The 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series was the 13th season of the World Triathlon Championship Series, the top level international series for triathlon, since its establishment in 2009. The season consisted of four pairs of triathlon races for both a men's and women's competition, beginning on May 15 in Yokohama, and concluding on August 21 with the grand final in Edmonton. The series calendar also included the 2020 Summer Olympics individual races on July 26 and 27 and mixed relay event on July 31.
Vincent Luis and Georgia Taylor-Brown began the season as defending champions from the 2020 season. Less than a month after their victories at the Olympics, Kristian Blummenfelt and Flora Duffy were crowned the series champions, becoming the first athletes to earn Olympic gold medals and World Triathlon Championship titles within the same year.
Overview
Calendar
The 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series visited five cities, including Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.
+EventsDateLocationTypeMay 15 YokohamaStandardJune 6 LeedsStandardJuly 26–27 TokyoStandard (Olympics)August 13–15 MontrealEliminatorAugust 21 EdmontonStandard (Grand Final) +Mixed RelaysDateLocationTypeJuly 31 TokyoMixed Relay (Olympics)August 15 MontrealMixed Relay
Background
On October 1, 2020, ITU announced that it would take on its new brand identity as World Triathlon, following 31 years as the International Triathlon Union. This included the renaming of every continental triathlon organization and the ITU World Triathlon Series, which became the World Triathlon Championship Series.
In addition to the rebranding, World Triathlon introduced a new format- the “Eliminator”- which consisted of multiple races over the super-sprint distance (300m swim, 6 km bike, 1.5 km run). The event would follow a McIntyre system-like format over the course of two days, in which athletes would need to secure a top-10 finish in their respective heat in order to advance to the next round.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were multiple changes to the series calendar. The World Triathlon Championship Series event in Abu Dhabi, traditionally the first race of the world triathlon season, was moved to November 5–6 in order to allow for travel restrictions to ease. Due to it being scheduled after the grand final in Edmonton, World Triathlon later made the decision to designate the event as a race in the 2022 series. The series event in Hamburg was also postponed after the grand final, with new dates of September 18–19 instead of July 10–11. Bermuda was initially set to host eliminator and mixed relay events from October 15–17, and similar to the Abu Dhabi and Hamburg events, would count for 2022 series rankings points. A month before the planned race date, however, the race was cancelled due to a spike in COVID-19 infections.
Point system
For every race an athlete finished they were awarded points based on their position across the line. For a World Triathlon Championship Series event and the Olympic Games the winner was awarded 1000 points with every athlete finishing afterwards being awarded with 7.5% less points. For the grand final 1250 points were awarded, and every subsequent place was awarded 7.5% less. If any athlete finished outside of the cut-off time, they would earn zero points regardless of finishing position. The cut-off times for each event was determined by adding 5% to the men's winner's time and 8% to the women's winner's time. An athlete's final score was determined by adding their 3 best scores in the World Series events and/or Olympic Games plus their score in the grand final, for a maximum of 4 scored races.
Series
Yokohama
The 2021 series opener took place in Yokohama over a standard-distance course. The 1500m swim consisted of two 750m laps near the Port of Yokohama before leading into the transition area next to Yamashita Park. Athletes then completed nine laps of 4.45 km each for a total distance of 40 km, and four laps of the 2.5 km course for a 10 km run finishing in the park.
Men
The start list for the men's race included numerous big names including defending series champion Vincent Luis and 2016 Olympics gold medalist Alistair Brownlee. Luis was the first athlete to finish the swim, followed closely by Marten Van Riel, Richard Varga and several other athletes. With minimal distance between athletes coming out of T1, a huge pack formed on the bike. For the entirety of the cycling segment, major breakaways, and a giant lead group of athletes entered T2. In the early stages of the run, a 4-man group consisting of Jonas Schomburg, Jelle Geens, Kristian Blummenfelt and Alex Yee initiated a breakaway. The group eventually settled down to just Blummenfelt and Geens in the final lap, with Yee and Morgan Pearson battling for the bronze medal. The race was won by Blummenfelt, who unleashed a final surge to take the gold ahead of Geens. Pearson closed out the top 3, climbing 35 places on the run to secure his first WTCS podium and a spot at the Olympics.
Women
Although the first lap of the swim was primarily dominated by Portuguese athlete Helena Carvalho, it was Summer Rappaport who ultimately finished the swim first with Carvalho close behind. Initially, a group of 10 athletes left T1 together to head out on the first lap of the bike, which soon grew to a 15-athlete pack. However, the focus of the race shifted to Maya Kingma and 2018 U23 World Champion Taylor Knibb, who broke away from the rest of the athletes and built a lead over the course of the first few kilometers. Their lead over the peloton increased every lap, eventually granting them a 2-minute advantage over the rest of the athletes in the field. The remainder of the race was dominated by Knibb, while Summer Rappaport overtook Kingma in the final lap to secure the silver medal. Knibb guaranteed her spot at the Olympics with her win, while Kingma secured her first WTCS podium of her career.
Leeds
The second race of the races was held in Leeds on a standard-distance course. Athletes started by completing two 750m laps in the lake at Roundhay Park before heading on the bike, which consisted of nine laps of 4.21 km each for a total distance of 37.9 km. Unlike previous years, when the bike course lead athletes to the second transition area at the Leeds city center, the 2021 course had a single transition area in the park. The run started with an 800m connection followed by four 2.3 km laps for a total distance of 10 km.
Men
Kristian Blummenfelt wore the number one as the series leader and placed himself in the starting to the left of the pontoon, setting himself up for what should have been the shortest path to the first buoy. However, he ended up in a group that swam slightly off course and subsequently lost time. Alistair Brownlee was charged with a ducking penalty during an incident between him and American Chase McQueen, leading to his disqualification. Richard Varga was also disqualified during the swim for not taking the correct path around a buoy. The initial stages of the bike were dominated by a group of eight athletes, which grew to 21 by the third lap. A few athletes made attempts to break away from the lead pack to no avail, retaining 15-20 second gaps over the group before the leads diminished. Although the competitors were clustered together for the first part of the run, Alex Yee broke away and maintained a lead for the rest of the race. With a run split of 29:46, Yee earned his first WTCS win, 25 seconds ahead of Morgan Pearson; and the final podium spot was claimed by Marten Van Riel.
Women
3-time Ironman World Championship runner-up Lucy Charles-Barclay made her professional short course debut at Leeds, eventually leading the race at the conclusion of the swim segment. She was joined by athletes including Maya Kingma, Jessica Learmonth and Sophie Coldwell, forming a pack of six athletes with a lead of 30 seconds over the rest of the field. The lead group soon whittled down to Kingma, Learmonth and Coldwell, whose lead increased to nearly 90 seconds over the rest of the second pack after the third lap. The gap between the groups kept steadily increasing over the course of the bike, eventually growing to 2 minutes by the end of the bike. Kingma and Learmonth remained close to each other after T2 while Coldwell dropped back, eventually securing a third-place finish. The two leaders remained neck-and-neck until the final 500m, where Kingma broke away uncontested to secure her first WTCS victory, while Learmonth claimed the silver medal.
Tokyo
The triathlon events for the 2020 Summer Olympics took place at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo. The men's and women's events would be held over a standard-distance course, starting with a 1500m swim consisting of two laps of 950m and 550m each. The 40 km bike was held over eight laps of 5 km each, with multiple 90- and 180-degree turns on every lap. The race concluded with a four-lap course of 2.5 km per lap, finishing right next to the transition area.
The mixed relay event made its Olympic debut at Tokyo, following a female-male-female-male format. Each athlete swam 300m, biked two 3.4 km laps for 6.8 km total, and ran 2 km before handing off to the next athlete or finishing.
Men
The first triathlon event of the Olympics began with an invalid start caused by a media boat blocking some of the competitors. Approximately 51 athletes dove in before being called back to restart. At the end of the first lap of the swim, Vincent Luis held the lead and continued to do so for the last 550m. A pack of five athletes lead the race exiting T1, eventually growing to nine. Halfway into the race, the chase pack caught up with the leaders, with only 10 seconds separating the top 39 athletes. Andrea Salvisberg broke away from the pack and held a 20-second lead over the peloton with one lap to go, though the lead decreased to 14 seconds after T2. Alex Yee soon took control of the race, followed closely by Hayden Wilde and Kristian Blummenfelt. In the final lap it came down to Yee and Blummenfelt, the latter laying down one final sprint with 1 km to go to secure the Olympic title. Yee finished 11 seconds later, with Wilde closing out the podium.
Women
In the hours leading up to the race, heavy rain remained a challenge for the athletes, eventually letting up to a drizzle at the start of the race. Right from the start of the race, Jessica Learmonth held a lead over the rest of the field and maintained it for the rest of the swim. She was joined by six other athletes, forming a pack that had a 60-second lead over the 14-athlete peloton at the end of the first lap. The lead group maintained their gap over the chasers, gradually decreasing in size until the end of the bike segment, with four athletes leading the race to start the run. Flora Duffy separated herself from the rest of the field within the first kilometer, while Georgia Taylor-Brown- who slowed down from a flat tire at the end of the bike- eventually made her way back to the top 3. At the halfway mark Katie Zaferes and Taylor-Brown battled for the silver medal, still 47 seconds behind Duffy. In the end it was Taylor-Brown who claimed the second place spot over Zaferes, while Duffy finished with a 74-second gap to secure the first-ever gold medal for Bermuda.
Mixed relay