What’s coming up in Kitzbuhel?

(BEIJING, July 15) -- The last pre-Olympic triathlon world cup will be staged in Kitzbuhel, Austria this Sunday.

The elite women's race is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., with at least 18 Beijing-bound women triathletes to participate. Among them will be Andrea Whitcombe, who finished first in Tiszaujvaros last weekend. Whitcombe will be pursuing her fifth world cup medal this year.

New Zealander Andrea Hewitt, reigning champion of last year's Kitzbuhel World Cup, together with her countrywomen Debbie Tanner and Samantha Warriner, will look to retain the Kitzbuhel title.

Switzerland will bring a balanced attack in the women's race with its entire female Olympic squad of Nicola Spirig, Magali Di marco and Daniela Ryf.

Swede Lisa Norden has already been on the world cup podium twice this year. She wants to make it three before her first Olympics.

The elite men's race features a brand new set of participants as all medalists from last year will not attend this year.

Gold contenders include Kiwi Bevan Docherty, who captured silver at the world championships, in addition to podium finishes in Tongyeong and Des Moines. Docherty will be joined by compatriots Kris Gemmell and Shane Reed to give New Zealand a strong lineup.

Switzerland will also be well represented with Sven Riederer, Olivier Marceau and Reto Hug, bronze medalist from this year's world championships. Riederer was bronze medallist at Athens 2004.

Other notables in this year's Kitzbuhel field include Russian Olympians Alexander Brukhankov, Dmitry Polyansky and Igor Sysoev, Ivan Rana of Spain (2002 world champion), Czech Filip Ospaly, Ukrainian veteran Volodymyr Polikarpenko and Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan, who will seek their best performances en route to Beijing.