Team ITU Elite Athlete Development Project
EADP

Project Goal
The primary objective of this project is to provide support, resources and expertise to Elite athletes from emerging/developing National Federations to compete at a World Cup level and at the same time increase the number of coaches from emerging/developing National Federations gaining experience in the preparation and support of athletes competing at a World Cup level.

Project Outline
• Emerging/developing National Federations are invited to submit applications.
• Applications for athletes that have already proven themselves at an ITU U23 World Championship, ITU Junior World Championship, World Cup or Continental Cup level will be considered.
• Performance will also be assessed on the basis of swim and run times when results are limited.
• Four World Cup events will be earmarked as the Team ITU – SD events.
• At each of these events a full support team (coaches, bike mechanic and athletic trainer) will be on hand for the athletes selected.
• The group will be accommodated as a ‘team’ and supported as such pre, during and post event.

Target Group
The target group will be athletes from emerging/developing National Federations who have already shown a high level of competence in Continental Cup events and are looking to make the step up to World Cup level of racing but need support in order to do so. These athletes should be seen as Olympic prospects (2012) by their National Federations and will primarily be drawn from the U23 ranks.

Qualification Criteria
• Athletes must be registered with their National Federations and have shown the ability to race at a high level.
• The athletes nominated should be committed to competing in the long term and have the Olympic Games as an ultimate objective.
• While there are four (4) male and four (4) female slots available athletes will be selected at the discretion of the ITU Sport Development Staff and in some cases not all the slots will be filled.

Time Line
Applications must be submitted in writing to libby@triathlon.org and each applicant must also be entered by their National Federation for the respective World Cup events with ITU via the online entry method by the closing date for entry for the specific event they are applying for.

A National Federation may nominate no more than two (2) male and two (2) females for each of the three designated events.

 

Designated Event	Application Deadline	Online entry Deadline
Mooloolaba World Cup (29 March 2009)	13 February 2009	At least 30 days prior to event.
Des Moines World Cup (28 June 2009)	13 February 2009
Tiszaújváros World Cup (9 August 2009)	20 June 2009
Huatulco World Cup (8 November 2009)	15 September 2009

Budget
All athletes selected will be funded as follows:
1. Return economy class flight from home to event destination.
2. Hotel accommodation (on a shared basis) for maximum 5 days
3. Meals – 3 per day (or a meal stipend)
4. Bike mechanic services
5. Medical support
6. Coaching support

Evaluation
The athletes selected will be tracked over the years to determine their progress and feedback sheets will be completed by all of the participants prior to and post each event.

Application form

Please complete relevant application form and forward to libby@triathlon.org on or before due dates.

 

Definition and Explanation of National Federation Status

For the purpose of the ITU Sport Development (Athlete and Coaching) we have categorized National Federations into three (3) categories:

Olympic NF’s are those NF’s who had at least two competitors at the Athens Olympics

Emerging NF’s are those NF’s with only one or no competitors at the Athens Olympics but have some representation at the World Championships in the Elite, U/23 or Junior Categories over the past two years.

Developing NF’s are those NF’s with no representation at the World Triathlon Championships in the Elite, U/23 and Junior Categories in the past two years.

The ITU Athlete and Coaching Development Programme specifically targets Emerging and Developing NF’s.

 

• Application Form
• Gallery