Why is Gwen Jorgensen racing in Cuba this weekend?

This weekend marks the beginning of the World Cup season in Napier, New Zealand, but there’s also a race here in North America that features one of the biggest names in the sport – 2016 Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen.

Jorgensen is starting her 2024 season at the Americas Triathlon Cup La Habana in Cuba on Sunday. The race will serve as both a tune up for the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Abu Dhabi, and also a chance to earn some valuable points as she continues her drive to make the American team for Paris.

“It’s an Olympic-distance Conti-cup,” Jorgensen said of the race in a video posted earlier today. “I’m excited to go because I’ve had a warm welcome and I’m not even there yet.” (The Cuban national coach has already reached out to welcome Jorgensen to the race.)

“I don’t know much about the course, but I’m excited to go and give it a crack,” she continued.

The video outlines a “day in the life” of the busy mom as she continues her quest to make the US Olympic team and compete at a third Olympics. Jorgensen had only been competing as a triathlete for a few years before she competed at the 2012 Games in London. After winning the gold medal in Rio four years later, Jorgensen turned her sights to running. While she competed in the Olympic trials for Tokyo, a slew of injuries hampered her efforts to represent the US as a runner. In December, 2022 Jorgensen announced that she would be trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics as a triathlete.

Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen returns to triathlon for run at Paris Games

Jorgensen’s return to triathlon racing hasn’t been an easy journey – she had her “worst race ever” at WTCS Cagliari in May, but surged back into the Olympic qualifying picture with a pair of World Cup wins in Valencia and Karly Vary a week apart in September. She had a rough go at the Championship Finals in Pontevedra (43rd), but followed that up with a win at the World Triathlon Cup Tongyeong, a runner-up finish at the World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki and a final win at the World Triathlon Cup Vina del Mar. (Although that win came after fellow American Katie Zaferes and the Czech Republic’s Tereza Zimovjanova were DQ’d for going off course.)

Jorgensen will look to continue her impressive podium run with a win this weekend in Cuba – she arrives at the race as the prohibitive favourite. The race in Cuba, though, provides an excellent opportunity to both see how her training is going as she gears up for what will be a much more competitive outing in Abu Dhabi and to see how her heat acclimation program is going. (In the video Jorgensen refers to spending time in the sauna – no doubt part of that heat adaptation program.

Olympic qualifying

There are two women’s spots available for the US team – only Taylor Knibb has earned one of the automatic qualifying spots thanks to her sixth-place finish at the Paris Test Event last year. A top-three finish at WTCS Yokohama will nail a qualifying slot (as will a top-eight finish if no American’s finish on the podium). If there’s still a spot that hasn’t been filled through that criteria, the final spot will be decided through a discretionary committee.

Jorgensen currently sits 40th on the Individual Olympic Qualification ranking and is the sixth American. Just to ensure she gets an entry at the Yokohama race, she’ll want to improve that ranking, which is why heading to Cuba this weekend makes a lot of sense. Even though there aren’t that many points on the line, there are some, and if she ends up better prepared for Abu Dhabi, all the better.

You can see the full women’s entry list for the race in Cuba here, and the men’s entry list here.