Super Saturday for Irish In Edmonton
Con Doherty, Maeve Gallagher, James Edgar and Erin McConnell will get to bid for World Championship glory tomorrow (Saturday) when they line up across three races at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Edmonton, Canada.
A single day of racing will see all four compete back to back in an exciting day which will also feature newly crowned Olympic champions Flora Duffy and Kristian Blummenfelt amid a stack of world class triathletes.
World Triathlon has start lists and a series of excellent round ups of what to expect from every race on its website.
As always, you can every minute of the action on triathlonlive.org and we’ll post up results and interviews with the athletes on our social media channels as each race concludes throughout the day.
Gallagher and McConnell
First to race on Saturday will be Maeve Gallagher and Erin McConnell in the Women’s U23 event. Both have built up a fair amount of experience at this level having raced last year’s World Champs in Hamburg and in Gallagher’s case at the 2019 World Champs in Lausanne.
Gallagher has prepped for Edmonton with some hit-outs on the domestic scene but international racing will provide her with a test of a different nature. National Head Coach Michael Black says the terrain in Edmonton should suit Gallagher.
“It’s a hilly technical bike course so if she gets a decent start and gets in the bike group there’s no reason why it won’t play to her strengths.”
Alongside Gallagher will be Erin McConnell who we last saw two months ago claiming a fantastic Elite Bronze and U23 Silver medal at the European Aquathlon Champs.
Michael Black says that performance will be something for McConnell to take confidence from.
“She’s a strong swimmer and has had decent performances in domestic bike racing recently, maybe the run could be a factor as it’s her weaker discipline but we will be looking for a strong bike-run performance.”
Black added: “Both are in good spirits and looking forward to getting stuck in. The Women’s U23 is a competitive field. There are plenty of people who are going to push it.”
Watch Maeve and Erin from 15:00 Irish Time on Saturday
Con Doherty
Up next is Con Doherty who heads in to Edmonton short of racing but in excellent training form where he has been close to PB territory.
Doherty started his season two weeks ago in Turkey where he finished 27th. At that race, his swim cost him dearly as we went on to run one of the quickest splits of the day and according to Michael Black, that’s where his focus will be in Edmonton.
“The determining factor will be the swim, we all know what Con is capable of when it goes well and he’s been really trying to nail that swim so there’s no reason why he can’t be in a good pack. His biking is going really well and his running is going fantastic. The course will also suit him, it’s technical and hilly but Con is light and can handle the bike well.”
Watch Con Doherty from 20:50 Irish Time on Saturday
James Edgar
Finally, just before midnight Irish time, James Edgar will step out in the Men’s U23 race. Edgar spent a lot of this year training with Russell White as he prepared for the Olympics and has shown excellent form in training.
Michael Black said the task for Edgar will be to harness his talent and training in to a race performance.
“Over the last four months James has been going really well. But he has to put the swim, bike and run back to back and get a performance.”
