Europe Triathlon

With the deciding leg of the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series coming up on Sunday the top contenders spoke to the world’s media at the Gold Coast Grand Final to talk about their aspirations for race day.

Local attention focussed on Emma Moffatt, the Australian Olympic Games bronze medallist.

“I guess I’ve had my best year yet, but the whole season has been leading into this weekend so let’s see if I can finish it off and have a good race. I’m thinking of it as another race, although there is that incentive of being the world champion if you go well. I think the season has turned out well, I’ve enjoyed the series and the points system and I think it’s been good for our sport and it makes this weekend’s race particularly exciting. We’ve got over 900 age group athletes racing for Australia so hopefully they won’t be too tired after their racing to come and support us, it’s a real privilege to be on home turf.”

Her biggest challenger is the ever improving Lisa Norden from Sweden who fondly calls the Gold Coast her second home.

“I’ve been getting stronger and stronger with every race so I’m looking forward to going out and seeing if I have even more in the tank now. I’ve never really had any high expectations of myself and I’ve been going through my triathlon career one step at a time, but last year was a bit of a breakthrough for me and I knew I could make it. This race is probably as tough for me now as stepping into the under 23 world champs in 2007, so every race is a big challenge and I’ve just got to do my best to get a good result out of it. The Gold Coast is a bit like a back yard away from Europe and I’ve put in some great weeks of training since being back here after Yokohama, so I’m looking forward to getting out there and having a go.”

Andrea Hewitt gave the media some insight into how the race may pan out over the relatively flat course.

“I’ve raced really well this season and I’m looking forward to the Grand Final. I really want to keep my ranking and grab a world championship medal. I’ll be looking out for the girls around me, but it’s such a strong field that anyone could take the win. I think the race will come down to the run, we’re all so close in the swim and bike and then it’ll be a big head to head; I can’t see anyone letting an attack go on the bike.”

Daniela Ryf could have defended her 2008 under 23 world championship title on the Gold Coast, but after a super year is firmly focussed on the elite competition.

“When I started the season my goal was just to race a lot and have fun, but it’s turned out really well and I’ve had some great results. The level of running is so close between us at elite level, whereas when I won the under 23 world championships last year it was more about getting away on the bike and competing against much fewer athletes. I’ve really enjoyed travelling to the different cities throughout the series, for example Washington was a really cool race and Hamburg was awesome with lots of spectators. The improved live coverage and media has really helped our sport and this year has been a great step in making triathlon more popular.”