Tri rookies for Games
TRIATHLON selectors have made the bold call to go with youth at next year’s Commonwealth Games, with three rookies called into Australia’s team for the Gold Coast.
Triathlon Australia will announce its Games team on the Gold Coast today but it’s understood junior world champion Matt Hauser and world under-23 bronze medallist Luke Willian, will be named alongside Jake Birtwhistle in the men’s team.
And Gillian Backhouse is believed to have edged out other contenders to win the final women’s spot alongside Ashleigh Gentle and Charlotte McShane.
The young trio beat out Olympians Aaron Royle, Ryan Bailie and Emma Jackson but no athlete has appealed the decisions, a boost for Triathlon Australia after its early Games campaigns were blighted by selection dramas.
Birthwhistle and Gentle won automatic selection with their showings at the World Triathlon Series (WTS) race on the Gold Coast in April, while McShane finished eighth in the WTS round in Hamburg, the second of the qualification races.
Willian finished sixth, just behind Birtwhistle on the Gold Coast and finished agonisingly short of a world championship in the under-23 division in September after being forced to serve a 15-second penalty in the last lap of the run.
Hauser has burst on to the scene this year, winning the world junior title and joining with Birtwhistle, Gentle and McShane to help Australia claim a mixed team relay title in Hamburg.
Backhouse broke through for a World Cup win the Czech Republic and finished 13th on the WTS rankings this year, the third Australian behind Gentle (second) and McShane (11th). Triathlon Australia chief executive Miles Stewart last month said performance was the key criteria for selection and he had full faith in his organisation’s policy ahead of final delibrtations for the team.
“Our funding is the way that it’s all about winning medals at major events and (the Commonwealth Games) is a major event, so we’ll be picking the best team we can,” Stewart admitted.
“There is only one philosophy really behind our selection policy and that’s to win.”
Royle, who had a late start to the season after battling a foot injury, rated himself only a “50-50 chance” for the team.