ROUND 4, SURFERS PARADISE Replay the key to rise

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BRIELLE Cooper doesn’t usually watch her races back.

The 2017-18 Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series winner revealed she usually only gets up replays of successful races so she can analyse where she made her winning move.

But the 20-year-old this week spent hours in front of the television to try to turn her summer around.

“I haven’t watched too many races back before,” said Cooper, who has chalked up results of ninth, ninth and 12th so far this season.

“I’ve been going back and watching some of my races and looking at mistakes I’ve made and how I can overcome them.

“I’ve watched ones where I’ve been successful to see what I did well but now it’s about trying to work out how I can get better.”

Cooper currently sits 10th on the overall series leaderboard after three rounds, an unfamiliar position for the Kurrawa young gun who finished fifth last summer.

Despite her early results, Cooper is adamant her best is yet to come. “For me, coming into this season, I was feeling the fittest and strongest I’ve ever been,” she said.

“I haven’t been putting myself in the best possible positions during races but I know I’ve done the work.

“At Bulli it was probably one of the roughest races I’ve been in and I let myself get pushed around a bit instead of putting my foot down.

“I just need to get in front and get to clean water because I’m comfortable in that position.”

Last week Cooper had a meeting with Body Science owner Greg Young, who has successfully mentored Olympic champions Stephanie Rice (swimming) and Ken Wallace (kayak), to perfect her nutrition.

“I’m so lucky to have Body Science supporting me,” she said. “With back-to-back races every fortnight, it’s so important to keep my immunity up and make sure I’m doing everything I can do so I can perform on race day.”

Tomorrow Cooper will return to her happy hunting ground at Surfers Paradise where she has claimed a third and second place in the past two years.

The ironwomen are preparing for the new “specialist” format, which consists of four separate four-minute races, one for each discipline of swim, board, ski and run before finishing with a full iron race.

“I’m more of an ironwoman so individual races aren’t my thing but I’m pretty excited to see how it goes,” Cooper said.

“I went to check conditions but love racing at Surfers.”