Countdown to ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham: New Olympic qualification process places high emphasis on Mixed Relays
As the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification period opens next month, international teams are queuing up to get into the ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham on 7 June. The race has significance to both relay and individual qualification at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
British Triathlon coaches have been working out how best to ensure that Great Britain has every opportunity to take a full team of three male, three female and a Mixed Relay to Japan. Success at the event in Nottingham, which takes place three days before the individual ITU World Triathlon Series Leeds event, would be an ideal start to the qualifying campaign.
British Triathlon Performance Director, Brendan Purcell, explained: “Great Britain has had a lot of success in the Mixed Relay, including having won the ITU world title three times. We are really excited about the prospect of sending our best possible team to Tokyo as this discipline makes its Olympic debut.”
He added: “With the addition of Mixed Relay, the qualification process has changed significantly. Places for the individual triathlon at the Olympic Games will be awarded through a combination of relay ranking and individual ranking. The Mixed Relay in Nottingham will be a great place to get our qualification campaign underway in front of a home crowd.”
The ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham is the first of three global Relay events this year, and the Mixed Relay at the ETU European Championships in Glasgow also has a lesser amount of ranking points available. The objective for federations is to be ranked in the top seven in the world by the time qualification closes in May 2020. Such is the interest in racing in Nottingham, that eight nations are currently on a waiting list hoping to get the opportunity to take part.
Summary of how Olympic relay and individual qualification works:
- Qualification window open 11 May 2018 to 10 May 2020
- Each nation can qualify one relay team (ten teams will take part)
- Top seven nations in relay rankings qualify for the relay and 2 individual slots
- Mixed relay qualification race in 2020 will qualify three more nations, who each get 2 individual slots
- Host nation gets 4 slots (2 per gender)
- Top 26 male and female athletes qualify a slot for their nation, any nation with three in the top 30 will get three slots
- Invitational and development slots allocated
The ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham will start at 6:30pm and will feature teams including USA, Russia, France, South Africa and Commonwealth & ITU world champions, Australia. A full start list is available HERE. Grandstand tickets are still available, as are entries in the open events HERE.