For the third year in a row, the ITU World Cup series makes it mark in the South American country of Ecuador, this year all set to host a sprint-distance race at the 2018 Salinas ITU Triathlon World Cup. As the calendar begins to draw to a close, with only three World Cup races left in the season, Salinas counts as stop number 14 on the tour and both Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith will be in the field.
The women will line up first on Sunday, October 21st to kick-start the Salinas World Cup. In the first two editions of the Salinas event in 2016 and 2017, six different women landed themselves on the event podium. Four out of the six women grace the 2018 start list, including the full podium from last year, such as the 2017 Salinas Champion, Ecuador’s own Elizabeth Bravo. Bravo’s victory was a career first and was the only time that an Ecuadorian had won a World Cup race before. While she had not been racing many international events this season, she did a race in Salinas earlier this year for a CAMTRI American Cup, where she won, so her continued success at this venue is noteworthy for this weekend’s chances.
Hawley will be wearing the number 44.
Leading the men’s field is Rostislav Pevtsov, despite his unfortunate disqualification last weekend in Sarasota, he still enters as one of the only men to have won a World Cup race this season. He won in Chengdu, so he also is strong at the sprint-distance course. However, he has not raced in Salinas before, so it will be a new format with the beach start.
Smith will wear the number 62 in the Men’s event.
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