World Triathlon made public a number of changes to the 2023 calendar overnight.
They come after the changes made in January that saw the addition of WTCS Cagliari and WTCS Montreal and the removal of the Bergen and Busselton World Cup events.
The first change to affect the season is that the Yeongdo World Cup, scheduled for 6/7 May, has been pushed into the second half of the year. At this point, the exact new timing of the Yeongdo World Cup is unknown.
It appears that the rationale for the change is so that Yeongdo can be included in the Second Period of Olympic Qualification. Athletes can score at twelve events in total across the First and Second Periods. Adding Yeongdo to the Second Period will thus change how some athletes approach it. The First Period ends on 26 May 2023.
One original benefit of the Yeongdo timing was that it fell a week before WTCS Yokohama. It therefore potentially offered athletes a racing opportunity and a change to acclimatise to the time zone before the second WTCS event of the season.
In other World Cup news, World Triathlon also announced an event in Brasilia to take place on 15 October. This adds to a crowded autumn schedule. Already, a World Cup in Chengdu is planned for 14 October. In the span of one weekend, then, athletes will be racing in World Cups on different continents.
Brazil has hosted nine World Cups in total, the last of which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2004.
A World Para Cup in Alhandra will also take place on the weekend of 7/8 October. This event will form a part of the qualification for the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Meanwhile, a Mixed Team Relay event has been added to the weekend of WTCS Sunderland. The WTCS race over the Sprint distance will take place on the Saturday while the relay will take place over the Sunday.
These racing changes add to a busy year for the athletes as they hunt Olympic qualification.
