In the week since the start lists for WTCS Cagliari were published, there have been a number of updates.
Several athletes that were originally on the wait list for the race have been bumped up onto the start list. Among them are Jacob Birtwhistle and Gustav Iden.
Although Birtwhistle won the Oceania Cup in Devonport earlier in the spring, he remains on the hunt for his top form. Iden, meanwhile, will be continuing his quest to make it to the Paris Olympic Games.
Charles Paquet also gets his shot at the WTCS level after a comprehensive win at the St. Peters Americas Cup last month.
Moreover the newly-crowned world duathlon champion, Mario Mola, will also now be racing in Cagliari. Another change to the Spanish team is that Genis Grau has been substituted in for Sergio Baxter Cabrera.
The Italian team will also have a third man take part as Nicolò Strada has been added.
Two of the American men originally due to race have withdrawn. Both Kevin Mcdowell and Chase McQueen will not be in Cagliari. In their place, Darr Smith will get his shot in the Series after being substituted in.
On the women’s side, Tanja Stroschneider will now be starting. At WTCS Bermuda last year, Stroschneider made her first WTCS start in over four years. She has since raced at WTCS Abu Dhabi where she finished 55th.
Tereza Zimovjanova has been added to the start list and will be making her first WTCS appearance since Bermuda. She will be joining her compatriot Petra Kurikova in Cagliari; Kurikova memorably won the Pontevedra World Cup last summer.
Alongside Stroschneider and Zimovjanova, Marta Pintanel Raymundo, Rani Skrabanja and Margareta Bicanova have been promoted from the wait list to the start list.
Pintantel will be joining her compatriot Miriam Casillas Garcia while Bicanova will have fellow Slovakian athlete Ivana Kuriackova for company. Skrabaja, meanwhile, will be the fourth Dutch woman on the start list alongside Maya Kingma, Rachel Klamer and Barbara De Koning.
Perhaps the most intriguing name to be added based on recent form is Tilda Månsson. After her recent 10km personal best, how she fares in Cagliari will be of significant interest.
Among the female athletes to drop out of Cagliari are Kate Waugh of Britain and Eva Daniels of Luxembourg.
