Spaniard Javier Gomez had to miss a lot of the 2016 WTS season and ultimately the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games due to injury. At the 2017 WTS season opener in Abu Dhabi, Javi returned to his glory and won the race.
Thinking that he was about to claim his first WTS gold, Aussie Jake Birtwhistle sprinted off ahead of Mario Mola to enter the finish gate only to realize he had miscounted his running laps and still had one to go.
It was a monumental and historical day for Triathlon in 2017 when the IOC officially announced the Triathlon Team Mixed Relay would be officially included in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Prgramme. Some of the Elites helped ITU share the news!
Team Australia was trailing the Americans going into the final leg of the 2017 Mixed Relay World Championships, but a comeback performance from Jake Birtwhistle helped his team ultimately win the race and the crown!