TRIATHLETES KEEN TO RECLAIM TOP STATUS
AUSTRALIA’S triathletes are chasing more than just gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The baby-faced team – led by hometown star and gold medal favourite Ashleigh Gentle – are determined to restore Australia’s status as the powerhouse nation in the three-disciplined sport.
Australia has slid down the pecking order in recent years behind the likes of Great Britain, through brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, and the US competitors.
Emma Moffatt was Australia’s last world champion while the country hasn’t had a Commonwealth Games champion since Emma Snowsill and Brad Kahlefeldt won the women’s and men’s double at the 2006 Melbourne Games.
The names of Snowsill and Kahlefeldt feature on the trisuits of the Games team.
With the Games now back on Australia soil for the first time since their success, Gentle said the event next month shaped as their chance to lift the nation to another period of dominance.
“It’s hugely important to the team and we have seen the likes of Brad and Emma winning both gold in Melbourne,” Gentle said. “That’s what we want to do, we want to get back up there, be competitive and be one of the best nations in the world.”
Gentle said winning last year’s world mixed relay championship was the beginning of the momentum shift ahead of the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) event at Southport on April 5.
All four members of the winning relay team – Gentle, 27, Charlotte McShane, 27, Matt Hauser, 19, and Jake Birtwhistle, 23 – are part of the Commonwealth Games team, along with Gillian Backhouse, 26, and Luke Willian, 21.
The group will be backed by an all-star paratriathlete team consisting of Gold Coast’s Sara Tait, Bill Chaffey, Scott Crowley, Nic Beveridge, Emily Tapp, Sara Tait and Lauren Parker.