Collins Cup: Match-ups announced with Olympic medallists Kristian Blummenfelt and Hayden Wilde drawn together

The match-ups for the second edition of the Collins Cup have been announced ahead of this year’s event which takes place on Saturday in Slovakia.

Inspired by the golf’s Ryder Cup, the Collins Cup sees three teams of 12 (six men and six women) racing for their team in a bid to win points.

There are 12 match races which feature a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run.

Athletes can earn an extra half point for their team for every two minutes they win by, up to a six-minute victory which equates to 1.5 points.

In the pick of the races, Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt will take on bronze medallist from Tokyo Hayden Wilde, with American Ben Kanute joining them.

Matchup six sees Anne Haug, Jackie Hering and tamara Jewett in the best of the women’s races.

Collins Cup 2022 full list of match-ups

Match 1: Daniela Ryf (EUR) vs Sarah True (USA) vs Flora Duffy (INT)

Match 2: Laura Philipp (EUR) vs Chelsea Sodaro (USA) vs Ashleigh Gentle (INT)

Match 3: Kat Matthews (EUR) v Skye Moench (USA) vs Paula Findlay (INT)

Match 4: Nicola Spirig (EUR) vs Sophie Watts (USA) vs Vittoria Lopes (INT)

Match 5: Holly Lawrence (EUR) vs Jocelyn McCauley (USA) vs Ellie Salthouse (INT)

Match 6: Anne Haug (EUR) vs Jackie Hering (USA) vs Tamara Jewett (INT)

Match 7: Kristian Blummenfelt (EUR) vs Ben Kanute (USA) vs Hayden Wilde (INT)

Match 8: Sam Laidlow (EUR) vs Sam Long (USA) vs Lionel Sanders (INT)

Match 9: Magnus Ditlev (EUR) vs Rudy von Berg (USA) vs Max Neumann (INT)

Match 10: Patrick Lange (EUR) vs Jason West (USA) vs Aaron Royle (INT)

Match 11: Gustav Iden (EUR) vs Matt Hansen (USA) vs Jackson Laundry (INT)

Match 12: Daniel Baekkegard (EUR) vs Chris Leiferman (USA) vs Braden Currie

“It’s been a minute, I’ve missed these boys,” said Wilde regarding his race. “It’s been about a year since I’ve actually raced them both so it’s been great watching them come up to the bigger distance and we’ve definitely missed them.

“It’s just been Alex and I having a great battle but we’ve missed our gold medallist to make it a trio of battles, so yeah, looking forward to Saturday and seeing how it goes.

“I feel good. The run legs are there. I’ve been on the time trial bike about seven times. Swim’s going real well – real stoked about how that’s going – Commonwealth Games was fantastic. I was stoked.

“Everyone was like, ‘how the heck did he swim like that?’ And that was myself too! If I could pull out a swim like that and feel good past the 60km mark and yeah, hopefully have a good run.”

The Collins Cup is part of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) which promotes the sport of triathlon with innovative events and formats.

Team Europe won the inaugural Collins Cup and will look to defend their title when the action gets underway on Saturday at 11:15 UK time on Eurosport and discovery+.

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The PTO Tour is exclusively live in 50 territories across Europe on Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear channels – Eurosport 2 in the UK – and can also be streamed via discovery+, the Eurosport App and GCN+.