Published August 14, 2014 12:45PM
Rising Triathlon Stars Set To Compete At Youth Olympics
The second Youth Olympic Games kick off this Saturday Aug. 16, in Nanjing China and triathlon will make its second appearance on the program.
Photo: Triathlon.org
The second Youth Olympic Games kick off this Saturday Aug. 16, in Nanjing China and triathlon will make its second appearance on the program. Each field has 32 of the sport’s most talented participants on the start list, representing 32 different National Olympic Committees. The women’s race will be held on Sunday, Aug. 17, while the men will compete on Monday, the 18th. Mixed Relay will be held three days later on the 21st.
See a preview from Triathlon.org below:
Women’s Preview
In the women’s competition, South Africa’s Jayme-Sue Vermaas will wear the No.1 in Nanjing, she is the current African junior women’s cross triathlon champion and finished second in the junior women’s African championships this year. Her entire family competes in triathlon & their living is even outfitted with training gear! In Nanjing, Australia will be represented by Brittany Dutton, whose training partners include Glasgow Commonwealth Games representatives Emma Jackson and Dan Wilson. In a field that will be tightly contested, the USA’s Stephanie Jenks is also one to watch. With a background in middle-distance track running, Jenks secured her spot in Nanjing with a 17:11 five-kilometer run split. Ukraine’s Sofiya Pryyma is experienced on the European junior women’s circuit, having raced there since 2011, and Europe will feature a very strong field.
Men’s Preview
New Zealand are the reigning Youth Olympic champions in the men’s competition and Kiwi Daniel Hoy will be wearing the No.1. One event where many of the European competitors clashed was in Weert, in a YOG qualifier. Great Britain’s Ben Dijkstrae came out on top in that field, with Russia’s Dmitry Efimov picking up the silver medal there and Germany’s Peer Sönksen collecting bronze. But Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez Garcia, Denmark’s Emil Deleuran Hansen, Austria’s Philip Horwarth, Hungary’s Bence Lehmann and Belgium’s Romain Loop also finished in the top 10 at that event. The USA will be represented by Seth Rider, who won the PATCO YOG qualifier in Monterrey earlier in 2014.
Mixed Relay format
With each NOC having just one female and male athlete competing in the Youth Olympic Games event, the Mixed Relay takes on an exciting multicultural format. Teams are formed by continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania and World). There may be several teams per continent, i.e. Europe 1, Europe 2, etc. Each team is composed of two women and two men. Each athlete competes all three segments (swim, bike, run) before the relay is passed on to the next team member. Composition of teams is based on the results of the individual competitions. Team 1 will be composed of the first ranked woman, first ranked man, second ranked woman and second ranked man for that continent. The remaining athletes will go into a world team. Start order within each team will be announced at the briefing to take place two days before the relay competition.
Live Coverage
Live text coverage from Nanjing will be available at @triathlonlive on Twitter. Live and on-demand coverage of the action can also be watched through the IOC’s global digital platforms: Olympic.tv, Olympic.org and Youtube.com/olympics. Not near a TV or computer? Not a problem – the Olympic TV app has you covered. Download the Olympic TV app for your iOS and Android handhelds so you won’t miss a minute of the competition.
The Course
The venue for the triathlon competition is Xuanwu Lake. The lake is in downtown Nanjing and was also known as Sang Lake or Hou Lake in ancient China. It is over 1500 years old and is the largest imperial lake garden in China, often praised as the “shining pearl of Jinling (another name for Nanjing)”. The men’s and women’s competitions will be contested over a 750m swim in open water, a 20km bike, and a 5km run. In the 4x Mixed Relay event, each competitor will complete a 250m swim in open water, a 6.6km bike and a 1.8km run.