This is a preview of the women’s race – click here to read about yet another impressive win on British soil for French star Cassandre Beaugrand.
French superstar Cassandre Beaugrand will be leading the charge at WTCS Sunderland this weekend as the Loughborough-based athlete chases her second consecutive win on the circuit.
Beaugrand heads for the North East of England next after taking the title at the World Super Sprint Championships in Hamburg last time out.
Among the other names on the start list, Olympic Champion Gwen Jorgensen makes the transatlantic flight over the pond, with Olivia Mathias the sole Brit making the trip to Sunderland.
We have all the details on start times, how to watch the event live and a full breakdown on some of the favourites to win.
Start time and how to watch live
Taking place on Saturday July 29, the elite women will be racing over the sprint distance down at Roker Beach, with the gun going off at 15:35 local time. This corresponds to 16:35 CET and 10:35 on the East Coast of the United States (07:35 PT).
The race will be broadcast live on the World Triathlon subscription service, TriathlonLive, and also available free for UK viewers via BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website, the BBC Sport App and the BBC Red Button.
Who is racing at WTCS Sunderland?
Of the four race winners from the WTCS so far this season, Beaugrand is the only one who makes it to the start line in Sunderland.
Britain’s Beth Potter, Sophie Coldwell and Georgia Taylor-Brown skip the event, with previous series leader Taylor Spivey of the USA also absent.
Beaugrand, as a result, is the big favourite for the win in Sunderland after her performance a fortnight ago in Hamburg and will be joined in the North East by countrywomen Emma Lombardi and Leonie Periault.
The field in Sunderland is a strong mix of experience and youth, with American Jorgensen hoping that the former triumphs this weekend as she chases her best result on the circuit since announcing her comeback to triathlon.
On the other side of the equation, Sweden’s Tilda Mansson, who won the Tiszaujvaros World Cup at the start of the month, had her best WTCS finish of 37th at WTCS Hamburg a fortnight ago and could be a threat.
Brazilian Vittoria Lopes is one athlete who could impact the dynamics of the race with a hard swim/bike and take it to Beaugrand, with Hungarian Zsannett Bragmayer another who could add firepower to a breakaway bike pack, as could Maya Kingma.
Finally, the Norwegian duo of Solveig Lovseth and Lotte Miller can be expected to make an impact, with Lovseth in particular coming here off the back of some good form, including a win at the European Games in Poland.
