New Zealand triathletes put finishing touches on London preparation

The New Zealand triathlon team has already arrived or is arriving into London over the next few days as preparations step up a gear for the upcoming ITU World Triathlon Championships this weekend.

Tri NZ High Performance Director Graeme Maw has set up ‘base camp’ in readiness for the influx of elite athletes set to join the Junior (U19) and U23 athletes already in London, along with those taking part in the ITU World Aquathlon (swim/run) Championships which begin proceedings on Wednesday morning (UK time).

“All of our athletes have enjoyed a good final few weeks of training and will arrive into a well organised and planned set up here in London”, said Maw. “We are staying in the same Hyde Park hotel as has been used for a number of years so we know the environment, travel times and location of all the necessary amenities, plus of course we are very close to the race course itself.

“We have some extremely good athletes in this group, in Juniors, U23 and elite men and women. Everyone has prepared to do their best and that means a successful execution of their individual race plans. There is no doubt the speed of the sport has advanced considerably in recent times, the key for us is to stay true to the strategies in our High Performance Programme and for this weekend, that means executing race plans to deliver the best possible results at this stage of each individual athletes development.”

The Aquathlon will commence New Zealand’s involvement in London on Wednesday from 9am UK time, with the following athletes lining up in the elite race categories:

·         Men’s U23 - Cameron Todd, Taupo

·         Women’s elite – Rebecca Clarke, Auckland

·         Women’s U23 – Maddie Dillon, Auckland

·         Women’s U19 – Elise Salt, Auckland

The elite New Zealand teams in the ITU World Triathlon Championships are as follows:

Women’s elite: Andrea Hewitt (Christchurch), Kate McIlroy (Wellington), Nicky Samuels (Wanaka).
Men’s elite: - Ryan Sissons (Auckland), Tony Dodds (Wanaka), Martin van Barneveld (Wellington).
U23 women: Rebecca Kingsford (Tirau), Sophie Corbidge (Auckland), Simone Ackermann (Auckland).
Junior (U19) men: Sam Ward (Auckland), Tayler Reid (Gisborne).
Junior (U19) women: Mikayla Nielsen (Waikato), Nicole van der Kaay (Taupo), Jaimee Leader (Palmerston North).

A sizeable New Zealand age group team has also descended upon London to take part in the variety of World Championship races, from Aquathlon to sprint to standard distance events across the week of triathlon. Updates will be posted where possible with links to race results. For further information visit www.triathlon.org or click on the Triathlon NZ facebook page.


For all official ITU start lists (including age group), CLICK HERE

For a link to the event schedule (note all times will be UK time), CLICK HERE

The elite races will be covered live on Sky Sport (please check SKY GUIDES for latest schedule information):

·         Elite women: Saturday 14th September, 8.00pm, SKY SPORT 4

·         Elite men: Monday 16th September, 12.25am, SKY SPORT 4