Carolyn Hayes & Russell White at WTCS Leeds

Irish triathletes Carolyn Hayes and Russell White are nearing the end of the qualifying period for this year’s Tokyo Olympics. This week’s AJ Bell 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds marks the fourth of a possible five races where vital qualifying points can be earned.

A course change for this year’s race will make for exciting viewing on Sunday, as per World Triathlon‘s preview:

“Gone is the technical city centre element of the bike and the Millennium Square finale, in comes a tree-lined, nine-lap ride full of fast straights broken up by a handful of switchbacks and a four-lap run through Roundhay Park.”

Four Out of Five for Russell White

A gruelling fourth race in four weeks for Russell White this week at AJ Bell 2021 World Triathlon Leeds, as he nears the end of his quest to qualify for Tokyo. After Leeds, Russell will go to Mexico for World Triathlon Huatulco World Cup next weekend for his final points opportunity.

White has great history racing at Leeds, with some of his career bests coming from this event including 11th at the 2016 World Series event.

The task this week remains the same for Russell White, as Triathlon Ireland National Head Coach Michael Black explains. His place on the Olympic Simulation has held steady over the last four weeks since qualifying reopened.

“Nothing has changed for the necessity of what he has to do going forward.”

“The only big change is that the course has changed. Really hard course all confined to the park. They have to go up the hill in the park each lap.”

For Russell, it is the races within the races that are key. He needs to finish ahead of those who are close to him on the Olympic Simulation Rankings, such as Richard Varga and Luxembourg’s Stefan Zachaus.

“The guys who are directly affecting him are still there this week.”

“It’s the races within the races.”

Tune in to Russell’s race at 15.54, Sunday 6th June on BBC2 or TriathlonLIVE.tv!

Final Race of Carolyn Hayes’ Qualifying Campaign

Having taken a massive step towards qualifying for Tokyo with an outstanding second place at Lisbon World Cup, this will be Carolyn Hayes’ last race of her Olympic qualifying campaign.  Currently Carolyn holds the New Flag spot on the Olympic Simulation Rankings. Some of the athletes who would also be vying for the New Flag position won’t be racing in Leeds, meaning a solid performance here will certainly go towards securing a place on the start line in Tokyo.

It’s a tough race ahead for Hayes over Olympic distance, with some of the world’s top athletes and a challenging course profile, as National Head Coach Michael Black explains;

“The bike is harder than Lisbon. This is going to be a really hard one which will suit Carolyn.”

A field stacked with strong swimmers (including top IRONMAN athlete Lucy Charles-Barclay), and a punishing bike course means this weekend will bring a different challenge;

“It’s going to be difficult to bridge gaps on such a hard bike, it’s going to break up. She will be able to run really well off that tough bike.”

Compared to Lisbon World Cup, this race will bring a step up from World Cup to World Series level for the athletes, according to Triathlon Ireland High Performance Director Stephen Delaney;

“It’s going to be very fast at the front end, it’s going to be a very interesting race. If Carolyn has a good swim, she has shown she can run with anyone so I wouldn’t put a limit on what’s possible.”

Tune in to BBC2 or TriathlonLIVE.tv from 1pm on Sunday to watch Carolyn’s race!

How to Watch

This week’s action will be shown live on Sunday, 6th June

– BBC2 from 1pm and
– TriathlonLIVE.tv from 12.45pm.