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Everything you need to know about Super League Triathlon Malibu

Lucy Charles-Barclay, Flora Duffy, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden all added to Malibu field

Photo by: Super League Triathlon

The month-long racing extravaganza around the world comes to an end this weekend in Malibu, California as the Super League Triathlon Championship Series finishes with a bang. This weekend’s racing promises to be even more exciting than the other events in the series because there’s even more on the line – five men are in the hunt for the overall title, while Jessica Learmonth, despite winning the first three legs of the series in London, Munich and Jersey, could still find herself pipped for the overall win.

Lucy Charles-Barclay has been given a wild card slot for the race in Malibu. Photo: Jordan Bryden

New additions:

It was announced yesterday that Olympic champions Flora Duffy (BER) and Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), along with Ironman 70.3 world champions Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) and Gustav Iden (NOR) have been given wild card entries for this weekend’s racing.

Kristian Blumenfelt competes at Super League Malta. Photo: Super League Triathlon

How much:

There’s a total of US$1.25 million up for grabs in the entire Super League Championship series this year.

At each event the top 10 men and women receive:

  1. $20,000
  2. $15,000
  3. $10,000
  4. $6,000
  5. $5,000
  6. $3,500
  7. $3,000
  8. $2,500
  9. $2,000
  10. $1,500

The overall Championship winners receive:

  1. $50,000
  2. $35,000
  3. $25,000
  4. $15,000
  5. $10,000

There are also discipline prize pools with the overall series leaders (male and female) for the swim, bike and run each receiving $20,000.

Then there is also prize money for the SLT Teams overall winners:

  1. $120,000
  2. $80,000
  3. $60,000
  4. $40,000
  5. $20,000
Jessica Learmonth at Super League Triathlon Munich. (Photo: Petko Beier/SuperLeague)

Who can win:

As we mentioned, Great Britain’s Jessica Learmonth has won the first three stages of the Championship series and leads the standings with 45 points. Second to her in all three races was countrywoman Georgia Taylor-Brown – she has 42 points. To overtake Learmonth, Taylor-Brown needs to beat her Learmonth by two places. The addition of Duffy and Charles-Barclay makes that much more of a possibility. The final spot on the podium will be decided between Brits Vicky Holland and Beth Potter, along with American Katie Zaferes – all three of them have 33 points. They can’t contend for the first two spots on the podium, but the first of those three across the line will round out the podium.

In the men’s race Jonathan Brownlee leads the standings with 41 points, one ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde and two up on Alex Yee (GBR). France’s Vincent Luis sits in fourth with 37 points. Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca could possibly win the overall title, but he’d have to win the race and Brownlee and Wilde would have to finish no higher than fifth. As long as Brownlee finishes ahead of Wilde and Yee and no further than one spot behind Luis, he can take the title. Wilde is in the same boat – as long as he beats Brownlee and Yee and isn’t further than one spot behind Luis, he can win the overall title, too. Yee needs to beat all of the contenders to take the win, while Luis needs to beat Yee and be at least two spots ahead of Brownlee and Wilde.

Simple math, right?

Katie Zaferes at Super League Triathlon Munich (Photo: Jesper Gronnemark/SuperLeague)

Race format:

This weekend’s race will be an “Eliminator.” There are three rounds of 300 m swim, 1.2 km bike and 1.6 km run with a two-minute break in between. Athletes are “eliminated” in each leg of the race, making positioning critical. The last athlete after the bike and the last athlete after each of the two laps of the run in each of the three races are out. Then, to add to the excitement (or bedlam, hard to say), there are two “Short Chutes” (basically short cuts) that can be won – one for the fastest swimmer (and transition) in the first leg and the second for the first biker to finish the opening bike leg and transition.

When:

The women’s race goes at 1:30 pm local time (4:30 pm EST), while the men’s race goes at 2:45 pm (5:45 pm EST).

How to watch:

Click here for the broadcast details on the race. While the website says that it will be available for streaming on FloTrack, it should also be available on the Super League Triathlon YouTube channel, too.