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Olympic qualification update ahead of Yokohama
- Updated: May 12, 2016
After two competitive years of qualification, there is just one race left that will decide athletes’ Olympic dreams. It all comes down to World Triathlon Yokohama. While plenty of athletes have already booked their slots, there is still massive competition for last-ditch attempts to get to Brazil. The qualification process is complicated, so here we break down who has to perform on Saturday to get to Rio.
Please note that until National Olympic Committees have named their Olympic teams, all results are provisional. Even if an athlete fulfills ITU’s qualification requirements, it doesn’t mean they are automatically selected to go to Rio. Rather, their National Olympic Committee now has a spot, which they are free to use how they want.
European new flag Currently Lisa Norden (SWE) fills the criteria to be selected for Rio in the European new flag selection policy. However, she has some slight competition from Estonia’s Kaidi Kivioja and Portugal’s Melanie Santos. Kivoja would need to finish fourth or higher in Yokohama, while Santos would need to pull out an impressive second or first place finish to punch a ticket to Rio over Norden. While this scenario isn’t highly like, Kiovioja’s best chances at taking the European flag criteria is if Norden competes extremely well & boosts her points high enough inside the top 50 women. That could allow Kiovioja to move into the ‘new flag’ criteria.
On the men’s side, a showdown is set for Yokohama, with several men in the hunt for that European flag. Thomas Springer (AUT) is currently in position for an Olympic berth & needs a top 20 finish to maintain or improve on his ranking. He also needs to keep an eye out for Ukraine’s Ivan Ivanov and Austria’s Alois Knabl, who are his biggest threats. At minimum, Ivanov needs a top 11 finish, while Knabl needs to click the sixth-fastest time just to move ahead of Springer’s current 1728 points.
America’s new flag Perhaps one of the closest showdowns on Saturday will be for the men’s America’s new flag between Barbados’ Jason Wilson and Puerto Rico’s Manuel Huerta. Only 70 points separate the pair now. To improve his current position, Wilson needs to finish 28th or higher. …
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