Canada’s best headed to the World Champs in Edmonton

Canada has named four elites, five paratriathletes, six U23’s and six juniors athletes to compete in Edmonton on August 25-31. Led by World Triathlon Series and Commonwealth Games medallist, Kirsten Sweetland, Triathlon Canada named two men and two women, who will compete in the Grand Final. In addition, five athletes will hit the start line for paratriathlon races and six in each of the under-23 and junior races as Alberta’s capital city readies itself to welcome the world on a course that is centred at Hawrelak Park and winds itself around Edmonton’s river valley.

 

Thousands of international visitors will descend in Edmonton, including more than 4,000 athletes consisting of all abilities – from rising phenoms to established veterans, Olympic medallists to weekend warriors. The World Triathlon Grand Final will showcase standard and sprint distance age group races, as well as an aquathlon, under-23, junior and mixed relay world championship.

 

The following is a list of Canadians who will compete in high-performance races:

 

ITU WORLD TRIATHLON SERIES GRAND FINAL

Elite Women

Kirsten Sweetland (Victoria) – Sweetland has enjoyed a breakthrough season winning her first World Triathlon Series medal when she was third in Hamburg, Germany. She followed the performance up by becoming the third Canadian ever to podium at the Commonwealth Games when she won the silver medal in Glasgow, Scotland.

Sarah-Anne Brault (Quebec City) – Ranked seventh on the ITU World Triathlon Series, the 24 year old has two top-10 finishes including a fourth-place result in Yokohama, Japan.

 

Elite Men

Kyle Jones (Oakville, Ont.) – The veteran of the Canadian squad, Jones is a 29-year-old Olympian that captured both of his World Cup medals on the Edmonton course. Jones’ top finish on the World Triathlon Series came in 2012 when he was sixth at the Grand Final in New Zealand.

Andrew Yorke (Caledon, Ont.) – Yorke is coming off a breakthrough performance where he was fourth at the recent Commonwealth Games. The 25 year old has enjoyed the best season of his young career, putting down a 15th place finish on the World Triathlon Series in Yokohama, Japan.

 

 

ITU PARATRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS   

Elite Women

Chantal Denholm – PT-4 Class (Winnipeg) – a fourth-place finisher at the 2013 Paratriathlon World Championships, Denholm has two silver medals in three races this year on the ITU CanAm Series.

Christine Robbins –  PT-5 Class (Ottawa) – competing in her first full season of elite paratriathlon racing, Robbins has racked up three silver medals in as many starts in the women’s visually impaired category.

Elite Men

David Blair – PT-5 Class (Ottawa) – a rookie on Canada’s World Championships paratriathlon squad, Blair has a silver and bronze medal in three starts this year. Blair was a member of Canada’s Paralympic rowing squad in 2012.

Stefan Daniel – PT-4 Class (Calgary) – a bronze-medal finisher at the 2013 World Championships, the 17-year-old Daniel has remained unbeaten in 2014 with three gold medals in the CanAm Series.

Ryan Van Praet – PT-5 Class (Chatham, Ont.) – Van Praet will make his third appearance at the Paratriathlon World Championships. Racing in the visually impaired category, Van Praet has one bronze medal in 2014.

 

ITU UNDER-23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS  

Women

Joanna Brown (Carp, Ont.)

Dominika Jamnicky (Guelph, Ont.)

Amelie Kretz (Blainville, Que.)

 

Men

Alexander Hinton (Kingston, Ont.)

Alexis Lepage (Quebec City)

Tyler Mislawchuk (Oak Bluff, Man)

 

ITU JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS  

*Juniors earned spots based on performance results on the 2014 National Junior Series

Girls

Elisabeth Boutin (Les Cedres, Que.)

Emy Legault, (Ile Perrot, Que.) – Canadian Junior Champion

Kirsten Vergara, (Toronto)

 

Boys

Jeremy Briand (Saint-Julie, Que.)

Xavier Grenier-Talavera (Vaudreuil, Que.)

Russell Pennock (Calgary) – Canadian Champion

 

 

SCHEDULE: (all times local to Edmonton)

COMPLETE SCHEDULE: https://edmonton.triathlon.org/event_info/schedule/event_schedule

 

Thursday, August 28

Junior Women – 8 a.m.

Junior Men – 10 a.m.

Under-23 Women – 12 noon

Under-23 Men – 3 p.m.

 

Friday, August 29

Junior Women Championship – 3 p.m.

Junior Men Championship – 5:15 p.m.

 

Saturday, August 30

Under-23 Men Championship – 8:45 a.m.

Elite Women Grand Final – 12 noon

Elite Paratriathlon Championship – 3:30 p.m.

 

Sunday, August 31

Elite Men Championship – 12 noon

Under-23 Women Championship – 3:45 p.m.

 

Monday, September 1

Under-23/Junior Mixed Relay World Championship – 2 p.m.

For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us atwww.triathloncanada.com on the Internet.