At the recent African Cups in Maselspoort and Nelson Mandela Bay, there have been some good races. At the same time, though, there have been a couple of factors that have undermined the events.
These issues are organisational and do not detract from the performances of the athletes. After all, the athletes are showing up and putting their best foot forward. However, in light of the recent African Cups, it is clear that the events could benefit from some attention from World Triathlon going forward.
The first issue is small relatively speaking yet it serves as a metaphor for the wider problem at hand.
At the Nelson Mandela Bay race, Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland forgot his tri-suit. As a result, he raced wearing a South African suit that had been provided to him.
Is it harsh to disqualify an athlete for improper uniform? Maybe it is unfair to stop the athlete from racing after travelling so far.
At the recent WTCS Abu Dhabi, Gustav Iden was nearly disqualified for improper shoes. Now, there was no performance benefit to Salvisberg wearing the wrong kit in South Africa. However it made the sport look unprofessional.
At the elite level, the athletes are not age-groupers or kids. They are seasoned professionals. It was empathetic of the officials to cut Salvisberg some slack in South Africa but that would not have flown at the WTCS level. It is that discrepancy that is the problem.
It gives the Continental Cups an amateurish feel when the sport should be trying to hammer home how talented and professional the athletes are at every level.
A basic solution would be to have an ITU tri-suit, such as the one athlete wear when they are transitioning their nationality, available at every race. That would cover such eventualities. No one wants to be the rules police and there is not a great deal of sense in disqualifying athletes or preventing them from racing over something so minor. The point is greater care can be taken to make the event look less sloppy.
We then come to the broader issue and that is start lists.
It is important to clarify that this is not unique to African Cups. The point of this is not to single out African Cup events given the issue exists on practically every continent at different times in the year. Nevertheless, the issue has been a little more prevalent in African Cups.
Sixteen women started the Nelson Mandela Bay African Cup.
On a positive note, more women started at the Nelson Mandela Bay African Junior Cup than the Melilla European Junior Cup that ran on the same day. On the other hand, at this weekend’s Swakopmund African Junior Cup, only five women are slated to start. In addition, only two men are due to race the Junior event.
With essentially no one racing in Swakopmund, would it have made more sense to combine the Junior racing with that in Nelson Mandela Bay?
Earlier in the year, the African Junior Cup Maselspoort had sixteen men start and fifteen female starters. In each field, there was only one non-South African athlete.
Likewise, the Senior women’s race in Maselspoort had fourteen starters.
Going back to the end of last season, the African Junior Cup in Dakhla had six men race and only four women. In the Senior race in Dakhla, twenty women took part.
Meanwhile, male African Cup fields regularly do not exceed thirty athletes.
Nor is this a case of recency bias influenced by the time of year. In June 2022, the African Premium Cup in Larache had only twenty women race. Premium Cups are supposed to be the more advanced Continental Cup events. Yet not many athletes showed up.
The presence of such thin start lists is not going to help the sport grow, especially in a region that will be essential for the long term development of triathlon.
As with Salvisberg’s wardrobe error, having twenty or fewer athletes racing makes it look like a small amateur event. Even if the athletes are putting themselves on the line, a dozen athletes do not capture the imagination the way fields of over fifty can.
Taking the sport to Africa is an absolute necessity if triathlon is to grow. The responsibility for World Triathlon, though, does not simply end with awarding the events.
Therefore, here are three proposals to improve the level of African Cups.
The first is to have fewer races. This is counter-intuitive as Africa needs the opportunities to see the sport to grow. However small start lists do not make an impact. If twenty athletes showed up to race in Bermuda, for example, it would not make as big of a splash. It would send a message to local fans that the athletes are not interested in coming.
As a result, in future maybe it will be better to organise fewer events and fatten up the start lists. As an example, does Morocco need three African Cup races or would one or two better-attended races do more?
If travel expenses are an issue for some federations and they would prefer to host races in their own country, World Triathlon can step in and support them on the costs.
The second suggest is to enlist the World Triathlon Team.
A big push needs to be made to induce more athletes to go to Continental Cups in Africa and the Americas. More specifically, it would be good to encourage big names and better ranked athletes to attend.
It could be a condition of membership in the ASICS World Triathlon Team that athletes must race one African Cup and one Americas Cup each year to reinforce the fields.
The third suggestion is to encourage (perhaps financially) some WTCS big hitters to race.
To go back to the example of Bermuda, people showed up to see Flora Duffy. More recently, people paid attention when Gwen Jorgensen raced the Oceania Cup in Taupo.
Nelson Mandela Bay had Richard Murray and Rachel Klamer as the only WTCS medallists starting. Compare that with the start list for the European Cup in Quarteira this weekend which will have Cassandre Beaugrand, Jonathan Brownlee, Lisa Tertsch, Gustav Iden and more.
Yes, the bulk of the season revolves around Europe, especially with regards to racing and training bases.
However, a trip over the Mediterranean is not a big travel ask for those based in Europe. Not all athletes will want to play ball. Some might be willing to, though.
If a non-financial inducement is required, maybe in the next Olympic cycle Continental Cups can somehow be integrated into Olympic qualification.
Whatever happens, and maybe nothing happens, there are low-hanging fruit that can be seized when it comes to improving the product of African Cups.
The interest and the potential exists in Africa. The trick is for World Triathlon to ensure that triathlon looks as good as it possibly can when venturing into future markets.
