Grand Final Chicago Schedule

The men’s and women’s elite world championship titles will be decided this week at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago, but those are hardly the only racing that will be taking place in the windy city. The weekend’s events also include age group sprint and standard distance, junior and U23 world championship races, along with men’s and women’s aquathlon events, which take place today.

In Friday’s elite women’s race look for Gwen Jorgensen to retain her world title on home soil after an undefeated season. But she’ll have to contend with her own compatriot Katie Zaferes, who sits just 300 points behind her in the overall standings. Canadian women in that field include: Amelie Kretz, Sarah-Anne Brault and Kirsten Sweetland.

Saturday sees the men’s race, where Javier Gomez arrives as the pre-race favorite, but he’ll fight it out with his own Spanish teammate Mario Mola, as well as Frenchman Vincent Luis and South African Richard Murray for the men’s title. If Gomez can hold on to his top ranking, he’ll become the first athlete ever to win five ITU World Championship Olympic-distance races. The Canadian men’s team competing is identical to the one that competed at the Pan Am Games this summer: Andrew Yorke, Tyler Mislawchuk and Kyle Jones.

Other Canadian elite competitors this weekend include:

Junior men: Oliver Blecher, Charles Paquet and Michael Milic

Junior women: Emy Legault, Kyla Roy and Emily Wagner

U23 men: Xavier Grenier-Talavera, Russell Pennock, Taylor Forbes and Austen Forbes

U23 women: Dominika Jamnicky and Joanna Brown

Men’s PT4: Stefan Daniel

Women’s PT4: Chantal Givens

Women’s PT5: Christine Robbins

SCHEDULE:

Aquathon Men – September 16 – 10:00

Aquathon Women – September 16 – 10:05

Under23 Men – September 17 – 07:00

Age group sprint – September 17 – 10:00

Junior Men – September 17 – 16:30

Paratriathlon – September 18 – 07:00

Under23 Women – September 18 – 11:30

Junior Women – September 18 –  14:30

Elite Women – September 18 – 17:00

Age group standard – September 19 – 10:10

Elite Men – September 19 – 17:00

 With files from the ITU