Relay Team Goes Top Ten At World Champs To End Tough Weekend

Sam Osborne (Photo: Janos Schmidt / ITU; click to enlarge)

A young Mixed Relay Team did their best to salvage some pride for New Zealand's triathletes with 9th in the Mixed Relay Championships in Hamburg today, on what was otherwise a tough weekend for the Kiwis.

Including debutants Sophie Corbidge and Sam Osborne, the Relay Team battled for prominence for much of the race with Andrea Hewitt, Ryan Sissons and Corbidge holding among the top 5 for the first 3 legs. Osborne, a late replacement for injured Tony Dodds, brought the Team home among a wave of chasers from behind.

Hewitt had been among a lead group of 4 from the bike, including eventual winners France, Great Britain and Germany, before slipping slightly off the pace without her usual turnover on tired run legs. And that epitomised the struggles for the rest of the Team over the weekend, which combined the seventh round of the World Triathlon Series with the annual Mixed Relay Championships in Germany's city of sport.

Hewitt had to settle for 8th place in the individual race on Saturday, slipping from 3rd to 4th in the World Series ranking, as she again struggled to make the lead swim pack. Leading the chasers to bring the packs back together over the 20km bike, she paid the price over the 5km run to finish in 0:57:52, 28 sec off the podium. Simone Ackermann was next Kiwi home in 36th place, running strongly after an uncharacteristically disappointing swim, with Rebecca Clarke home in 46th and Corbidge withdrawing on the run with stomach pains.

In the men's race, Dodds exited the water 12th before immediately experiencing pain from a bike crash in training earlier in the week, and stepping down after riding just a couple of the 6 laps. It was a disappointing end for the Highlander after a string of strong results had lifted him towards the top 12 in the World Series for the first time in his career. It was left to Sissons to salvage something for the Team, coming home 35th to claim NZ's only men's ranking points for the day.

The performances will have been a blow to the team having built some momentum with strong performances from Hewitt, Dodds, Ackermann and Corbidge earlier in the Series, and with the Rio Olympic Test Event on the horizon in 2 weeks.

High performance director Graeme Maw said "It was a tough weekend below the standards we have been building. Since London 7 weeks ago, the squad has taken on a very heavy training block at altitude in preparation for the goals at the end of the year, and plainly we didn't quite get the recovery right for this weekend. It's miles in the bank though for the Chicago Grand Final and learning in preparation for Rio next year. We will certainly be looking to refine now for the Test Event in 2 weeks time."

New Zealand's standings in the ITU Olympic Rankings have the Team holding 3 women's spots and 2 men's for the 2016 Rio Games, with no change following yesterday's results.

Tri NZ lead coach Jon Brown reflected on the weekend.

"It was a disappointing weekend for sure but with some good learnings for the Rio event in 2 weeks. Some of our issues were health related and some were timing or preparation related that need adjusting in future. Athletes bounced back a little today with both Ryan and Sophie looking like different athletes so I don't we are too far off where I'd like. Missing Tony in the relay obviously today but Sam stepped up and gave a good account of himself in a very high quality field."

Osborne came into the team as a replacement for Tony Dodds who was forced to withdraw with a hip injury as a result of a bike crash two weeks ago. Dodds had hoped to be fit enough to contribute in Hamburg but the resulting hip injury proved too much of an impediment on a frustrating weekend for the 14th ranked athlete in the world.

Results: ITU World Triathlon, Hamburg

Mixed Team Relay

(300m swim, 6.6km bike. 1.6km run)