Bozzone rockets up world rankings
Terenzo Bozzone has raced up the ITU world rankings on the back of his superb 7th place finish at the BG Hamburg World Championships on the weekend.
The points earned for his breakthrough performance in Germany have seen the North Shore athlete move up an incredible 42 places to 36th in the world and establish his position as New Zealand’s fourth ranked male athlete.
The emergence of 22 year old Bozzone on the elite racing scene is also good news for New Zealand’s hopes of being one of the top eight nations to secure three starting positions at the Beijing Olympics.
Tri NZ CEO Dave Beeche is delighted that Bozzone’s hard work has been rewarded.
“Terenzo has long been identified as a future senior world champion; such is the expectation that comes from winning two junior titles. But the last few years have not been kind to him with injury so it was great to see him begin to deliver on that potential in Hamburg.”
Bozzone’s move up the rankings assists Tri NZ in their quest to qualify the maximum three athletes for the Beijing Olympics. This decision will be made by the ITU in June next year based on the eight countries with the highest third ranked athletes.
Beeche says Bozzone putting pressure on Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell and Shane Reed is good news all round.
“To have four athletes in the top 30 in the world would almost guarantee us one of those eight places and gives us a safety net should one athlete suffer an injury or loss of form. But even more importantly it maintains a high level of competition amongst our own athletes to qualify for big races such as Beijing, let alone go and win medals. The more we can foster that intense rivalry just to wear the silver fern, the more focused and successful our athletes will become.”
The focus for the New Zealanders has quickly turned to Beijing in less than two weeks on September 15th. The 12th round of the ITU BG World Cup series doubles as an Olympic qualifying race for the Kiwis.
Beeche admits the race looms as a big day in the career of many athletes and expects a strong showing.
“The timing was always going to be awkward so close to the World Championships but for obvious reasons the Beijing World Cup simply had to be included as one of our selection races. The majority of our athletes have been up front about that and while there were high expectations in Hamburg, there were also mitigating circumstances. Still, it is a reflection of our sport and the standards we are setting that simply finishing in the top ten is not where we want to limit ourselves.”
The women’s rankings remain largely unchanged for the New Zealanders with Sam Warriner still at number two behind World Championship winner Vanessa Fernandes (POR) and Debbie Tanner dropping just the one place to number five in the world.
Andrea Hewitt and Nicky Samuels drop seven and four places respectively after missing Hamburg to concentrate on preparing for the Beijing World Cup race on September 15th.
ITU Points Rankings, as at September 3rd 2007
Men
Current Previous Name Country
1 1 Javier Gomez Spain
2 2 Brad Kahlefelt Australia
3 3 Bevan Docherty New Zealand
4 5 Simon Whitfield Canada
5 4 Kris Gemmell New Zealand
6 6 Andy Potts USA
7 9 Tim Don Great Britain
8 26 Daniel Unger Germany
9 18 Jan Frodeno Germany
10 11 Sven Reiderer Switzerland
PLUS
18 13 Shane Reed New Zealand
36 78 Terrenzo Bozzone New Zealand
73 71 Clark Ellice New Zealand
97 94 Ben Pulham New Zealand
104 100 James Elvery New Zealand
155 153 Sam Walker New Zealand
156 168 Martin van Barneveld New Zealand
176 175 Liam Scopes New Zealand
180 179 Will Green New Zealand
182 181 Blair Jordan New Zealand
190 189 Nathan Richmond New Zealand
214 248 Will Curtayne New Zealand
228 226 Graham O’Grady New Zealand
231 229 Andrew Curtayne New Zealand
232 230 Tony Dodds New Zealand
304 303 Ben Visser New Zealand
309 306 Hamish Johnson New Zealand
325 322 Dylan McNeice New Zealand
444 442 Thijs Hubber New Zealand
472 469 Callum Millward New Zealand
576 573 Bryan Rhodes New Zealand
Women
Current Previous Name Country
1 1 Vanessa Fernandes Portugal
2 2 Sam Warriner New Zealand
3 10 Emma Moffat Australia
4 15 Emma Snowsill Australia
5 4 Debbie Tanner New Zealand
6 8 Joelle Franzmann Germany
7 3 Annabel Luxford Australia
8 17 Laura Bennett USA
9 16 Anja Dittmer Germany
10 9 Sarah Haskins USA
PLUS
12 5 Andrea Hewitt New Zealand
29 25 Nicky Samuels New Zealand
65 64 Evelyn Williamson New Zealand
89 88 Taryn McLeod New Zealand
175 210 Kelly Bruce New Zealand
179 208 Jacqui Seebold New Zealand
184 181 Carmel Hanley New Zealand
207 203 Jenny Cooper New Zealand
281 278 Sarah Bryant New Zealand
284 282 Rebecca Spence New Zealand
313 313 Gina Ferguson New Zealand
348 347 Shanelle Barret New Zealand
351 349 Anna Hamilton New Zealand