And the two stars of the show can't wait.
Flora Duffy has been visualizing the moment just before she dives into the water to attempt to become the first woman to ever win an Olympic gold and the world triathlon championship in the same year.
Not the finish. The start.
“What I look forward to the most, having just won the gold medal, is getting to be announced as the Olympic champion. To me, that's going to be quite special,” said Duffy, who gave Bermuda the nation's first-ever gold medal and made it the smallest nation ever to win one.
“It's been such a whirlwind since I crossed the finish line in Tokyo that it hasn't all really sunk in. When I hear that, when I get announced as being the Olympic champion it'll sink in that, wow, it actually happened! It's true!”
Edmonton's Worlds being the first to welcome spectators back, she said, will make it special.
“That's going to be quite nice. I really do hope people come out. It's such a great field this year and it's been a long time since we've seen spectators.”
Every triathlete was robbed of performing in front of in-person spectators at the Olympics or at the few events during the last two years that weren't cancelled or postponed.
Event general manager Stephen Bourdeau and his organizing committee are excited to finally arrive at the day for the city to execute a celebration for Duffy, for Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway and for the five of the six Olympic medal winners entered.
Bourdeau isn't hyping people to attend for the usual reasons. There's no financial motivation involved. There are no tickets to sell. The 10:50 a.m. women's and 1:50 p.m. men's Grand Finals are free. No charge.
Bourdeau and his organizing committee ended up with a $9 million budget to cover costs.
“This is an incredible opportunity for Edmonton in front of an international audience of 100 million viewers.
“We've created an event that is free to experience for everybody and these athletes have been competing behind a curtain for a long time. Edmonton will be a first with fans and we want to give them a great show,” said Bordeau.
The event lost the entire “Do North” age-group part of proceedings including 3,000-4,000 athletes from ages eight to 80 and at least as many family and friends as a result of closed borders. But Edmonton salvaged $9 million of the $13 million budget to try to do this right.
“It's going to be very special to finally be competing in front of spectators again. We've missed the atmosphere around the events and it's something I'm really looking forward to,” said Blummenfelt in the pre-race media Zoom call when he and Duffy were the only two athletes made available from their hotel rooms, where they returned to quarantine after their morning practices.
“I've been here a few times before. I had my first World Championship Grand Final here back in 2014 and if we have something similar here this weekend, it would be amazing,” said Blummenfelt.
“The absence of spectators was something we were actually getting used to. Here it's going to seem so strange to have so many people coming and that it will be an open race for everyone to come and to watch for free. I think that the one thing we're most looking forward to.
“For me it'll be good if I can perform again here. I want to really take advantage of the wave of interest we have in Norway now. It's going to be broadcast back in Norway on television so hopefully, I can be up there and make it interesting for all the new people that will be watching.”
Duffy says she expects it'll be a day to remember for all regardless of their results.
“Everything about the race gets better when you have people there. It adds to the atmosphere and the ambience. You have cheering. You're not just kind of running around in silence. Actually having people cheering and pushing you along will really be great,” she said.