With just over a month until the best triathletes in the world descend upon Hyde Park for the London Olympics, qualification is sealed and national federations have made their selections.
The Kitzbühel World Triathlon Series in Austria this weekend provides an ideal opportunity to lay down a marker in what for many will be their final international race before the big day.
“We’ll get a real feel for where the world is at in their preparations ahead of London” commented Triathlon Ireland’s High Performance Director Chris Jones.
Aileen Morrison goes into Saturdays race seeded 4th and comes off the back of Ireland’s best ever result – a silver medal at the Madrid leg of the World Triathlon Series.
Morrison has had a promising season boasting her ranking to 7th in the World thanks to podium finishes in European Cup, World Cup and most recently World Series Races. While all have been stunning performances Jones has identified areas where improvements can be made.
”We’ve been working on swim performance as it’s important to make the lead pack and also on the technical aspects of T2 where you can lose a lot of time if you get it wrong.”
“Aileen is in a pretty heavy block of training at the moment so we’re not so much looking at the overall result but more to the technical aspects of the race.” Added Jones.
Other top contenders will be Switzerland’s Nicola Sprig who has been in dominant form this season claiming the European Championship title and sprinting clear of Morrison in the closing stages of the Madrid WTS. New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt goes into the race seeded first and has the opportunity to claim a 5th medal in Kitzbühel.
Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile will be looking to continue her build to London 2012 and improve upon her 3rd place finish at the Madrid WTS. There are also a host of other athletes from top triathlon nations who will be vying to show what their capable of.
The women’s race gets underway at 2:06pm Irish time and can be viewed on the BBC Red Button or triathlonlive.tv.
