Triathlon News & Notes: Xterra's on the Move, Bermuda to Host World Tri Race, and More

XTERRA World Champs moving on

After 25 years of hosting its triathlon world championships on Maui, XTERRA is packing up and moving to Trentino, Italy. Set for October 2022, the move reflects XTERRA’s plan to rotate the championships around the world. “This will allow our wonderful sport to reach uncharted territories, welcome new warriors into our global community, and provide a wide variety of unique endurance challenges to our athletes from around the world,” said J-D Cousens, XTERRA vice president of operations & global marketing, in a statement. The 2022 event, tucked in Italy’s Brenta Dolomites, is slated for Oct. 1-2.

Collegiate triathlete shines on the indoor track

Davis Bove, the 2019 USAT junior elite national champ, has been competing at a high level of triathlon since he was 16. But lately, he’s been making waves in indoor track; most recently clocking a time of 3:56.38 in the mile at the Music City Challenge at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility last week. Bove, a junior at LSU, broke his own school record in the mile race; just 24 hours before, he ran another PR of 7:55.95 in the 3,000m. In December, Bove traveled to Ecuador to compete at the Americas Cup Salinas triathlon, managing to finish 17th (with the fastest 5K split by 33 seconds) despite a flat tire on the bike. 

Richard Murray to compete for The Netherlands 

The South African Olympian will now be representing the Netherlands, he posted earlier this week. The 33-year-old married Dutch triathlete and Olympian Rachel Klamer last year, and has officially changed his representation as he works to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “Will always stay Richard. But just a much more Dutch version of myself,” he wrote. Murray, who underwent heart surgery to correct his atrial fibrillation in June, won the Blue Lagoon sprint triathlon in Langebaan, South Africa last weekend. 

Super League Triathlon doc released on YouTube

Cue this up for your next trainer ride: The first second of Every Second Counts, a documentary series from Super League Triathlon, is now available on YouTube. The doc follows Brits Jonny Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Alex Yee, and Jess Learmonth as they take on the first race of the series in London. You’ll hear first-person accounts from each athlete as they reflect on the London race, which offers enough suspense to keep you engaged even if you know the outcome. There are four episodes in all; number two drops on Feb. 22. 

Bermuda back on to host WTS race 

Bermuda may have missed out on its chance to host the World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships this past October due to COVID-19, but the tiny island nation is on tap to serve as the site for a leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series in early November now. The two-day event will include elite, junior, and age-group individual and mixed relay  races.

Podcast Notes

• On the Triathlete Hour, host and Triathlete editor-in-chief Kelly O’Mara brings on her husband, Steve O’Mara, to discuss his experience with a traumatic brain injury following a bike crash and his journey to becoming a top cross-country skier.
• The Cooldown has on Paula Findlay, who gets candid about her rocky past in triathlon as well as how she’s found her happy place in triathlon.
• Paula shares more about her Olympic experience on her podcast That Triathlon Life, where she and her co-hosts offer their takes on the Beijing winter games.
• Flora Duffy heads to IronWomen, where the Olympic gold medalist talks about life before and after the Games.
• Skye Moench checks in with ProTriNews; and the hosts offer a preview for Ironman 70.3 Geelong.
• Greg Bennett brings back Dr. Tommy Wood, an assistant professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington, to talk all things mental health and how it relates to triathlon.
• Get Fast Podcast chats with 57-year-old Anna Davis, who recently broke her own age-group world record in the 1-hour cycling time trial around an indoor track in an hour.
• Danish stars Magnus Ditlev and Daniel Baekkegard are featured on The MX Endurance Podcast to talk about how they’re working to make Denmark the next triathlon powerhouse. 

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