The annual world championships start tonight in Italy with a tricky sprint qualification in Burano and the final through the alleyways of Venice.
NSW has two overseas-based representatives - Julian Dent and Felicity Brown - in the Australian team. You can follow their fortunes via the team blog and the official event website.
Changes to IOF rules (no qualification races for the middle and the long distance events) means entry numbers are limited, so there is a lot of pressure on athletes to (1) maintain their country's number of entries and (2) attempt to increase that.
Anyone who has strolled around Venice can vouch for the intricacy of the water-based city's layout - so imagine trying to do a sprint around there (see a previous map)?!
Winning times are expected to be just 15 minutes - with the men running 4.5km and the women 4km!
