Super League Triathlon: Coldwell, Jonathan Brownlee top picks in SLT Teams Draft

It’s a new era for Super League Triathlon (SLT) as the draft for the inaugural SLT Teams Championship Series took place on Thursday Evening.

The series, which will run alongside the individual SLT Championship Series consists of five teams – SLT Cheetahs, SLT Rhinos, SLT Eagles, SLT Sharks and SLT Scorpions.

SLT Cheetahs selected Great Britain’s Sophie Coldwell first overall on the women’s side of the draw, followed by USA’s Katie Zafares (Rhinos), fellow Brits Jessica Learmonth (Eagles) and Beth Potter (Sharks), with France’s Cassandra Beaugrand rounding off the top five.

Other notable selections on the women’s side included Great Britain’s double Olympic medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown being picked up by the SLT Scorpions and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Holland to SLT Eagles.

On the men’s side the Cheetahs selected Britain’s Jonathan Brownlee first overall, with Belgium’s Marten van Riel (Rhinos), Alex Yee (Eagles), New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde (Sharks) and France’s Vincent Luis (Scorpions) selected in the first round.

The likes of Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk (Rhinos) and Spain’s Mario Mola (Scorpions) were notable names picked later in the draft process.

The Teams will compete at the Championship Series events in London (September 5), Munich (September 12), Jersey (September 18) and Malibu, USA (September 25) – with the individual points of the top three men and top three women in each team being added to the team’s score.

Further points are available to the first five triathletes in the men’s and women’s races who exit T1, T2 and cross the finish line – the first athlete earning five points, the second four and so on.