The race also serves as the first-ever USA Triathlon Elite Sprint National Championship.

More than 50 Americans are scheduled to compete in the sprint-distance event, which consists of a 750 metre swim, 20 kilometre bike ride and 5km run.

Also an International Triathlon Union Pan American Cup, the race will be held in conjunction with the Draft Legal Challenge at Clermont.

The elite women's race will begin at 11.45am, followed by the elite men at 1.30pm at Lake Louisa State Park.

In addition to the duo of Olympians, the majority of America's top draft-legal athletes will be in action.

Nine of the 13 U.S. men that earned a spot in 2010's final ITU World Championship Series (WCS) rankings are slated to race, including top-ranked Americans Shoemaker, Manuel Huerta from Miami, Chris Foster from Redondo Beach, California, and Kevin Collington from Orlando.

Six ITU WCS-ranked U.S. women, including Haskins, Jillian Petersen (St. Louis, Mo.) and Sara McLarty (Clermont, Fla.), who captured the 2010 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon Series title, are on the start list.

A host of up-and-coming athletes also will compete, including 2010 USA Triathlon Rookies of the Year Sean Jefferson friom Palm Beach Gardens and Gwen Jorgensen from Milwaukee as well as women's under-23 Athlete of the Year Lauren Goss from Mount Pleasant in South Carolina and USA Triathlon Age Group Triathlete of the Year Kaleb VanOrt from Mishawaka, Indiana, who will transition to elite racing in 2011.

Youth Olympic Games medalists Kevin McDowell and Kelly Whitley, both from Geneva in Illinois, as well as junior standout William Huffman from Colleyville, Texas, are slated to race in the Elite Race Series event.

Many other top US juniors will be in action in Clermont at the 2011 ITU Junior North American Championship. More than 40 U.S. juniors, including two-time defending USA Triathlon Junior Elite National Champion Tanelle Berard from Clive, Iowa, are expected to compete.

A draft-legal age group race and a non-drafting age group event also will be contested.

The USA Triathlon Elite Race Series is a domestic, six-event series that delivers an opportunity for the nation's top Olympic-distance triathletes to compete for more than $300,000 in prize money and a series title - all while honing the draft-legal racing skills necessary to challenge for the podium at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The six events that comprise the series will be held in Clermont, Florida (March 5), Miami, Florida (May 22), Monroe, Washington (June 25), San Francisco, California (July 9), Buffalo, New York (September 24) and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (October 8).