Australia's Last Hurrah at Qualifying 3 Individual Olympic Spots
It all comes down to this.
With the final Olympic points up for grabs this weekend, the upcoming Oceania Standard Distance Championships in Port Douglas and Huatulco World Cup will be crucial in determining Triathlon Australia’s eligibility for 3 Olympic spots for the individual men and women’s Olympic triathlon in Tokyo next month.
The scenario for qualification is simple, finish the qualifying period this weekend with 3 athletes ranked inside the top 30 on both the men’s and women’s Olympic points lists and be rewarded with 3 spots in each race. With 3rd ranked Aussie female Jaz Hedgeland currently sitting in 37th and 2nd and 3rd ranked Aussie males Aaron Royle and Luke Willian currently ranked 30th & 33rd respectively, securing big ranking points this weekend is a must for Australia to join USA as the only other country sending a full quota of athletes to Tokyo.
The situation on the women’s side is simple, for Australia to land themselves 3 spots, Jaz needs to finish strongly in Port Douglas to ensure she finishes in the top 30, any other result would leave only 2 Aussie women to compete in the Olympics for the first time since triathlon became an Olympic sport at the 2000 games.
On the men’s side the situation is more complex but has been made easier for Australia with the Huatulco withdrawal of number 34 ranked Brit Tom Bishop who had been pushing through a ridiculous schedule of 5 races in 5 weeks trying to ensure the Brits had 3 men in the top 30. A Willian win in Port Douglas would put Australia in a strong position to earn maximum quota.
The international athletes to watch on the men’s side at Huatulco will be USA’s Eli Hemming and Mexico’s Cristanto Grajales currently ranked number 30 and 31. A poor result from both men leaves the door open for the Aussies to be successful in landing 3 men on start line in Tokyo.
With securing Olympic spots coming down to the last minute and the change in qualifying for this year’s Olympics falling so heavily on third ranked athletes, the race in Port Douglas this weekend is sure to be one not to miss.
