The event is being staged on the weekend of August 15-16 next year and gives athletes such as Ireland’s first female Olympic Triathlete Emma Davies an opportunity to experience the venue well in advance of the 2012 Games.
It is understood the event will be entirely within the Park, but will not use the proposed 2012 bike course because of the massive disruption to traffic that would cause.
The full route to used in 2012 will not be tested until 2011, it is understood.
Dextro Energy will be the title sponsor for the series, now to be known as the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series.
It will consist of seven World Championship events and a Grand Final, all featuring live television.
A record $2 million (£1.3 million) will be at stake in the battle to become ITU’s 2009 world champion.
The Hyde Park event will see the best triathletes from around the world race head to head for the £125,000 prize purse in and around Hyde Park, the location of the triathlon at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The London event will be the fifth race in the World Championship Series, following on from Singapore, Madrid, Washington DC, Kitzbühel and Hamburg.
The Series continues after London with a race in Yokohama before the Grand Final on Australia ’s Gold Coast on September 9-13.
The race weekend will include the British Youth and Junior Triathlon Championships and there will also be a disabled competition.
The year-end bonus pool will be almost triple from previous years, with $700,000 (£468,649) being presented at the end of the series.
Each World Championship event will feature a $150,000 (£100,424) prize purse with the Grand Final offering $250,000 (£167,375).
Paul Coleman, ITU managing director for the series, said: We are creating a distinct top quality sports product that offers outstanding opportunities for our athletes, sponsors, host cities and television broadcasters.
“We are delighted to announce that the 2009 events schedule will include some of the world’s most renowned cities.”
