David Castro, Antonio Serrat and Zuriñe Rodríguez dispute the Salinas World Cup

The Olympic triathlete in London 2012 Zuriñe Rodríguez who returns to high competition

Next Sunday will be the first edition of the Salinas World Cup, in Ecuador, a country that is betting heavily on triathlon, last year the first Ironman 70.3 was held in the town of Manta, a test that was repeated this year on the calendar. Now it's time for ITU competitions with the first World Cup in the South American state.

The Spanish representation will be marked by the return of Zuriñe Rodríguez to the high international competition, who also does it in a test of the level of a World Cup. For their part, in the men's category they will be the world champions of the mixed junior / sub23 relay Antonio Serrat and David Castro who will represent Spain.

The Salinas World Cup is contested under the sprint distance, 750 meters of swimming in the Pacific Ocean, 20km of cycling, where the triathletes will give 4 turns to a circuit of 5km that according to the data of the web of the ITU presents a short slope to the 11% per lap. To finish 5km of running race divided into two laps of 2,5km.

In the men's competition the main favorite is the Mexican Crisanto Grajales 7º in the last Grand Final of the WTS in Cozumel, same position he has occupied in the general final of the 2016 World Championship. In addition to the Mexican, the Russians also have options to win Dmitry and Igor Polyanskiy. Finally, highlight the participation of Galician Anton Ruanova, under the Brazilian flag who will try to take another little step on his way to Tokyo 2020.

As far as women's competition is concerned, the main favorites are the USA Summer Cook (winner of the Edmonton WTS) and Kirsten Kasper. It also highlights the participation of the Olympic runner-up in London, Lisa Norden, in addition to the Ukrainian Yuliya Yelistratova and the South African Mari Rabie.

Salinas will be the last test of an intense triathletic weekend (Ironman Mallorca, LD World Cup, Spain Club Championship…) the girls compete first at 17:00 p.m. Spanish time while the men will do it at 18.30:XNUMX p.m.

(Photos David and Antonio: Farmacasal)