Taylor Spivey eyes first WTCS victory in Montreal

The action on the blue carpet returns this weekend with the fourth stop of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Montreal. Full start lists that include Olympic and World Champions will be bringing a magic spectacle to the streets of the Canadian city for a fast and furious Sprint race on Saturday followed by a Mixed Relay on Sunday. Everything is ready for the 7th edition of the Groupe Coplay World Triathlon, the only North American leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series.

The Elite women will be the first ones to toe the start line, on Saturday, June 24, at 11.30am local time, for a 750m swim in the calm water of the Old Port, to then jump on their bikes for a 20km bike ride in six laps of 3.6 km each, to round-up the day with a 5km run along the same route as the bike course from the Grand Quai to de la Commune and McGill Streets, and back to the Grand Quai, where the finish line is waiting for the athletes.

Wearing the golden number 1 reserved for the current World Triathlon Series Leader will be USA’s Taylor Spivey, who has had a solid season so far, grabbing a bronze medal in WTCS Abu Dhabi and WTCS Cagliari and finishing in fourth place in WTCS Yokohama, but the American is looking for what would be her first ever Series win, an achievement that seems to be quite elusive for her. Spivey one of the strongest USA team lining up alongside her in Montreal, with Taylor Knibb, Summer Rappaport, Kirsten Kasper and Erika Ackerlund also wearing the stars and stripes uniform.

Knibb, whose power on the bike is always impressive, already knows what it takes to be on the podium in Montreal, and after her solid victory on the 70.3 Boulder only two weeks ago, and signing for the Trek Cycling Team, is eager to prove that she also is in contention for the Olympic cycle that will finish in Paris next summer.

But the women’s field in Montreal is stacked with talent and horsepower. The British team is lining their best medal hopefuls in Montreal, with Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sophie Coldwell and Beth Potter all ready to race this weekend, and each one of them having one one of the three previous stages of the Series this season. While Coldwell decided to skip Cagliari to focus on a long training period ahead of Montreal, Potter and Taylor-Brown have been training in Europe at altitude in the lead up to this race, and the three of them seem to be in great form.

While for the American’s and British women Montreal seems to be an important step on their path to the Olympic Test Event in Paris this summer, the French athletes have decided to skip this race to focus on preparations for the last events of the season. The only exception from the French Army is Leonie Periault, who finished in fifth place in Montreal last year and is looking forward to some redemption after some disappointing races at the beginning of this year.

Another one to keep an eye on will be the reigning European Champion, Jeanne Lehair (LUX), who has had an impressive season so far, with a 12th place in Yokohama and a top 5 in Cagliari. Her run seems to be top-notch, and it will be interesting to see how she performs on a Sprint distance race.

Montreal is always a great venue for the fast swimmers like Vittoria Lopes (BRA), Zsanett Bragmayer (HUN) or Summer Rappaport (USA), but the long and steep run to the first transition can be challenging to maintain a gap on the lead.

But the podium fight will be ferocious considering the fast runners that are lining up this Saturday. Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX) lands in Montreal after her second place in Yokohama and a fourth place in Huatulco World Cup last weekend, and alongside her will be her teammate Lizeth Rueda Santos, also incredibly fast in Huatulco. Laura Lindemann (GER), Lena Meissner (GER), Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) or Luisa Baptista (BRA) can never be discharged when it comes to a fast run.

And enjoying the cheers of the local crowds will be Amelie Kretz, Dominika Jamnicky and Emy Legault (CAN), all of them on track to secure some valuable Olympic qualification ranking points.

You can check the full start list here. And remember that the race will be streamed LIVE and on demand on TriathlonLIVE.tv.