Britain and Switzerland qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic triathlon
Gordon Brenson and Nicola Spirig take gold at the inaugural edition of the European Games in Baku and win places at Rio 2016
European Games triathlon winners qualify for the men’s and women’s events at Rio 2016 (Getty Images/Dan Mullan)
Great Britain and Switzerland were the first countries to secure places in the Rio 2016 Olympic triathlon following qualifying gold medal wins at the weekend at the inaugural European Games in Baku, from Britain’s Gordon Benson and Nicola Spirig from Switzerland, as confirmed by International Federation.
Current Olympic champion, Nicola Spirig, triumphed in the women’s event to finish in a time of 02:00:28 on Saturday (13 June), after the grueling, multi-disciplinary test, which involves stretches of cycling, swimming and running.
"It's an amazing feeling to have won the first edition of the European Games, and getting a place at the Olympic Games in Rio makes this a perfect day for me," Spirig said in an interview with baku2015.com.
Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig crossing the finish line in Baku 2015 (Photo: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
In the men's competition, held on Sunday (14 June), Briton Gordon Benson took the gold in a time of 01:48.31.
Gordon Benson, of Great Britain, after completing the swimming portion of the triathlon competition in Baku (Photo: Getty Images / Dan Mullan)
The Olympic tickets won at Baku are allocated to the winning athletes’ countries and not to the athletes themselves. The countries will decide at a later date which athletes they will send to the Rio 2016 Games to represent them.
In all, 55 triathletes of each gender will compete in Rio. As the host country, Brazil automatically qualifies for both the men’s and women’s competitions. Further Olympic triathlon spots will be decided at four continental qualifiers and a final World Olympic Qualification Event later in the year. Forty-four spots will be allocated to the highest ranked countries on each of the men’s and women’s International Triathlon Union (ITU) Olympic Qualification Lists and ITU Points Lists, and two other spots per gender will be allocated by invitation.
The Baku 2015 European Games runs until 28 June and the results will effect Olympic qualifications for athletes and countries in 15 different sports. In three events – triathlon, table tennis and shooting – the winners at Baku will qualify directly for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.
