TRIATHLON: Australia's triathlon team will aim to quickly shed the disappointment of Tokyo 2020 as they return to international competition in North America before embarking on another quest for gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next year.
In what proved to be a frustrating and challenging Olympic competition for the Australian contingent of Emma Jeffcoat, Jake Birtwhistle, Ashleigh Gentle, Matt Hauser, Jaz Hedgeland and Aaron Royle, the team were unable to produce a top-10 finish in either the men’s and women’s individual competitions and suffered further disappointment with a ninth place finish in the inaugural mixed relay.
It was as if the tone for Australia’s competition was set in a chaotic false start to the swim leg in the men’s competition in which our top-ranked hope in Birtwhistle suffered a broken nose courtesy of a kick to the face.
Despite the painful setback, Birtwhistle was well positioned following the bike leg but his trademark finish was not there come the run leg and he eventually finished the best of the Aussies in 16th in a time of 1:46.32, behind gold medallist Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway (1:45.04).
Hauser showed that he has a bright future to finish 24th in 1:47.35 while Royle, who had worked tirelessly alongside Birtwhistle in the bike leg, finished 26th in 1:47.57.
In the women’s race, Jeffcoat was our top-placed finisher in 26th in a time of 2:02:57, behind Bermuda’s champion gold medallist Flora Duffy (1:55.36). Jeffcoat was well positioned during the swim leg but was just unable to tag on to the front group ahead of the transition on to the bike and once that group powered away her chances were lost. The cracking pace up front also took its toll on the rest of the field, with Gentle and Hedgeland among a large group unable to finish.
It was hoped the inaugural Olympic mixed relay would bring some consolation after the disappointment of the individual competitions and Australia’s record of achievement suggested they would be among the leading medal contenders.
But the Aussies were unable to keep pace with the leading pack in the first leg before showing great resilience to finish ninth in a time of 1:26.27, well behind gold medallists Great Britain (1:23.41).
A number of members of Australia’s team will now travel to Canada to compete in the World Triathlon Championship Series events in Montreal from August 13-15 and the Championship Finals in Edmonton from August 17-22, before attention turns to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – now less than 12 months away.
David Taylor
