WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CITY

Athletes and officials were devastated by the news that the Grand Final, slated to take place in Edmonton last August, would not be shifted back a year. The 2021 Grand Final would remain in Bermuda, according to the initial release, leaving four years of organization for naught.

The decision was particularly difficult to accept because, for years, Edmonton had been one of the most supportive cities World Triathlon has ever worked with. No city in the world has hosted as many world championships. After holding an ITU points race in 1999 and 2000, the city hosted the first world championships after the sport’s inaugural appearance at the Olympics in Sydney. After that success, Edmonton became a regular stop on the ITU’s world cup circuit. The worlds were back in Edmonton in 2014, an event that ITU president Marisol Casado declared “set a new standard for ITU.” The race was also named the “Best International Sporting Event in Canada – 2014” by Canadian Sport Tourism.

What was even more impressive about those 2014 worlds was how quickly the city was able to put things together. It was originally slated to be held in San Diego, and just under two years before the race the organizers pulled out. In October, 2012 the Edmonton Triathlon Academy agreed to look at hosting the event – a few months later their bid was accepted, and Sheila O’Kelley, the executive director of the academy, and her team were off. In less than two years they pulled off the race that “set new standards.”

Split World Championships

In August, World Triathlon announced that Edmonton was back on the worlds map for 2021. The city would host the Grand Final, while Bermuda will organize the sprint and relay world championship events.

That means we’ll see elite, U23 and agegroup standard-distance races, along with the age-group super-sprint events in Edmonton from Aug. 17 to 22. The city will also host the Aquabike World Championships for the standard distance.

Bermuda will host the inaugural Sprint and Relay World Championships in October, which will include elite super sprint and mixed relay world championships, along with the world sprint and mixed relay events for age groupers.

Each country will be able to enter 20 athletes per age group category. For Canadians, there won’t be any additional qualifying spots available for next year’s race – athletes who qualified for either of the world championship races in 2020 (Edmonton and Almere, the Netherlands for the multisport championships) “will maintain their position on Age Group Team Canada should they wish to compete in 2021,” according to a release from Triathlon Canada CEO Kim Van Bruggen.

“Due to the postponement of the World Championship events, much of the limited space on the Team is already filled for 2021,” Van Bruggen continued. “It is also impossible to provide fair access to qualification events across the country as different regions are affected at vastly different levels. As a result, we are unfortunately unable to offer 2021 qualification spots as part of the 2020 event season. We are hopeful the 48 [qualifying] events from 2020 will continue to be a part of the program in 2021 to qualify for the 2022 World Championship events.”

Athletes from around the world have become familiar with the race venue in Edmonton’s Hawrelak Park. After exiting the artificial lake in the park, racers head out of the park on a challenging bike course, then finish the race with a relatively flat run course within the park. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how things shape up for next year’s event as organizers are working hard to figure out the logistics of putting on a race as the world still works its way through the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically the elite courses feature more loops, while the age group races include one- or two-loop courses to accommodate the larger fields.

One thing we can be sure of, though, is that the Edmonton race organizers will put together an impressive show. They always have.—KM