Pressure off Gentle in bid for Yokohama glory
It comes a month after Gentle secured her spot at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with a second-place finish at the Gold Coast WTS event.
The Gold Coast product finished second in her last two appearances in Yokohama in 2015 and 2016.
Gentle said she had taken further steps forward since last month’s Gold Coast race after completing a training camp with coach Jamie Turner and teammates in Canberra in recent weeks.
“After Gold Coast we went pretty much straight into camp in Canberra,” Gentle said.
“It was pretty intense so it feels like I have just been straight back into an intense triathlon bubble.
“I feel really fit and feel as though I’m in a good place.
“I really like Yokohama – it’s been a really good race for me and I love racing in Japan.
“I’m going in knowing that I’ve done some good work in the lead up. There is no pressure. I want to do well for myself and do well for the series sake of things.
“It is definitely a relief having that spot in the Commonwealth Games team secured that’s for sure.”
Gentle said she was confident of replicating the success she had in the Gold Coast sprint format of 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run in the Olympic distance that is double the length.
“Before Gold Coast I was actually a bit nervous that it was a sprint because I didn’t feel like I’d had a sprint race that I was that proud of,” Gentle said.