World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama 2024 preview: Full schedule and how to watch live
The 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) makes a delayed start in the Japanese city of Yokohama.
The season was supposed to get underway in Abu Dhabi in early March, but stormy weather forced the event to be cancelled with the battle for the title of "world champion" beginning on 11 May.
This is the first of three stops before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the others being Cagliari in Italy on 25 May and Hamburg, Germany in mid-July.
Reigning Olympic champions Flora Duffy and Kristian Blummenfelt are set to headline the event with Duffy making her return to action after missing all of last season with a knee injury.
The race is one of two standard-distance events - 1.5km swim, 40km cycle, 10km run - on the calendar before October's WTCS Final in Torremolinos, Spain.
Scroll down to find out the athletes to keep an eye on in Yokohama and how to watch the races live.
WTCS Yokohama 2024 competition schedule
Saturday 11 May (local Japan Standard Time, UTC+9)
10:15 Elite Women Race Start
12:25-12:40 Elite Women Medal Ceremony
13:00 Elite Men Race Start
15:00-15:15 Elite Men Medal Ceremony
WTCS Yokohama athletes to watch
Men
Frenchman Dorian Coninx begins the defence of his world title in Yokohama having clinched a dramatic win in last year's Championship Finals Pontevedra to move up from fifth to first in the rankings.
The two-time Olympian is joined by another Frenchman, double world champion Vincent Luis, while Blummenfelt - who told tri247.com that he is posting career-best numbers in training having focused on IRONMAN competitions of late - will look to see where he is ahead of his Olympic title defence.
Australia's Matthew Hauser, who took victory in Montreal last June, is another man capable of making an impression. Spain's Alberto Gonzalez Garcia scored his first World Triathlon Cup win in Hong Kong in March and will be eyeing a podium finish along with Portugal's Vasco Vilaca.
Women
With the Cagliari round later this month the last chance to obtain points in the World Triathlon Individual Olympic Qualification Rankings, the main route to Paris, a number of top athletes are missing.
Cagliari has been designated as the British Olympic qualifier with Georgia Taylor-Brown, who won individual silver and mixed relay gold at Tokyo 2020, among those skipping this event to focus on Italy.
Duffy, who beat Taylor-Brown to win Bermuda's first Olympic gold, is due to compete in her first race since securing her fourth world title in the 2022 Grand Final in Abu Dhabi.
Rio 2016 gold medallist Gwen Jorgensen, who turned 38 last month, needs a strong finish to boost her hopes of making the U.S. team for Paris. While 2021 Yokohama winner Taylor Knibb has already secured a Paris berth, Taylor Spivey, Kirsten Kasper and Summer Rappaport are also competing in the hunt for Olympic spots.
Three German athletes - Annika Koch, Lisa Tertsch and Laura Lindemann - will seek to add to their previous WTCS medals, while Emma Lombardi - third in last year's WTCS - and Leonie Periault head the French challenge.
How to watch WTCS Yokohama 2024
All races from the 2024 WTCS will be streamed live on the subscription service TriathlonLive.tv, and that is the only option for viewers in the United States, Canada and Australia. BBC will show the action in the United Kingdom while Sky NZ holds broadcast rights in New Zealand.
For a full list of how to watch in respective territories, click here.