Triathlon New Zealand is in Rio for the Olympic test event this weekend with a dual purpose, partly to race and race well but the bigger picture is about scoping the venue and conditions for the 2016 Olympic Games event.
New Zealand will be represented in the race by Andrea Hewitt, Simone Ackermann and Rebecca Clark in the women's and Ryan Sissons in the men's, with races going at midnight (women) and 3:30am (men) overnight tonight NZT.
Tri NZ lead coach Jon Brown is in Rio and describes what he is looking to get from the week in Brazil.
"From our perspective we are here to understand more about the course, environmental conditions and to get a better idea of what should be the best logistical plan next year in terms of pre-race preparation and timing. The event this year will let us understand better what we need to do to train specifically for next year's race and also to see where our athletes are on this course in relation to the athletes from other countries.
"This will be our final opportunity to come here so we need to get the details right and gather what we can to make the most informed decisions regarding team racing strategy and delivering the best result. Being here has been very beneficial for the athletes to understand the reasoning behind our team strategy and preparation but this will be reviewed and updated based on what we can gather from tomorrow."
Tri NZ high performance director Graeme Maw is also in Rio on an information gathering exercise in a city that can be unpredictable at best on any given day.
"We are currently holding and projecting 3 women's spots and 2 men - hence the team size here – and using the event to learn and practise as much as possible. 'Control the controllables', you could say, while at the same time accepting you just can't control Rio.
"So phlegmatic flexibility is probably the order of the day in this city – the epitome of lead coach Jon Brown and his own success in Olympic Games. It's a bit of a theme of focused simplicity, and while Sunday's race is important in itself, the real key is learning ahead of 2016."
