Selection shift boosts Hauser’s Olympic hopes
TRIATHLON Australia has moved to significantly increase the difficulty of securing automatic selection for the Tokyo Olympics, opening the door for Matt Hauser to bolt into contention.
Under a new benchmark set by the nation’s governing body for triathlon, athletes will need to finish in the top three and be the first Australian to cross the line at the Tokyo test event in August in order to secure their ticket to the 2020 Games.
Previously the required result included a top 10 finish.
Gold Coast-based Triathlon Australia national performance centre head coach Dan Atkins theorised the move was made in order to ensure whoever qualified could perform on the biggest stage in 2020.
It could also enable Triathlon Australian to use discretion for all three expected spots for the men and women.
Hauser finished fourth at the 2018 Commonwealth Games over the sprint distance format (750m swim, 20km bike ride, 5km run) and won gold with the mixed relay team but hasn’t raced in the World Triathlon Series in over a year due to injury and illness.
Atkins said the amount of discretionary spots and the introduction of the mixed relay format meant Hauser could play a crucial role for Australia.
“The mixed team relay is a big focus for us and it might help Matt,” Atkins said.
“We may not pick three people purely for the individual race. That is me looking from the outside and thinking where can we get best bang for buck with Matt. Matt obviously wants to do both races but we will just chip away at it and see.”