World Champion Joins Australias Best Juniors

Posted in Other News

Where: Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith
When: Friday, January 11, 2013
Times: 9.00am: ITU Youth (13-115) Females; 9.45am: ITU Youth (13-115) Males; 10.45am: ITU Junior Females (16-19); 11:45am: ITU Junior Males (16-19)

Triathlon, January 11, 2013: The Australian team for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) will be joined by a host of international competitors including Japan’s world junior champion Fumika Matsumoto for Friday’s second race of the Scody Australian Junior Series at Penrith.

The round two race will act as the Test Event for the up-coming AYOF to be held at the same Sydney International Regatta Centre course on January 18 and 19.

Round one winners, Tasmania’s Jacob Birtwhistle and Queensland’s Jodie Duff will spearhead an exciting team of eight emerging Australian athletes.

The Australian team is Jacob Birtwhistle (TAS), Christian Wilson (QLD), Matt Baker (NSW) and Luke Willian (QLD) and Women – Jodie Duff (QLD), Jaz Hedgeland (WA), Holly Grice (QLD), and Anna Coldham (QLD) who has been rushed into the team following the withdrawal of Brittany Dutton through injury.

Birtwhistle dominated the opening round of the Scody Series at Runnaway Bay on the Gold Coast in December, proving to be almost unstoppable over the unique gruelling two-day event to lead the automatic qualifiers.

The 17-year-old Launceston College student, showed just why so many keen judges in the wider Australian triathlon community, are excited about his future.

He produced a stunning performance to wrap up the 2012 Super Sprint crown with 206.5 points – almost 80 points ahead of his nearest rival, Matt Baker (NSW) 128.5 pts and Luke Willian (QLD) 119.75 pts who all gained automatic selection before Christian Wilson’s addition.

Queensland training partners Duff (161.5pts) Dutton (155.5) and Grice (145.25) all gained automatic selection in the women’s team before reigning Australian Junior Champion Hedgeland was added by the selectors and Coldham came in for Dutton.

Coldham, the former Victorian, trains alongside Duff, Dutton and Grice at Dan Atkins Racing Team (DAT Racing).

Duff, who like so many young Queensland triathletes, started her career with Aqua Tera coach David McKean, will be up again Japan’s first ever ITU World Triathlon Champion in Matsumoto.

The three time National Schools champion will get her first opportunity to race the more experienced Matsumoto who dominated the wet and greasy conditions to claim her place in triathlon history in Auckland last year, pulling away at the top of the finishing straight to claim the 2012 ITU Triathlon Junior World Championship.
Matsumoto surged ahead of France’s Leonie Periault and the USA’s Tamara Gordon with less than 100 metres left to become the first Japanese ITU World Champion across the elite, U23 and junior levels.

Driven by a poor performance in the same race at the world championships in Beijing last year, where she was lapped and failed to finish, Matsumoto now has her sights set on the AYOF crown.

Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia.