SCOTT LLEWELLYN CONFIRMS HIS PLACE ON JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
TRIATHLON, February 24: Newcastle's Scott Llewellyn is the first triathlete to book his place on the Australian Junior Triathlon team for the ITU World Championships in Beijing following a dynamic display to win the Australian Junior Sprint Championship in Geelong.
It was the 18-year-old from Lake Macquarie's third win from three starts to wrap up the 2011 2XU Australian ITU Junior Championship Series.
The victory came after a two-day live-in training camp with Triathlon legend Chris McCormack in Sydney.
Llewellyn, who has been working hard with long-time personal coach Peter Mauro and the two-time Hawaii Ironman Champion and former World Champion and World Cup Champion McCormack, is the first competitor to gain automatic selection for the Beijing Championships on September 10 and 11.
Llewellyn continued his domination of the Series with a hard fought win over Gunnedah's Jack Hickey with Canberra's Youth Olympics representative Michael Gosman third.
Llewellyn and Hickey both emerged from the swim just behind Victorian Marcel Walkington and the trio hit the transition from bike to run together before Llewellyn eased away from a valiant Hickey over final kilometres to take the win by 11 seconds.
Gosman powered home from the chase pack to surge past Walkington to grab the bronze medal.
In the women's race it was Wollongong's Tamsyn Moana-Veale who stormed home with the second fastest run leg of the day to win her first race of the 2XU series ahead of her Illawarra-based training partner Ashlee Bailie (WA) with series leader Ellie Salthouse (QLD) third.
Moana-Veale, a former New Zealander, is also in the box seat for World Championship selection after her eye-catching win. She must now fulfil the ITU Junior Qualifier times for the one-kilometre swim and five-kilometre track run to confirm her place on the team to Beijing.
Llewellyn admitted his win in Geelong was a huge relief.
"I had been thinking about that day for over 12 months and winning is more than I could have dreamed of," Llewellyn said.
"After a good swim we (Jack Hickey and myself) went as hard as we could on the bike but the run really hurt...my legs are so dead, they are shot.
"But I have to admit all the racing that we do in NSW really pays off, it is probably why NSW are dominating.
"Chris McCormack has told me he has raced up to 24 races in the off season in Europe just to get that race practice, you can't beat it.
"I really enjoyed the couple of days living and training with Chris in Sydney and it was just the best experience.
"He is one of the reasons why I got into Triathlon in the first place. He has inspired me to do the best I possible can in the sport and he's a man who has done it all."
Triathlon Australia's National Talent and Development Manager Craig Redman confirmed Llewellyn's selection on the Australian team.
"Scott has fulfilled the automatic selection criteria and is the first person to book his place on the plane for China, subject to formal approval by the Triathlon Australia Board," said Redman.
"He has certainly put all of his promise into action this year and he could not hide his emotions when he crossed the line - he was ecstatic.
"Scott is someone who has not been out of Australia so to be the first boy selected for the World Championships is pretty special.
"There is no doubt that he has shown throughout this Series that he is the complete package. Scott has been racing this Series for a few years now but this year he has certainly shone through under Peter's coaching and his friendship with Chris McCormack has also helped him I'm sure."
McCormack announced he wants to set his sights on next year's London Olympics and he has already met with Triathlon Australia's High Performance Manager Michael Flynn to discuss his plans.
TAMSYN MOANA-VEALE WINS FIRST NATIONAL CROWN
The women's race saw Moana-Veale strike another victory for NSW and she is almost certain to join Llewellyn in the Australian colours in Beijing.
Moana-Veale, Bailie, and Salthouse were in a chase pack of five on the 20km bike leg who lost time to the storming swim/bike combinations of Queensland athletes Maddison Allen and Brittany Forster.
The dynamic duo put over a minute gap into the chase pack before Moana-Veale asserted herself with a brilliant five-kilometre run leg to overhaul both girls at the end of the first lap.
Sixteen year old Jaz Hedgeland (WA) made an impressive debut to finish fourth while Maddison Allen hung tough to hold down fifth place from a fast finishing Paige Single.
"My run proved to be my strongest and most dangerously effective leg and I was able to pull back over a minute on the front two runners and 30 seconds on a breakaway athlete," said Moana-Veale.
"By the 2.5km mark I was in the lead and feeling great as I continued to extend my lead over the rest of the field to a final 34 seconds wins and a possible spot in the Junior World Championship team for Beijing later in the year.
"What I found most exciting was the change in my mental attitude throughout the race and especially in the run where I had the though process ‘I deserve this World's spot and I want it more than anyone else here' which I believe enabled me (to) ‘focus on the processes' and achieve my first ever Australian ITU Junior win."
MINOR PLACES IN ITU JUNIOR SERIES UP FOR GRABS
While Scott Llewellyn has wrapped up the Junior Men's title, the battle for second and third places are still wide open, leading into race four, the ITU Oceania Triathlon Championships in Wellington, New Zealand on March 21, which will also double as the annual Trans Tasman Challenge Teams Event.
Jack Hickey (NSW) sits in second place on 21 points, followed by Marcel Walkington (VIC) on 20 and the consistent Brayden Tucker (QLD) in fourth place with 18.
Braden Ludlow (NSW), Kenji Nener (WA), James Chronis (VIC), Shane Farrant (ACT), Dylan Evans (TAS) and Michael Gosman (ACT) round out the top ten.
The race is wide open for the series title in the ITU Junior Women with Youth Olympic silver medallist Salthouse (QLD) holding down first place by one point from newly crowned Australian ITU Junior Champion Moana-Veale (NSW) second with 18, followed by Bailie (WA) on 14.
Forster at 17-years-of-age appears to have a very bright future is in fourth place with Allen in fifth place. Next in the rankings are Amy Roberts (QLD), Brigitte Fischer (QLD), Jaz Hedgeland (WA) and Paige Single (NSW).
ITU JUNIOR POINT SCORE
JNR MEN
|
Name |
State |
Age |
Gold Coast |
Devonport |
Geelong |
Total |
|
Scott Llewellyn |
NSW |
19 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
33 |
|
Jack Hickey |
NSW |
19 |
3 |
9 |
9 |
21 |
|
Marcel Walkington |
VIC |
18 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
20 |
|
Brayden Tucker |
QLD |
19 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
18 |
|
Braden Ludlow |
NSW |
18 |
4 |
8 |
3 |
15 |
|
Kenji Nener |
WA |
18 |
9 |
|
4 |
13 |
|
James Chronis |
VIC |
19 |
7 |
4 |
|
11 |
|
Shane Farrant |
ACT |
19 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
|
Dylan Evans |
TAS |
19 |
|
7 |
1 |
8 |
|
Michael Gosman |
ACT |
19 |
|
|
8 |
8 |
JNR WOMEN
|
NAME |
State |
Age |
Gold Coast |
Geelong |
TOTAL |
|
Ellie Salthouse |
QLD |
18 |
11 |
8 |
19 |
|
Tamsyn Moana-Veale |
NSW |
18 |
7 |
11 |
18 |
|
Ashlee Bailie |
WA |
19 |
5 |
9 |
14 |
|
Brittany Forster |
QLD |
17 |
6 |
4 |
10 |
|
Maddison Allen |
QLD |
19 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
|
Amy Roberts |
QLD |
19 |
9 |
|
9 |
|
Brigitte Fischer |
QLD |
16 |
8 |
|
8 |
|
Jaz Hedgeland |
WA |
16 |
|
7 |
7 |
|
Paige Single |
NSW |
19 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
Anna Coldham |
VIC |
17 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Georgie Connor |
VIC |
17 |
4 |
|
4 |
|
Natalie Van Coevorden |
NSW |
19 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
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