Gentle survives pre-Games crash scare
Australia opt for quantity over Comm Games quality
COMMONWEALTH Games medal hope Ashleigh Gentle has survived a massive scare after coming off her bike during the opening round of the World Triathlon Series just weeks out from the Commonwealth Games.
Gold Coaster Gentle and fellow Games representative Gillian Backhouse were both involved in the carnage on a dangerously slippery course in the opening WTS round at Abu Dhabi.
Rain ahead of the race made the course around the Yas Marina Formula One Grand Prix particularly slippery, with the race marred by several crashes.
Both Australians managed to get up and finish the race – Gentle in 13th place and Backhouse 27th – with Triathlon Australia high performance manager Justin Drew reporting both were all right.
Australia’s Natalie Van Coevorden survived the carnage to finish third but the focus was on world No. 2 Gentle, who is among the medal favourites for the opening event of the Gold Coast Games in less than five weeks.
Gentle took to Instagram after the race to assure fans she was OK.
“Thankful that I finished #WTSAbuDhabi with just some bruising and an ice pack, with men and women slipping on the F1 track all day,” she said. “Thinking of those who were a lot worse.”
SWIMMING Australia has plumped for hometown domination over tough love after filling its athlete quota for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games despite most of those selected failing to meet the “A” standard.
Just 12 swimmers in 15 events recorded “A” qualifiers during the meet to achieve automatic nomination, with selectors opting to take those that had notched “B” qualifying marks and finished inside the top three in their events.
Head coach Jacco Verhaeren said while a world top-eight time would remain a yardstick for the event, a full team was warranted at a home Games.
“We do have the “B” times and they definitely served their purpose,” Verhaeren said.
“We don’t want to leave medal potential and very good swimmers home because they didn’t make the “A” cut. That’s why we have that back door of the “B” cut and we even made the decision because it’s a home Games to reward the non-Olympic events, which is, I think, very important.
“We’re competing on home soil, we want a full team, and we want to compete in every event for medals.”
The team includes 49 ablebodied swimmers, 21
para athletes and 10 rookies. Kaylee McKeown is the youngest of the able-bodied squad at 16 with Gold Coast’s Elijah Winnington (below) the youngest male at 17. West Aussie backstroker Holly Barratt is the oldest at 30 years of age.
Twenty-one para-athletes were also named on Saturday night after qualifying before the meet for the most inclusive Games in history.
NSW pair Jasmine Greenwood (13) and Matt Levy (31) are the youngest and oldest para-athletes.
Verhaeren said the team included the best people in each event, maximising Australia’s chances in five weeks.