The mix of power and speed of the Triathlon Mixed Relay will take once again the stage, with 15 teams lining up this Sunday afternoon in the Hamburg city center for the 2021 Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon Championship Series Mixed Relay. A combination of new faces and well-known names will perform on the usual Hamburg 300m swim, 7km bike and 1.7km run course of pure drama all the way to the tape.
With final line-ups not confirmed until Sunday morning, two hours before the start of the race, expect a lot of new faces lining up and teams making their debut in the format that thrilled fans and athletes on its Olympic debut in Tokyo only weeks ago. And with current World Champion France and current Olympic Champion Great Britain lining up a completely different team on this occasion, the race is more open than ever.
It is likely that all eyes will be set this Sunday on Team Germany. The local heroes have a large pool of athletes to select their Relay members, with Laura Lindeman likely leading the females and Jonas Schomburg the male. But there is a total of 15 Germans competing this weekend in Hamburg, and some of them have proven experience in the short and explosive format, like Anabel Knoll, Nina Eim or Lasse Nygaard-Priester. The Germans have been on the Mixed Relay podium in Hamburg already four times, and won’t be easy to beat this Sunday.
Wearing number one will be Team USA, current Olympic silver medallists and World Champions, and that will have as well multiple options to choose their final team composition, including a mix of experienced and young upcoming athletes. Summer Rappaport, Kirsten Kasper, Erika Ackerlund, Kyleigh Spearing, Chase Mcqueen, Seth Rider, Darr Smith and Austin Hintman will try to repeat the success they had a month ago in Montreal, where a magnificent last leg by Mcqueen was worth the Mixed Relay gold medal.
Knowing that explosive power is the key to success in this format, the Kiwis are once again displaying a young team full of talent, including 2018 Buenos Aires Youth games champion Dylan McCullough, along with Trent Thorpe, Saxon Morgan, Nicole Van Der Kaay and Ainsley Thorpe that will be among the ones to keep an eye on. Also a young and talented squad will be lining up for team GB, with Olivia Mathias, Kate Waugh, Sian Rainsley or Gordon Benson among the ones eligible to race this Sunday.
The Italians have Alice Betto and Verena Steinhauser from their Olympic team competing in Hamburg, but that will bring an extra gear for the young team. Australia, with Natalie Van Coevorden, Emma Jackson, Brandon Copeland and Marcel Walkinson can also never be discharged.
Teams from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and Denmark will all be eager to make an impact across the powerful format, all of them including some rising stars of the sport on their line ups.
The Mixed Relay will get underway on Sunday at 14.30pm CEST, and you can follow all the action on triathlonLIVE.tv
