Hamburg is the longest standing venue on the series, having hosted international events since 2002 including the 2007 World Championships. The course has athletes dive into an artificial lake for the swim, where they complete two 750-metre laps, but have to exit the water to complete a 180-degree turn after the first lap. The bike section is technically challenging with eight sharp corners near the bottom of the 5 km circuit which is lapped eight times. The run section has competitors complete four 2.5 km laps; however, there is a hazard as there are two 180-degree turns on each end of the course. Both Brownlee brothers missed the event, as did Paula Findlay and Helen Jenkins. Findlay missed the event with a hip injury which forced her to pull out of her home World Cup event in Edmonton.