Heat on my rivals, says champ
SHANNON Eckstein says the pressure is on the rest of the field heading into this weekend’s Australian ironman final, with the man regarded as the greatest of all time undeterred if he does not add to his eight titles.
With the Aussies cancelled midway through last year’s carnival on the Gold Coast in the wake of Cyclone Debbie, the ironman title sits vacant.
Eckstein was the last man to win, with the eighth of his victories coming at Maroochydore, on the Sunshine Coast, in 2016.
But the 34-year-old is up against a hungry pack desperate to add an Australian title to their honour list.
Ali Day, Matt Bevilacqua and Matt Poole have all won a Kellogg’s ironman series but the Australian title still eludes them.
Open racing started at the Aussies in Perth yesterday, with the trio determined to book a place in Sunday’s ironman final in a bid to add their names to the record books.
But they will have to overcome Eckstein, who started his eight-event program yesterday back to full fitness after overcoming an ankle injury he picked up during the Nutri-Grain series.
“Pretty much the pinnacle of the sport as an ironman is to win the Australian title,” Eckstein said.
“The Kellogg’s series comes and goes and there’s another professional series that has been there before and the Gold has come and gone and now it’s been back for a few years.
“But the one thing that’s always been there and has the big tradition is the Aussie ironman title.
“It’s a big one to win and I’ve won eight of them and they’re all really special …. It’d be nice to get another one.”
Bevilacqua won a maiden series title this season, just pipping Day, who claimed a fifth Coolangatta Gold last October.
Poole beat Eckstein to win his first series last year but he, Day and Bevilacqua are still looking for an elusive Aussies crown.
“They’ve had very good years and my year hasn’t been great,” Eckstein said.
“I got second in the Gold and won a round of the series, so it’s been OK but by my standards it’s been a pretty poor year.
“But if you win the Australian ironman title, it turns a pretty average year into a really good year.
“Those other guys have been racing really well the last two years but this one’s the big one.
“You’ve got the biggest crowd we have in our sport gets down to this final, so there’s a lot of pressure on you and it’s only a really short race, so you’ve got to get everything right.”