If any race captured the essence of a Season Like No Other, it would surely have to be this weekend’s World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds.
The women will face a brand-new course, some crucial battles for Olympic places, a debut for one of the biggest names in Ironman racing, and the eagerly awaited return of a former world champion. Sunday in and around Roundhay Park is set to be another classic WTCS Leeds race in the north of England.
Gone are the technical city center 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.
Among the headliners for Sunday’s women’s race and likely to be able to dictate the course of the race is Bermuda’s Flora Duffy. An injury niggle has kept her from the start lists since Arzachena last year, but that race once again underlined her prowess on the bike as she rode solo to Gold. That kind of power will be needed here, too, if she is to give herself enough daylight behind to keep a field of strong running talent at bay.
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