As anticipation builds around The Championship 2018 – Challenge Family’s qualification race taking place in Samorin, Slovakia, on 3 June – the event organiser has revealed that Germany is the nation currently sitting on top of the qualification leaderboard. As things stand, Germany has almost a one quarter (23.7%) share of all athletes signed up and qualified.
The Germans are currently dominating, and hold a significant lead over Great Britain, who lie in second place with 8% of the start list. Switzerland follows just behind at 7% to complete an all-European top three line up.
Europe not only reigns in the top three nations qualified, but is prevailing overall in The Championship 2018 leaderboard, with a majority of 82% of all athletes originating from a European nation. The smallest continent represented, with the qualifying percentage of entrants sitting at 2%, is Oceania. However, with the next high profile Challenge Family race taking place in Wanaka, New Zealand, in just under two weeks, there will be an opportunity for athletes hailing from that part of the world to qualify.
In addition, with four of the remaining qualifying races taking place outside Europe, including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan, the number of non-European entrants should continue to grow.
Germany is, to many, a force to be reckoned with in triathlon, with the likes of pro athletes Sebastian Kienle and Jan Frodeno originating from the nation. However, Zibi Szlufcik, CEO of Challenge Family, stresses that The Championship 2018 is still anybody’s game. “With Challenge Family races in 21 countries across the globe, last year we hosted close to 60 nations at The Championship 2017, which was a fantastic showcase of the diversity of our sport,” he said.
Szlufcik continued, “To see that so many German athletes have qualified for The Championship 2018 is not a surprise as we are very much a triathlon nation. However, with a further nine qualifier races still to go, we are excited to see athletes from even more countries give Germany a real run for its money.”
Whilst Germany might be leading the race of the nations, the city with the most qualifiers so far is actually the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik. Hot on the heels in joint second place are the cities of Zurich, Madrid, Brasilia and Bratislava. The latter city is just 20 minutes away from Samorin, Slovakia, the host venue of The Championship 2018.
Age group wise, 24-29 year olds represent the largest number qualified so far, with an impressive 41.9% of the total qualified athletes, with AG 45-49 and AG 40-44 following respectively on 15.14% and 14.76%.
Additionally, Challenge Family stats show that 66% of all qualified athletes are men.
Double Olympic champion and winner of Gloria Challenge Mogán Gran Canaria, Alistair Brownlee, said “Of course, Germany is a powerful nation; however, this early athlete-count is no indicator of the potential The Championship 2018 results. Now is the time that all nations should be stepping up their game in the remaining qualifier races, making the Championship course a true race of the nations. Come on Great Britain!”
With a number of side-events to accompany the main middle distance triathlon at The Championship 2018, the remarkable x-bionic sphere facility in Samorin, Slovakia, hosts all racing on 2-3 June 2018. In a bid to create a fairer standard of racing for all, Challenge Family will be implementing the popular 20 metre no drafting rule.
Side events will include Olympic distance racing, a Tryathlon, and kids running races for all ages.
Nine qualifier races remain for competitors ahead of the event in Samorin – with the next qualifying race, Challenge Wanaka, taking place on 17 February 2018 in Wanaka, New Zealand. Thereafter, remaining qualifier races for The Championship 2018 are: Challenge Roma, Challenge Cerrado, Challenge Mogan Gran-Canaria, Challenge Melbourne, Challenge Taiwan, Challenge Riccione, Challenge Lisboa and Challenge Salou
