The final Continental Cups of the year may have just brought the curtain down on the 2023 season, but eyes are already turning to the 2024 campaign that is right around the corner. A packed preliminary Continental Cup calendar has been revealed, in addition to the WTCS and World Cup schedule, offering plenty of opportunities for athletes to boost their hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games.
The Asia Cup in Xiamen and African Cup in Kilifi concluded the current season but in less than three months the 2024 campaign will start with a bang.
A quadruple-header of races will launch proceedings on the weekend of 16/17 February with an Oceania Cup, Asia Cup, African Cup and Americas Cup all taking place concurrently.
Wanaka, New Zealand, will play host to the Oceania Cup; the full Oceania calendar has yet to be confirmed so expect more races to be added in the weeks after. Port Blair, India, will host an international race for the first time as it tackles the Asia Cup.
Troutbeck, Zimbabwe, takes its place on the African Cup circuit once more while La Guaira, Venezuela, the race that kicked off the 2023 season, will also feature on the opening weekend. La Guaira will also be the only Olympic distance race of the four events.
A week later, the first World Cup of the season will be served up in Napier, New Zealand. Alongside the Napier event, an African Cup in Sharm El Sheikh and an Americas Cup in La Habana will also take place.
A full-blooded start to the year is therefore on the cards, with plenty of races taking place in February alone.
With the first WTCS of the race season then around in the corner in March, as well as two further World Cups that same month, there will be no let up in the action.
Athletes will Olympic aspirations will have until the end of May to secure their berths. To that end, no fewer than twenty-four Continental Cups are on offer prior to the qualification deadline (with more likely to be added).
The Continental Cups will affect the world rankings and will thus have direct implications for the New Flag races. Meanwhile, the WTCS and World Cup events will affect both the world rankings as well as the Olympic qualification rankings.
While the Olympic qualification rankings are the more obvious goal for many, the importance of the world rankings should not be overlooked. The world rankings determine what races athletes can start. To get onto WTCS and World Cup start lists, Continental Cups could prove key.
Ivana Kuriackova successfully used a block of Continental Cup racing in 2023 to manufacture her return to the WTCS.
In the bigger picture, then, the Continental Cups could have far-reaching ramifications.
With regards to the calendar, March will contain five Continental Cups. The first weekend will see an Americas Cup in La Paz and an Africa Cup in Maselspoort take place. The penultimate weekend will then see the latest instalment of the famed Quarteira European Cup. Alongside Quarteira, the Swakopmund African Cup will return, as will the Vina del Mar Americas Cup.
April will have six Continental Cups, starting with the Nelson Mandela Bay African Cup on the 7th. The European Cup in Melilla is currently the only race scheduled for the following weekend, while the same is true for the Salinas Americas Cup on the weekend after that.
The final weekend in April will then contain another triple header. La Guaira returns with a second Americas Cup in conjunction with the South American Championships. The African Cup in Blue Bay and Asia Cup in Pokhara then complete the month.
Finally, May will have seven Continental Cup events. The opening two weekends of the month contain triple headers. Yasmine Hammamet (African Cup), Calima (Americas Cup) and Subic Bay (Asia Cup) will occur on the first weekend. Iquique (Americas Cup), Taizhou (Asia Cup) and Caorle (European Cup) will then take place on the second weekend.
The European Cup in Olsztyn on 25 May will then represent the final European Cup of the Olympic qualification window.
One race that will take place outside the hectic start of the season is the 2024 European Championships over the Olympic distance. Europe Triathlon revealed that their flagship event will take place in Vichy, France, in September.
After the 2023 edition turned into a duathlon, the organisers will no doubt hope for a smoother ride next year.
