Breaking Birt the goal for Spain’s title hopeful
FEW know the power of Jake Birtwhistle’s finishing kick like World Triathlon Series leader Mario Mola.
But the Spaniard says trying to break the rising Tasmanian star before the run leg in Sunday’s grand final showdown on the Gold Coast would be coun- ter-productive to both as they attempt to seal top places on the podium.
Mola has an outstanding record on the Gold Coast stretching back to 2009 – the last time the world championships were held in the city.
The Spaniard won the junior men’s title here almost a decade ago, before a second placing and two wins in the WTS rounds on the Coast over the past three years.
“I was the junior world champion in 2009, so it’s great to be here back with the option to fight for another title,” Mola said. “The Gold Coast has always been a lucky place for me and a place I look forward to being back, so I’ll try to make the most of the opportunity.”
A former Australian junior athletics representative Birtwhistle is known for his withering finishing speed and while Mola hopes to have him covered in the final kilometres, he is unlikely to be sweating on the 23-year-old’s position throughout the race.
“I got a chance to train with Jake, so we are training partners apart from friends and then competitors while racing,” Mola said. “In this race, we both have similar interests – we both want to be as close as possible to the front of the race as soon as possible and not give anything to chance.
“We really need to make the race happen, so we need to be next to each other rather than fighting against each other for the first part of the race.”