Hard road Brandon
WHEN Brandon Copeland broke his wrist in a training accident at the start of the year he was resigned to the fact his campaign to reach the under-23 ITU World Championship was over before it had begun.
“I was pretty devastated and worlds weren’t even on the radar after that,” Copeland said.
The Kingscliff triathlete, coached by Dan Atkins in the under-23 Australian program at Mermaid Waters, was riding up a hill in Springbrook in January with teammates when he came off his bike.
He says he was lucky more damage was not done.
“It definitely could have been a lot worse. There were a few cars on the hill when it happened so I was lucky I didn’t get run down,” Copeland said.
The 20-year-old missed out on automatic qualification races for the world titles, to be held on September 15 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at the Mooloolaba World Cup and the Devonport OTU Continental Championship in March.
Copeland worked his way back to fitness and after finishing top 10 in three Asian Cup races over the past two months he was awarded the discretionary spot for the world titles where Gold Coastbased triathlete Jaz Hedgeland will also compete.
“It was a tough start to the year but I just did what I could throughout that period and kept my running up and and rode on the indoor wind trainer,” Copeland said.
“It has all paid off well now and all been worth it.
“It’s all going really well now and I’m stoked to get the call up. I’ve been hanging out for that discretionary selection so I was very happy when I made it.”
Copeland raced in the Yepoon Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run) on Sunday.
He then flew out today to join the Australian team in Spain and finalise his preparations for the world championships.
Copeland said he was aiming for a top 15 finish in what he hopes is the first of three attempts at winning the under-23 crown.
“I just want to have a solid race and I’d love to have a quick run, that is the main goal for me and a top 15 would be awesome,” Copeland said.
“The long term plan is to win it. Then 2020 (Tokyo Olympics ) and 2022 (Durban) Commonwealth Games is on the radar ifall goes well.”