It was a day of fast feet, fierce tactics and driving rain as the Oceania Triathlon Super Sprint Championships roared to life at the Gold Coast Performance Centre.
With stormy skies overhead and puddles pooling across the course, athletes dug deep in an all-day eliminator format – navigating heats, repechages and semi-finals in a bid to lock in a spot in Sunday’s Super Sprint Finals, where Oceania Triathlon titles will be on the line.
The course, featuring a 250-metre swim, 7-kilometre bike, and 1.5-kilometre run, delivered exciting and unpredictable racing throughout the day – with no margin for error in the short, sharp format.
Australia’s Callum McClusky was one of the standout performers, posting the fastest times across the heats and semi-finals to secure prime lane selection for tomorrow’s final.
“It’s really tough, short and fast racing – it’s super competitive,” McClusky said. “Everyone is really close together which makes for really honest racing out there.
“It puts me in a good position to choose a lane for the final tomorrow, that was the thinking going in. I’ll just refine a few things tomorrow that I learned from today.
“I’ll have to be good across the swim, bike and run, so making sure I’m towards the front out of the swim so I can get off the bike around the lead and use my run strength to get the win – that’s definitely my goal.
“It will certainly be hard with the short, sharp racing, you can’t make any mistakes with those fast guys who will be hard to beat over this distance.”
McClusky will be joined in Sunday’s final by a mix of emerging talent and established names, including defending champion Jayden Schofield, fellow Australians Bradley Course, Lachlan Jones and Jack Woodberry and Kiwi contenders Saxon Morgan and James Corbett.
On the women’s side, it was the Kiwis who set the pace, with Eva Goodison and Ainsley Thorpe both going undefeated through their heats and semi-finals, staking their claims as ones to watch in Sunday’s final.
There’s no shortage of Australian contenders too, with Emma Jeffcoat, Charlotte Derbyshire, Aspen Anderson, Ellie Hoitink and Kira Hedgeland booking their places in the Final after strong performances through the eliminator rounds.
Racing continues Sunday with the B and C Finals for eliminated athletes before the Oceania Triathlon Super Sprint Championship Finals, set to begin at 11:15am.
Sunday’s schedule also includes the Australian Para & Intellectual Impairment Championships, with Intellectual Impairment athletes kicking things off at 8:30am, followed by Para athletes at 11:55am. The action wraps up with the Oceania Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships at 2:15pm
Oceania Triathlon Super Sprint Championship Finals – Start Lists:
Elite Men:
Callum McClusky (AUS)
Sam Parry (NZL)
Lachlan Jones (AUS)
Jack Crome (AUS)
James Corbett (NZL)
Bradley Course (AUS)
Finnley Oliver (NZL)
Jayden Schofield (AUS)
Saxon Morgan (NZL)
Jack Woodberry (AUS)
Oscar Wootton (AUS)
Toby Powers (AUS)
Rory Thornhill (AUS)
Luke Schofield (AUS)
Christophe Gardner (AUS)
Joel Lange (NZL)
Elite Women:
Eva Goodison (NZL)
Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL)
Charlotte Derbyshire (AUS)
Emma Jeffcoat (AUS)
Sarah McClure (NZL)
Aspen Anderson (AUS)
Charlotte Brown (NZL)
Ava Henville (AUS)
Ainsley Thorpe (NZL)
Brea Roderick (NZL)
Addison Houslip (AUS)
Ellie Hoitink (AUS)
Kira Hedgeland (AUS)
Claire Spicknall (AUS)
Sian Munks (AUS)
Hayley Cornwall (NZL)
