Athletes get early glimpse of Tokyo
THE upcoming Yokohama World Triathlon Series race will become a scouting mission for Triathlon Australia who will use it to find a base for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The governing body is already planning for the next Olympics after a strong Com- monwealth Games that included gold in the mixed team relay while Jake Birtwhistle won silver (individual race).
The Yokohama leg of the WTS will be held on May 13 and the proximity of the race to Tokyo will enable Triathlon Australia officials to begin the search for potential locations for the Olympics, and the qualifying event in 2019.
Yokohama is about an hour south of Tokyo.
“We have to start working out where to be 10 days out from the (Olympics) and how we can continue to get our training in,” Coast-based Australian under-23 development head coach Dan Atkins said.
“The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games were easy but at the (2016) Rio Olympics we had to do a lot of training on stationary trainers because we couldn’t get out on to the roads.
“We need to get all these things in place so we can start planning now.”
The population size and urban nature of Tokyo and it’s second biggest city Yokohama means Aussie triathletes may face similar challenges to Rio.