Pontevedra is presented to host the Grand Final of the World Series and the Triathlon World Championship in 2023

After the recent success achieved with the organization of the 2019 Multisport World Cup, Pontevedra will apply to the International Triathlon Union (ITU) organize the World Series Grand Final and 2023 Triathlon World Championship, a qualifying event for the 2024 Olympic Games and the most audiovisual follow-up worldwide.

The decision to present its candidacy as the venue for this very important event was announced this morning in the Press Room of the Principal Theater of Pontevedra, in a ceremony in which the mayor, Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores; the Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Sports, Tino Fernández; the president of the Spanish Triathlon Federation, José Hidalgo, and the most outstanding triathlete of all time, the Galician Javier Gómez Noya.

Fernández Lores stressed that this World Cup Grand Final is the test "of more participation both by the elite and by the triathlon age groups" and that, if the request made by FETRI is successful, Pontevedra would be "the only city in the world in which a Duathlon World Championship, a Multisport World Championship and a European Championship were held ”.

We are very excited and we will present an application that will put our organizational skills, attractiveness and experience on the table. The presidents of many national federations will be delighted that Pontevedra is hosting the 2023 Grand Final and that many people want to return ”, said the mayor.

The Mayor said that he had "high hopes that we will be granted", a wish of which we will know the final decision at the end of October and that, if it occurs, it will bring "some 4.000 or 5.000 athletes of different categories" to Pontevedra, which would mean a influx of triathletes and companions higher than that of the Multisport 2019 ”.

 Fernández Lores added that “it will be the most important sporting event in 2023 and we are very excited about the possibility of it being awarded. We are talking about thousands of overnight stays and hotel rooms that, in many cases, will not be a day or two, but will stay a week or even 15 days, since people who travel for a test of this nature usually take the opportunity to know the country and move with the whole family. It was the maximum to which one could aspire ”, sentenced Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores.

The Mayor also clarified that, although “we will compete with more cities, the history that we have behind us and the good results obtained in the organization and competitions support us”, with a great appreciation from all the presidents of the international federations, «Especially the Americans, who are the ones who come the most, as in 2019, in which 900 athletes from the United States came».

Make Pontevedra the city of triathlon

The president of FETRI, José Hidalgo, indicated that the idea of ​​Pontevedra's candidacy to host this event began to 'cook' already during the Multisport World Cup “when Javier Gómez Noya won the Long Distance World Championship here and, when we started talk, we wonder what we have after this? ”, and it was the Grand Final”. Hidalgo recalled that the 2023 event is the most important of all the world championships, since it is the prelude to the Olympic Games and the one with the most points, with direct qualification places, it implies the grand final of the triathlon and Paratriathlon, for which believes that "all arguments are given."

For the president of FETRI, the time has come for Pontevedra to define itself in a very special way as the city of triathlon. With this we will achieve that the city becomes an absolutely singular and unique place in the world panorama of cities that have organized or aspire to organize major triathlon events. Javier Gómez Noya is the milestone in sports, no one has achieved more world titles than him; and in Pontevedra, if we manage to be the chosen city, we will achieve another milestone ”.

Tino Fernández, Pontevedra Councilor for Sports, stressed that the city and triathlon “form a communion that works perfectly, almost like clockwork, and if we want to continue advancing we must take into account the base, promoting sport, physical activity, triathlon, between boys and girls. «. In this sense, the deputy mayor was very satisfied that, within the framework of the Spanish Sprint Triathlon Championship to be held in the city this weekend, the inaugural test of a project such as the 'Pho3nix Kids Triathlon ', which comes from the hand of the "champion of champions, which is Javier Gómez Noya."

PHO3NIX Kids Triathlon Series by Gómez Noya

Javier Gómez Noya highlighted about the competition for girls and boys from 10 to 13 years old that will start in Pontevedra that “this is the first test of a project that excites me a lot and that, how could it be otherwise, had to be held in Pontevedra , for being my city, my training place and where I competed many times ”. It will take place on Sunday, October 3 from 14:00 p.m., after the Spanish Sprint Triathlon Championship, and will have the presence of more than a hundred girls and boys in the youth and children's categories, between 10 and 13 years old, who will face distances adapted to their levels: 150 meters of swimming, 3 kilometers of cycling and 1 kilometer of running.

"It is a project that aims to promote sport and triathlon among the little ones," said Gómez Noya, "bring this sport closer to children so that they can enjoy a positive and pleasant experience and leave happy, with a smile." The great Galician champion added that in the philosophy of the project they believe “that sport is a fundamental element, not only in terms of physical health, but also in the education of children and the transmission of certain values ​​that we consider essential in life. These are the first steps and, for next year, we want to make a wider circuit ”.