Teams

The 40 athletes will be split equally between each Team. That means each Team Manager will select 4 female and 4 male athletes. For alterations, Wildcards and exceptions please see the Teams FAQ below.

There will be a random draw made before the draft to decide the order of selection.

There will be a snake draft. That means the Team Manager who was randomly selected first picks the first female athlete. The draft then snakes all the way down to the fifth Team Manager before working its way back.

That means the first Team Manager gets picks 1, 10, 11 and 20. The fifth Team Manager will get picks 5, 6, 15 and 16.

Super League Triathlon host Will McCloy is chairing the draft with Team Managers Chris McCormack, Annie Emerson, Tim Don, Michelle Dillon and Ronnie Schildknecht. You can watch the whole thing and all the reactions on Super League’s YouTube channel from Thursday, August 26 (6pm BST).

SLT Teams is a major expansion that will build a team franchise concept from the ground up adding new racing dynamics, and handing power to athletes, fans and stakeholders to help shape the future of the sport.

There will be five Teams, each with a Team Manager who has a vast knowledge of the sport and has been a top-level elite athlete. They will select their Teams via a draft (see the draft rules for full details).

The SLT Teams are:

• SLT Scorpions: Managed by four-time World Champion Chris McCormack
• SLT Eagles: Managed by four-time World Champion Tim Don
• SLT Cheetahs: Managed by World Duathlon champion Annie Emerson
• SLT Rhinos: Managed by 11-time Ironman winner Ronnie Schildknecht
• SLT Sharks: Managed by two-time Olympian Michelle Dillon

Each team will consist of four female athletes and four male athletes. Additional or replacement athletes will be allocated via the Wildcard system. Any additional athletes at the start of the Series are allocated to the team who the data suggests are the weakest.

The highest placed three men and three women from each Team at every race of Super League Triathlon’s 2021 Championship Series will contribute the points they earn as individuals to their Team’s leaderboard. Also all points accrued via the swim, bike and run leaderboards will count.

It adds a new tactical element with Team Managers actively working with their athletes to form game plans and strategies to come out on top. For example, with swim, bike and run points accrued in the opening Stage of races, do you send out athletes to just go for the win and sacrifice themselves to get the points? Do you offer up an athlete to help a potential race winner get ahead? Does a race winner try to save themselves for the latter stages? This will be for the Teams and the Team Managers to decide.

This is a chance to be at the forefront of a new innovation in the sport, using a successful team franchise-style model, but developing an ecosystem around it that will allow input from athletes, fans and stakeholders to shape its future direction, structure and rules. It hands power back to the athletes and also gives them further earning opportunities.

SLT Teams is adding $320,000 in prize money. It is also somewhat of a redistribution of wealth in triathlon as every athlete who races will earn money, and has the incentive to really push themselves to contribute to their team and maximise the chance to earn more. By guaranteeing the payment to every athlete via SLT Teams, it also supports up and coming talent and those who are not at the very top of the game to continue to compete, develop and grow.

There is a prize money breakdown for Super League Triathlon’s 2021 Championship Series on our website. Each athlete in the winning Team stands to pocket $15,000.

Any team with less than their complement of four male or four female athletes will get to pick from any Wildcards racing individual events. The Team with the fewest points in the overall SLT Teams leaderboard will get to pick first.

If all Teams have their full allocation of four male and four female athletes then Wildcards will be allocated as additional athletes with the Team with the fewest points in the overall SLT Teams leaderboard picking first.

No matter how many athletes a Team has, only the top three men and women will contribute their individual leaderboard totals, thus creating as a level playing field as possible if injuries strike.

All Wildcards and Wildcard picks will be communicated via Super League’s digital channels in the week leading up to each event.

Each SLT Team has a different race kit making it easy to identify who they are racing for.

It’s anything people want it to be. It will be as much determined by Team Managers and in the future potential Team Owners, as well as fans and athletes as by Super League itself. SLT Teams is an assembly of people passionate about redefining the sport of triathlon, and that’s the way it will remain.