9 Countries guaranteed two men and women qualifiers for Paris Olympics … Canada not one of them
Countries nail down Olympic spots through relay rankings
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
March 25, 2024 was an important day for triathlon national governing bodies – it marked the first “concrete qualification milestone on the path to Paris 2024,” according to World Triathlon. Nine teams have been confirmed for the mixed relay at the Olympics, which means that each national federation is guaranteed to be able to send two men and two women to the Games.
According to the Olympic qualification criteria, the top six countries in the mixed relay ranking earn the spots. Those spots roll down from the automatic qualifiers – France as the host nation, Great Britain (second to France at the 2022 Mixed Relay World Championships) and Germany (2023 world champions). Those three teams were all in the top three of the rankings (Great Britain leads followed by Germany and France). The next six teams in the ranking are:
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Switzerland
- United States
- Italy
- Portugal
You can see the full World Triathlon Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification Rankings here.
While Canada currently sits at 18th in the ranking, there’s a good chance that the country will still qualify a team for Paris based on qualifying two men and two women through the individual rankings. (That’s how the team qualified for the Mixed Relay in Tokyo.)
Huatulco Qualifying Event
All the teams that have secured their spot for Paris won’t be allowed got compete in the 2024 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification Event in Huatulco, Mexico on May 17. The top two teams from that race will get two spots per gender for the Games in Paris, too.
NGBs allocate slots
While an athlete might have earned a country’s spot for Paris, that doesn’t guarantee they will go to the Games. The United States, for example, has only named two athletes to its team – Taylor Knibb and Morgan Pearson. The American team will certainly include three women based on the current rankings. There’s one more automatic qualifier for the US team (WTCS Yokohama) and, if there are still slots available the spots will be decided by a committee. While the committee will certainly take rankings into account, they’re not bound by that, and could send an athlete who is lower in the rankings if they feel that athlete will perform better in Paris.