Following a week of ITU World Championship racing at the 2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago, ITU announces the schedule for the 2016 World Cup and 2016 World Paratriathlon Event races.
The 2016 World Cup calendar will cover a minimum of 10 cities and includes a variety of new and familiar sites, as well as a combination of sprint and standard distances.
2016 ITU Triathlon World Cup Season
- March 12-13: Mooloolaba, Australia
- April 2-3: New Plymouth, New Zealand
- April 16-17: Chengdu, China
- May 7-8: Huatulco, Mexico
- June 18-19: Kitzbuhel, Austria
- July 9-10: Tiszaujvaros, Hungary
- August 6-7: Montreal, Canada
- September 24-25: Salinas, Ecuador
- October 22-23: Tongyeong, Korea
- October 29-30: Miyazaki, Japan
“Not only do the ITU World Cup races create an important bridge to elite success for athletes, they also provide the opportunity to gain Olympic qualification points. The races are an incredibly important part of the 2016 calendar,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado.
The 2015 ITU World Cup season will open midway through March in Mooloolaba, which marks the twelfth year the Australian coastal city will host a World Cup. The race will be immediately followed up with another stop in Oceania with the return of New Plymouth, both of which will feature sprint distance events.
Chengdu returns for the third time and will offer the first standard distance race of the year in China. Action will then get fast, furious, hilly and heated in Huatulco, Mexico. A second World Cup race could be added for the same weekend in Europe.
Ktizbuhel, Austria returns to the ITU calendar in June. Long-standing World Cup organizer Tiszaujvaros will again feature its semi-final/final format as it celebrates its 20th year on the ITU calendar.
The tour then touches down in the Americas with Montreal set to debut as a World Cup, followed by Salinas, Ecuador, which will also host a World Cup for the first time.
The final two World Cups will take place in Asia with the return of familiar host Tongyeong set as the penultimate World Cup on the calendar while the final race will be held in Miyazaki in October. In addition to Mooloolaba and New Plymouth, Montreal, Salinas and Tongyeong will all feature sprint courses.
ITU also confirmed several dates on the 2016 Paratriathlon calendar.
2016 World Paratriathlon Event
- March 19-20: Buffalo City, South Africa
- April 23-24: Penrith, Australia
- May 14-15: Yokohama, Japan (held with ITU World Triathlon Series)
- May 14-15: Aguilas, Spain
- June 4-5: Besancon, France
- June 4-5: Strathclyde, Great Britain
- June 25-26: Iseo, Italy
The Yokohama World Paratriathlon Event will be held in conjunction with the World Triathlon Series, while a WPE race is still being discussed to be held alongside World Triathlon Gold Coast. Strathclyde is the only city to debut on the WPE calendar.
Paratriathletes will earn Paralympic Qualifying Points through the Yokohama and Aguilas stops as they attempt to qualify for the Paralympics in Rio, where paratriathlon will be held for the first time.
