November 4 - Next year's ITU Triathlon World Cup will open in Australia in March, it was announced today but the series will really begin to pick up in the summer when the qualifying period for the London 2012 Olympics opens.

 

Nine World Cup races have been added to the calendar and will take place alongside the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series, which was won this year by Britain's Alistair Brownlee and Australia's Emma Moffatt.

 

The Triathlon World Cup gives the top elites a chance to score extra World Series points through the integrated system and developing athletes are provided with an opportunity to earn starting places in the hotly contested World Championship series.

 

Loreen Barnett, the secretary general of the International Triathlon Union (ITU), said: "The ITU are delighted to see the high level of interest and enthusiasm for World Cup events.

 

"With nine races across four continents, coupled with our World Championship Series, we are looking forward to an exciting year of top calibre events."

 

Australia will host the opening race of the year with the beach resort of Mooloolaba, just outside of Brisbane, getting the season underway on March 28, with Sydney hosting the first race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series just two weeks later.

 

Mexico appears next on the calendar with the northern city of Monterrey welcoming the triathletes on April 18 before they jet off to the oldest race on the calendar, the famed Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup on the Japanese island a week later.

 

June marks the start of the two-year Olympic qualifying points system for the London 2012 which adds extra importance to the subsequent events throughout the year.

 

The qualifying period opens with Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series race in Madrid on June 5-6.

 

Des Moines in Iowa, meanwhile, appears on the calendar on June 20 with the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup and will also offer Olympic qualifying points.

 

The large prize purse always attracts the very best athletes with Canada's 2000 Olympic gold medallist, Simon Whitfield, winning the men's race in 2009 following an electric sprint finish.

 

Athletes next opportunity to earn points in Europe will be on July 10 when Holten in the Netherlands, the hosts of the 2009 ETU Triathlon European Championships, where Brownlee suffered the only defeat of the year, will hold a race.

 

The London race in the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series on July 24-25 will also offer Olympic qualiying points.

 

At the Olympics in Beijing last year 55 men and 55 took part in the triathlon events won by Germany's Jan Frodeno and Australia's Emma Snowsill.

 

The excitable crowds of Tiszaujvaros in Hungary will welcome the ITU World Cup circuit to their city on August 8 and then, two weeks later, Lausanne, host of the 2006 ITU World Championships, will welcome the sport back to the shores of Lake Geneva.

 

Following the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series Grand Final in the Hungarian capital of Budapest in mid-September, the ITU Triathlon World Cup races in Tongyeong, South Korea, and Huatulco, Mexico, will conclude the 2010 season in style with points accumulated in these races carrying over to the 2011 World Series.

 

 

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