Non's on the start list for Montreal, and I assume she'd be on for Edmonton too... There's lots of short course opportunity this fall, with the Super League 4 week Championship series after Edmonton, and then the fall world Tri swing of Hamburg, Bermuda and Abu Dhabi.
The Montreal start list right now is a mixed bag, plenty of Olympians on the list, and plenty skipping it (given that it is basically two weeks after the MTR in Tokyo). The interesting part is that it likely signals who has ambitions for the overall series, since Edmonton is a week later, and with the bubble that they are putting in place around the events, I am not sure how easy it is for people who skip Montreal to race Edmonton. Neither start list is full yet for Montreal, since the cap is upped to 60 for the Eliminator, the men's list is down to 53 (there have been a few swaps, but most notably Johnny Brownlee is no longer on the start list), and the Women's has grown to 59.
I'd love to see a verified source for the idea in the Tokyo MTR that the nations that auto qualified their relays could use alternates in the relay, but the others couldn't. Several auto qualified nations are not traveling their alternates, which would be odd if that possibility existed, purely as a contingency. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks how it shakes down, but in absence of anything else, I'm sticking to the assumption that only rule around using alternates that I could find would be in place, which is that they can be subbed into one of the quota spots up until 48hrs prior to their individual race (i.e. the men's or women's race).
In terms of medal threats for the Olympics, you want to look at who has historically done well in the warm races (Yokohama, Miyzaki, Huatulco, Abu Dhabi, Bermuda, Mooloolaba, Gold Coast and the test event, or further to Rio or Cozumel). Which would point to the Norwegians, Mislawchuk, Yee, Schoeman, Mola and Luis amongst others. On the women's side Duffy, the Americans (all 3 have had WTS Podiums at some of those races), the Brits (again all 3 have podiums in the heat), Jo Brown, Spirig, Kingma, Gentle (you might even throw in Jeffcoat as a long shot, because she has strong performances in the heat, however they have often come either where there's crazy surf in the swim, or over the sprint distance, so I wouldn't put her in favorite status purely because I am not sure she's there yet over the Olympic Distance) amongst others.
There's a solid start list for Long Beach this weekend, it's a continental cup race, but most of Ian O'Brien coached squad, and the Multisport Brain squad are racing before hopping the plane to Tokyo. Not sure if the race is streaming anywhere, but if it is, it might be a fun one to watch.
The Montreal start list right now is a mixed bag, plenty of Olympians on the list, and plenty skipping it (given that it is basically two weeks after the MTR in Tokyo). The interesting part is that it likely signals who has ambitions for the overall series, since Edmonton is a week later, and with the bubble that they are putting in place around the events, I am not sure how easy it is for people who skip Montreal to race Edmonton. Neither start list is full yet for Montreal, since the cap is upped to 60 for the Eliminator, the men's list is down to 53 (there have been a few swaps, but most notably Johnny Brownlee is no longer on the start list), and the Women's has grown to 59.
I'd love to see a verified source for the idea in the Tokyo MTR that the nations that auto qualified their relays could use alternates in the relay, but the others couldn't. Several auto qualified nations are not traveling their alternates, which would be odd if that possibility existed, purely as a contingency. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks how it shakes down, but in absence of anything else, I'm sticking to the assumption that only rule around using alternates that I could find would be in place, which is that they can be subbed into one of the quota spots up until 48hrs prior to their individual race (i.e. the men's or women's race).
In terms of medal threats for the Olympics, you want to look at who has historically done well in the warm races (Yokohama, Miyzaki, Huatulco, Abu Dhabi, Bermuda, Mooloolaba, Gold Coast and the test event, or further to Rio or Cozumel). Which would point to the Norwegians, Mislawchuk, Yee, Schoeman, Mola and Luis amongst others. On the women's side Duffy, the Americans (all 3 have had WTS Podiums at some of those races), the Brits (again all 3 have podiums in the heat), Jo Brown, Spirig, Kingma, Gentle (you might even throw in Jeffcoat as a long shot, because she has strong performances in the heat, however they have often come either where there's crazy surf in the swim, or over the sprint distance, so I wouldn't put her in favorite status purely because I am not sure she's there yet over the Olympic Distance) amongst others.
There's a solid start list for Long Beach this weekend, it's a continental cup race, but most of Ian O'Brien coached squad, and the Multisport Brain squad are racing before hopping the plane to Tokyo. Not sure if the race is streaming anywhere, but if it is, it might be a fun one to watch.