Triathlon New Zealand Looks Back On Beijing World Champs

16th September 2011

Triathlon New Zealand Looks Back On Beijing World Champs

Triathlon New Zealand is looking back on a successful ITU World Championships in Beijing, with some individual highlights but with the team culture shining through strongly in results as well, something Tri NZ has been working on with the athletes and their personal coaches.

The obvious Beijing highlights for Tri NZ National Coach Greg Fraine were the wins for young Mikayla Nielsen in the elite Junior Women’s race and the performance of Andrea Hewitt in winning Sunday’s Dextro Energy World Champs Series Grand Finale, with Kate McIlroy finishing 6th in the same race. Indeed these are the first World Champs where New Zealand has won two elite gold medals (of the six on offer at the event), dating back to the first ITU event in 1989.

“Mikayla is a genuine talent, something we have known for the brief time she has been in the sport,” said Fraine. “With just two years experience, her performance was outstanding in a quality field but more incredibly she has two more years as an Elite Junior, her potential is just fantastic.

“Andrea has been our best athlete all season and has taken the mantle of number one medal hope in London. In recent times the women have taken the spotlight from the men, who have enjoyed great success for a decade now; we are now in a phase where Andrea and Kate in particular are looming as medal chances in London next year. The women should be celebrated for that just as the men have been for the past ten years.”

Fraine also referred to one factor from the weekend that might not have been obvious to outsiders watching the racing, the importance of team work, something the entire High Performance team at Tri NZ has been working towards along with the individual coaches of the athletes in the programme.

“What we have seen over the weekend in many of the elite races is the emergence of a team culture that we, the athletes and their coaches have been working on for some time. Andrea’s performance was incredible but the work that was done in that race by all the other Kiwis contributed. Kate and Debbie worked in the bike breakaway to maintain the pace and keep other dangerous athletes at bay before the run. And, while Nicky’s role was different, it was no less important as she was tactically aware enough to do nothing to help the chasing pack make any gains – to her own cost but certainly to the benefit of her team mates. This was a significant day for our sport in that team aspect.”

Fraine also highlighted other performances of note given circumstances leading into the event.

“You don’t always see the entire picture during the race. The likes of Tom Davison in the U23 men and Aaron Barclay in the U19 men have struggled with injury but both raced aggressively and impressively on the front of the fields until that lack of running in the legs saw them fade during the final leg. But these two have real potential and given an injury free year of training I have no doubt their running will return to where we know it needs to be.

“The personal coaches of the athletes must be acknowledged also, their contribution and commitment to the athletes and Tri NZ should not be overlooked. They play a crucial part in our programme as well as the individual success of their athletes, as of course do the athletes themselves with their ongoing commitment to the sport.”

Next up for a number of the leading New Zealanders is an appearance at the Yokohama World Cup race this weekend, an event postponed from earlier in the year. Then many will refocus for the Auckland ITU World Cup race in November on the same course as will be used for the 2012 ITU World Champs Grand Finale on Labour Weekend 2012.

Click here for final World Championship Rankings

For further information visit www.triathlon.org.nz

ENDS

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