There has already been movement on the planned schedule for international triathlon in 2024. The first stops of the WTCS and World Cup schedules for next year were announced in September. In the weeks since, new races have been added while previously fixed dates have been changed.
World Triathlon have confirmed that WTCS Abu Dhabi has been moved back by a week. It was originally slated to take place between 2-3 March next year. Now it will occur on 8-9 March.
As a result, the new Abu Dhabi date will clash with the original plan for the New Plymouth World Cup. However, in another change, Napier will be hosting the event instead of New Plymouth with the race being moved to February. The event will now take place on 24-25 February.
Napier will also be host to a World Mixed Team Relay Series event. In a slightly unusual turn, the relay will run alongside a World Cup rather than a WTCS weekend. The addition of the Napier relay, though, offers countries a second opportunity to accrue relay ranking points ahead of the Mixed Team Relay Qualification Event in Huatulco in May.
The second relay event before Huatulco will be in Abu Dhabi, as originally planned, alongside the WTCS stop.
After Huatulco, the relay stops in Hamburg and Montreal remain unchanged. The rest of the WTCS calendar likewise has no further changes and so the current schedule therefore looks as follows:
- 2-3 March – WTCS Abu Dhabi, UAE (Sprint)
- 11 May – WTCS Yokohama, JPN (Olympic)
- 25-26 May – WTCS Cagliari, ITA (Olympic)
- 13-14 July – WTCS Hamburg, GER (Sprint)
- 14-15 September – WTCS Montreal, CAN (Sprint)
- 17-20 October – WTCS Final Malaga, ESP (Olympic)
The six-stop schedule is balanced with three Sprint events and three Olympic distance events while the Cagliari stop will mark the final event of the Olympic Qualification window.
Meanwhile, further alterations are also afoot in the World Cup calendar.
Hong Kong will make its debut on the circuit on 23-24 March. The city has been a regular host of Asia Cup races and has previously hosted the Asian Youth and Junior Championships. In addition, Australia will host its first World Cup since 2020. Whereas Mooloolaba was a previous fixture on the circuit, Wollongong will be hosting the event in 2024.
In 2023, a World Cup was originally scheduled to take place in Busselton however that was scrapped and the event was downgraded to an Oceania Cup. In 2024, the Wollongong event will take place on 20-21 April.
Both the Hong Kong and Wollongong events will be contested over the Sprint distance.
Three 2023 World Cup hosts have also been confirmed to return in 2024. The iconic Tiszaujvaros event will take place in its standard July window. The two-day semi-final/final affair will kick off on 6 July and finish on 7 July.
After hosting an Olympic distance World Cup in October, Chengdu will also be on the schedule next year. The Chinese city will host an Olympic distance race on 29 April. The inclusion of the Wollongong and Chengdu events notably offer two more chances for athletes to score points towards their Olympic qualification rankings ahead of the end of May deadline.
Another Chinese city, Weihai, is back too. Weihai hosted an Olympic distance World Cup in August this year and in 2024 it will take on a race of the same distance on 27 September.
The latest World Cup calendar therefore looks as follows:
- 24-25 February – Napier (NZL) – Sprint
- 23-24 March – Hong Kong (HKG) – Sprint
- 30 March – Lievin (FRA) – Indoor
- 20-21 April – Wollongong (AUS) – Sprint
- 29 April – Chengdu (CHI) – Olympic
- 17-19 May – Samarkand (UZB) – Olympic
- 17-19 May – Huatulco (MEX) – Sprint
- 6-7 July – Tiszaujvaros (HUN) – Sprint (Semi-final/final)
- 7-8 September – Karlovy Vary (CZE) – Olympic
- 21-22 September – Valencia (ESP) – Sprint
- 27 September – Weihai (CHN) – Olympic
- 5-6 October – Rome (ITA) – Sprint
- 12-13 October – Tangier (MAR) – Sprint
- 26-27 October – Brasilia (BRA) – Olympic
- 2-3 November – Vina del Mar (CHI) – Sprint
- 9-10 November – Miyazaki (JPN) – Sprint
Finally, the Hungarian city of Tata has also been confirmed as the host of a World Para Cup event in 2024. The competition will take place on 13-14 July.
