BELOW:

• NFs in Europe support voiding Perth elections
• Ten days after: Eventscorp issues an open letter
• Worlds snafu: Computer to blame, they say
• Perth run was also short in ‘97 Worlds
• Jones: Triathlon Australia didn’t listen
• Men's Elite: Marceau's magnificent upset
• Hackett was fading, but her star was rising
• “Short-course triathlon” gets new meaning
• Harrop withdraws, makes room for Ashton
• Carter races for Olympic selection
• Aussies still lead the pack at Perth
• No disconnect: Where the cybercafes in Perth are.
• Despite the odds, Beven still hoping for Perth

Perth run was also short in ‘97 Worlds

May 1, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

Sunday was not the first time that the run course for a Perth-hosted ITU World Triathlon Championships was short: It was also a few hundred yards short in the 1997 World Championships.

Sunday’s gaffe -- when the run was shortened to less than 8k for the women’s race -- prompted Triathlonlive.com to look back at the official times for the 1997 championships. Some examples of the men’s 10k performances that day:

- 29:32 by Australia’s Chris McCormack, the winner;
- 29:37 by Australia’s Greg Welch (6th overall);
- 29:44 by New Zealand’s Paul Amey (7th overall)
- 29:46 by New Zealand’s Hamish Carter (2nd overall);
- 29:51 by Canada’s Simon Whitfield (9th overall);
- 29:56 by New Zealand’s Jamie Hunt (10th overall);
- 30:04 by Britain’s Simon Lessing (3rd overall);
- 30:09 by Venezuela’s Gilberto Gonzalez (13th overall).

For women, the fastest 10k times in 1997 -- on the same short course -- were 32:53 by Emma Carney, the winner; 33:05 by Jackie Gallagher, the runner-up; and 33:12 by Erika Molnar (11th overall).

Interestingly, pre-race statistics on the ITU’s official website gave credit to Carney’s 32:53 as the fastest-ever run in a World Championship -- yet made no mention of the six sub-30 men’s races on the same day, same course. Instead, the ITU noted:

“Fastest runners: Luc van Lierde's 30:08 run stage (in Cleveland) in 1996 saw the Belgian haul himself into the silver medal position by the race finish, his time worthy of winning many 10km national titles on the athletics track.”

Obviously in Perth in 1997, seven men - and very nearly an eighth - ran faster than the time that ITU credit’s as the fastest-ever run in a World Championships. But perhaps as an acknowledgement that the course was short that day, they just overlook those results rather than include them with an asterisk.

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Jones: Triathlon Australia didn’t listen

May 1, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

One Australian’s personal protest was quickly dismissed by the ITU’s competition jury, and a second Australian’s protest didn’t even make that far. That’s the latest twist in the ill-fated ITU Triathlon World Championships.

Training partners Chris McCormack and Michellie Jones both had reasons to feel wronged on Sunday. McCormack, who says his chances for Olympic selection were severely curtailed when he was confused on the course, managed to at least file a protest on his own. But when Jones, already an Olympian, asked Triathlon Australia to lodge a protest over the severely short women’s run, she was told -- she thinks erroneously -- that the time to protest had elapsed.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Emery Holmik, TA’s Olympic athlete program manager, told Jones she was too late in bringing up her point. But Jones, the third-place finisher, says no; she and runner-up Carol Montgomery of Canada were together when the error was revealed.

ITU did consider a protest from Triathlon Canada, but it was dismissed.

Jones believes that either she or Montgomery could have passed winner Nicole Hackett if the race had gone the full 10k. She feels the Worlds results were so distorted that they should not count toward Olympic selection.

“I don't think the worlds should even count because it was not over the proper Olympic distance,” Jones told reporter Louise Evans. “The course was short ... I don't think the results are valid.

“ ... The race would have been different if there was another 2km. It is not just the medals that are affected, there is financial loss from prize money and race bonuses from sponsors. It has an overall effect. It is a shame it has happened to our sport.

“ ... Once again my federation has let me down. Maybe the title should not be awarded after everything that happened.”

Jones surmises that Triathlon Australia held back her protest in the interest of preserving an “Aussie win.”

Journalists, too, inquired about the time discrepancies after seeing that, according to official times, most of the women broke the current world record for 10k of 29:31.78. Yet, Matt Price noted in reporting for The Australian on Monday: “For more than an hour, ITU officials denied there was a problem. “It's alright, this is a fast course,” was one organiser's response.”

Even the ITU’s official press release, issued hours after the race, made no mention of the chaos. It described the run portion of the event simply like this:

“Out on the run, Hackett surged to the front determined to secure her place on the Australian Olympic team. Down the field run specialists, Jones and Montgomery poured on the steam and quickly began to mow down the field. In the end an elated Hackett held on to take the gold with Montgomery confirming the comeback of the year to take home silver and Michellie Jones charging home for the bronze. Today’s result means Hackett will now join Michellie Jones on the Australian Olympic team for Sydney 2000. American Barb Lindquist put in a gutsy run to tie up fourth.”

A day later, the planned press conference for Monday morning with the World medalists was canceled. Nor were ITU officials anywhere close to the scene -- they had all left Perth on early-morning flights, even though the hosting Events Corporation had scheduled an “Aussie barbie” to close out the festivities that evening.

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Men's Elite: Marceau's magnificent upset

April 30, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

The mid-afternoon downpour during the closing event of the ITU Triathlon World Championships, the men’s elite race, wasn’t the only rain on the Australians’ parade. What was supposed to be a showcase of Sydney-bound Aussie talent, turned into a sort of European revenge, led by France’s surprise winner, Olivier Marceau.

While the runner-up, Peter Robertson, and third-place finisher, Craig Walton, regained some of the respect due the host country, these championships confirmed that the out-of-season Europeans were race-ready anyway.

France’s Carl Blasco (4th) and Stephan Bignet (8th), and Netherlands’ Eric Van Der Linden (6th) and Dennis Looze (9th) mixed well with the Australians and New Zealanders -- plus American Hunter Kemper (7th). For all of the top-10 finishers, it was a do-or-die day when Olympic inclusion was on the line.

The French were super-charged, as were the Kiwis, because they had to prove to their selectors that they are Sydney-worthy. Marceau had been ranked just No. 33 in the world going into the race; he ended up with a No. 15 world ranking.

Robertson was out to prove that his April 16 win -- and automatic Sydney selection -- was not a fluke. In just these last two races, his stock has risen from No. 112 to No. 49 to, now, No. 19. And Walton -- included on Team Australia only after appealing his incident-marred 24th-place finish kept him out of the selectors’ immediate view -- showed his appeal was in the right.

Even Marceau was surprised with his win. He was hoping only for a top-10 finish -- but managed to make it two titles for Frenchmen on the day. Earlier, Frederic Belaubre took the junior title.

Marceau has been training in Gold Coast, Queensland, since February with Col Stewart’s group.

Marceau managed to win partly because he shared the work on the cycling leg with the two other Frenchmen in the leading pack, Blasco and Bignet. The rain -- which had not bothered any of the day’s earlier races -- made for tricky conditions.

Walton, with his formidable swim-cycle combination, led into the run as usual. But Marceau ran him down, winning in 1:51:40, followed by Robertson. Marceau, who ran 31:45, ended with a 14-second win over Robertson, who ran 31:01, fastest split of the day.

The run had been the sore spot in the women’s race, as they were directed to do only three of their four laps, finishing their races with a less-than-8k run. The error was recognized before the men started, but still a protest was lodged. Aussie Chris McCormack finished in 15th, not pleased that his Olympic hopes were in peril after thinking the men, too, would be covering the shorter distance (three laps instead of four). He had started his sprint to the finish while in 10th place, only to learn there was another lap to be done.

But the ITU’s competition jury turned away his protest, and McCormack is not likely to be at the top of Triathlon Australia’s lists when it announces its Olympians on Monday. They must now weigh McCormack’s races against those of Walton (24th in Sydney, 3rd here); Greg Bennett (a DNF in Sydney but 10th here); and national champion Miles Stewart. Stewart, who dropped out with illness in Sydney, failed to finish again here after believing he was recovered and could even pull off a win.

(RESULTS)

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Hackett was fading, but her star was rising

April 30, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

After three laps of the run in the ITU World Triathlon Championships, Nicole Hackett was leading -- but she was also looking for the finish line, and soon.

And, soon it arrived. A happy Hackett crossed first, for that meant she not only won her first world senior title in just her second season of elite competition, but she gained automatic qualification for Australia’s Olympic team. Seven seconds back came a fast-closing Carol Montgomery. And 35 seconds behind her, came Michellie Jones.

Those are the results, 1-2-3. But had the run portion of the race actually been the distance everyone was expecting -- 10k as is usual in Olympic-distance triathlon racing -- Hackett might not have been first. Perhaps Montgomery would have overtaken her, as her split for 7.5 kilometers -- which is how far the women actually ran -- was very nearly two minutes faster than what Hackett put up.

Or maybe it could have been Jones’ day to shine again. Already twice the world champion (1992, 1993), Jones wanted to win a third title as she uses 2000 to reestablish -- as Montgomery is doing -- her supremacy in the sport.

But the title stays with the 21-year-old Hackett, in spite of a protest by Team Canada. Not even the ITU knew its own mistake, for the realization didn’t occur until Canadian officials were looking at the results sheet. There, it was glaring: Montgomery was credited with a 25:21 performance for 10k. That’s much faster than the world record for the distance, and Montgomery’s own personal best is only 32:11 for 10k, which she ran just on April 9. Hackett’s time for the “10k” was 27:12 -- also under the world record -- as was Jones’ (26:12).

A five-person ITU competition jury considered the dilemma, initially blamed the person who measured the course, met for two hours, then emerged to say the results stand, no changes. Oh, and by the way, they’re sorry.

Said technical head Loreen Barnett, speaking for the ITU: “It’s very unfortunate. It saddens all of us to have something like this happen. We’ve all taken it very seriously. It couldn’t have happened in a worse race.

“We’ll find some way of compensating the athletes.”

It’s a technical gaffe that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. The two junior races over the same course went off without a hitch that morning, before the women’s event. But for some reason, the women ran short. The men also ran the full four laps

Montgomery could well have indeed passed Hackett for the world title with a kilometer, or even two, to go. But on Sunday, the woman whose first ITU world championships medal, a silver, came in 1990, never even got the chance.

(RESULTS)

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“Short-course triathlon” gets new meaning

April 30, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

Triathlon’s international image took a beating on Sunday in the “Blunder Down Under” -- when women racing the ITU World Triathlon Championships ran more than two kilometers short of the usual 10k run.

The mis-measured mess gave new meaning to “short-course triathlon.” It resulted in the ITU’s competition jury announcing, after studying a protest, that the results would stand. Loreen Barnett, the ITU technical delegate, handled the situation for the media, whom either couldn’t find anything quotable out of ITU president Les McDonald, or couldn’t find him to be quoted at all.

This is how Barnett initially explained the problem: “The first thing we did was look at the course and the officials there, and everything seemed to be in order at that point.

“The organisers were confident that the course was both accurate and that the correct number of laps was run. They thought that there might be a problem with the timings. But everything was in order there.

“The next call we made was to the survey company that measured the course, and they have a certificate that says it is a precise 10-kilometre course.

“However, when they looked at it again, they saw that they should have had four loops on Riverside Drive, rather than the three that the athletes did. So, we all are quite devastated. Obviously, there is a protest in place, and any further action by the international federation will occur as a result of the competition jury and any further appeals.

“It’s very unfortunate. It saddens all of us to have something like this happen. We’ve all taken it very seriously. It couldn’t have happened in a worse race.

“We’ll find some way of compensating the athletes.”

The incident took serious flack from reporters in Australia. The Daily Telegraph’s Amanda Lulhum called it a “highly public and embarrassing bungle, writing: “The credibility of the new Olympic sport of triathlon took a severe battering last night with a course debacle overshadowing the performances of athletes vying for Olympic selection at the world championships in Perth.

“The teething problems of the sport developed into a full-scale farce when it was discovered at the conclusion of the women's race the 10km run course was in fact less than 8km.”

While the ITU and Australians were feting their new, 21-year-old champion in Nicole Hackett, the Canadians supporting Carol Montgomery, the veteran runner-up, were the ones to discover the short course. It was their protest -- and claim that both Montgomery and bronze medalist Michellie Jones were both closing on a fast-fading Hackett -- that led to the ITU’s realization that the women had run three, not four laps.

The five-person jury met for more than two hours, and issued a brief statement that confirmed the women’s results, but didn’t indicate any the reasoning that supported their decision. The ITU’s official statement reads, simply:

“1. Following the Perth 2000 Triathlon World Championships the Competition Jury met to consider a protest regarding the run course completed by the Elite Women. The jury considered the protest and confirmed the results as provided.”

In answer to a second protest by men’s 15th-place finisher Chris McCormack, who raced thinking there were only 3 and one-half laps in the run, the ITU stated:

“2. Following the Perth 2000 Triathlon World Championships the Competition Jury met to consider a protest regarding a change to the course without advice that the course was to be held over 4 and a half laps instead of the advertised 3 and a half laps. The officials implemented a correction to the run course to the correct Olympic distance of 10km, and widely communicated this information that there would be an additional one lap, making a total of 4 and a half laps. The protest was overturned and the race results were confirmed as distributed.”

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Harrop withdraws, makes room for Ashton

April 29, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

Loretta Harrop, the world’s winningest triathlete last year, made a last-minute decision to withdraw from Sunday’s World Championships -- giving new hope to Triathlon Australia’s replacement entrant Melissa Ashton.

Harrop, unable to start after having hobbled into Friday’s press conference with a limp knee, had hoped to make it around the course with the aid of a knee-numbing injection. Now her Olympic fate will be in the hands of Triathlon Australia selectors, who watched her withdraw in pain after the first selection race on April 16 at Sydney.

Harrop’s career and pre-April form will be taken into consideration as Triathlon Australia makes its difficult decisions after Sunday’s event. Michellie Jones is an automatic qualifier, having won in Sydney. Another win by a different Australia would gain Olympian status for her, too. Based on the World Cup results, Nicole Hackett and Joanne King are the two women most in contention for the two remaining Olympic places -- in addition to non-starter Harrop.

Harrop has alluded to possible legal action if she is excluded from the Olympic squad, partially because TA selection procedures forced her to start in good faith on April 16 in light of her medical injury. TA selectors can use its discretionary powers to include Harrop because she started in Sydney, thus keeping her hopes alive under the “disadvantaged athlete” clause.

Ashton was the first reserve for Perth. She is best known for having gained entry to the Sydney World Cup field by winning the Oceania race -- beating both Emma Carney and Rina Hill -- on January 3.

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Carter races for Olympic selection

April 28, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

Not even Hamish Carter, the world's No. 2 triathlete -- and No. 1 in the rankings for most of the last three years, until last week -- is guaranteed a place in the Olympics in September. So instead of coasting in Sunday's ITU World Championships, the New Zealander is counting of the race of his life.

Triathlon New Zealand selectors announced just before the April 16 ITU World Cup in Sydney that a top-5 finish was needed in either Sydney or Sunday's race in Perth as a prerequisite for Olympic selection. Carter, whose form has been off for much of the last several months, finished a disappointing 32nd in Sydney.

Christchurch's Ben Bright, ranked No. 58, snatched the first of three Kiwi Olympic spots with his surprise fifth-place finish. But Craig Watson, New Zealand's most consistent triathlete of late, was told there would be no pre-selection for him, in spite of his sixth-place finish.

The race for New Zealand's last two Olympic places is as pressure-filled as Australia's better-publicized Olympic trials -- both countries will determine their remaining Olympians based on the Perth results.

With tensions running high in the Australian camp, with Miles Stewart planning to pull out all stops in his quest to join Peter Robertson in Sydney, co-favorite status for Sunday may go to two men whose countries have already agreed their Olympian status, Kazakstan's Dimitry Gaag - the 1999 world champion - and Britain's Andrew John, the world No. 3.

Here's the field of 80 men for Sunday, with their ITU rankings:

- Men from Argentina: Daniel Fontana (67), Raul Lemir (98)
- Men from Australia: Courtney Atkinson (57), Greg Bennett (4), Chris McCormack (5), Peter Robertson (52), Miles Stewart (10), Craig Walton (12)
- Men from Austria: Norbert Domnik (89), Johannes Enzenhofer (39)
- Men from Brazil: Juraci Moreira (43)
- Men from Canada: Stefan Timms (142), Simon Whitfield (16)
- Men from Czech Republic: Martin Krnavek (25), Martin Matula (101), Filip Ospaly (32), Jan Rehula (8)
- Men from Denmark: Jan Hansen (19), Ricky Jorgensen (91)
- Men from France: Sebastien Berlier (56), Stephan Bignet (38), Carl Blasco (62), Philippe Fattori (22), Laurent Jeanselme (40), Olivier Marceau (35)
- Men from Germany: Ralf Eggert (46), Roland Knoll (84), Lothar Leder (54), Andreas Raelert (83), Stefan Vuckovic (29), Christian Weimer (214)
- Men from Great Britain: Richard Allen (81), Andrew Johns (3)
- Men from Greece: Vassilis Krommidas (79)
- Men from Hungary: Peter Hobor (123)
- Men from Italy: Stefano Belandi (45), Alessandro Bottoni (53), Fabrizio Ferraresi (108)
- Men from Japan: Hideo Fukui (47), Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (107), Takumi Obara (17), Hayato Suzuki (127), Teppei Takauchi (173)
- Men from Kazakstan: Dimitry Gaag (1), Michael Kuznetsov (126)
- Men from Mexico: Eligio Cervantes (76), Arturo Garza (75), Carlos Probert (121), Javier Rosas (48), Uzziel Valderrabano (50), Jose Luis Zepeda (85)
- Men from Netherlands: Dennis Looze (64), Eric Van der Linden (23)
- Men from Netherlands Antilles: Roland Melis (66)
- Men from New Zealand: Paul Amey (44), Hamish Carter (2), Jamie Hunt (18), Matt Reed (59), Shane Reed (13), Craig Watson (21)
- Men from Norway: Erik Johnson (no ranking)
- Men from Russia: Fedor Filipov (110)
- Men from South Africa: Lieuwe Boonstra (106), Conrad Stoltz (20), Greg von Holdt (111)
- Men from Spain: Jose Barbany (55), Eneko Llanos (24), Hector Llanos (63), Jose Merchan (36), Ivan Rana (26)
- Men from Sweden: Joachim Willen (42), Jonas Djurback (87)
- Men from Switzerland: Peter Alder (69), Reto Hug (14), Markus Keller (28)
- Men from Ukraine: Andrey Gluschenko (27), Vladimir Polikarpenko (15)
- Men from United States: Hunter Kemper (51), Joe Umphenour (104)

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Aussies still lead the pack at Perth

April 28, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

The Europeans, eager to close the gap on the Australian counterparts, may be privately pleased to see a few glowing glitches in the Australian dominance of the sport. But world No. 1 Michellie Jones and her five teammates are still putting bold faces forth in their efforts to fend off the foreigners in Sunday's ITU World Triathlon Championships.

Jones, winner of the last big race, the ITU World Cup in Sydney on April 16, is confident as ever of her form. But the lineup behind her is a combination of the nervous (Nicole Hackett and Joanne King), the ill (Jackie Gallagher) and the injured (Emma Carney and Loretta Harrop, both of whom have knee problems).

Carney's knee problems, which had her limping away from the line in Sydney, are less dramatic than those of Harrop, whose start in Sydney was merely a symbolic gesture of her now-desperate bid to impress Triathlon Australia's selectors for Sydney.

While Harrop's knee problems have made headlines at home for the last few weeks, Gallagher has kept her problems closer to her chest. Now it has been revealed that her 24th-place finish in Sydney was related to a recent diagnosis of post-viral fatigue syndrome. She contracted an upper respiratory viral infection after the March 26 Australian Championships, and has been unable to keep to her usual training pace for the last four weeks.

All the Aussie women -- except for Jones, who snared her spot in Sydney -- are racing with the pressure of gaining one of those two remaining Olympic places.

The one other woman in the whole field to watch, therefore, may very well be Britain's Sian Brice -- for, with her No. 16 ranking, has already met her country's Olympic-qualifying standards. Moreover, she plans to wear one of Speedo's controversial new "Fastskin" suits that some of the Aussie women might have worn, if the Triathlon Australia wasn't already contracted to race in Fila uniforms.

Brice's British teammate, Michelle Dillon, was a late dropout of the field. Earlier this week she was diagnosed with a stress fracture. She now has six weeks to maintain her fitness in the pool, ideally, in order to be ready for the Brits' three race-off events for their third and final Olympic spot (Steph Forrester has already clinched hers, alongside Brice).

Here are the 67 women racing, and their current ITU rankings:

- Women from Australia: Emma Carney (4), Jackie Gallagher (3), Nicole Hackett (23), Loretta Harrop (2), Michellie Jones (1), Joanne King (9)
- Women from Austria: Jasmine Haemmerle (64)
- Women from Belgium: Kathleen Smet (49), Mieke Suys (12)
- Women from Bolivia: Agnes Eppers (125)
- Women from Brazil: Carla Moreno (47), Mariana Ohata (17), Sandra Soldan (32)
- Women from Canada: Isabelle Baird (61), Sharon Donnelly (18), Carol Montgomery (22)
- Women from Colombia: Carmenza Morales (50)
- Women from Czech Republic: Renata Berkova (83)
- Women from Denmark: Marie Overbye (24)
- Women from France: Christine Hocq (38), Beatrice Mouthon (40), Isabelle Mouthon (10)
- Women from Germany: Anja Dittmer (15), Ines Estedt (68), Joelle Franzmann (46), Ute Mueckel (82)
- Women from Great Britain: Sian Brice (16), Steph Forrester (11), Heather Williams (73)
- Women from Hungary: Nora Edosceny (48), Aniko Gog (80), Erika Molnar (14)
- Women from Italy: Edith Cigana (51), Silvia Gemignani (56), Manuela Ianesi (75)
- Women from Japan: Akiko Hirao (30), Haruna Hosoya (8), Kiyomi Niwata (19), Machiko Nakanishi (33), Hiromi Okawara (79) Yukie Koumegawa (34)
- Women from Luxembourg: Nancy Kemp-Arendt (39)
- Women from Mexico: Maria Luisa Martinez (75), Carmen Ochoa (71)
- Women from Netherlands: Lucienne Groenendijk (59), Wieke Hoogzaad (25), Silvia Pepels (57), Ingrid Van Lubek (43)
- Women from New Zealand: Shanelle Barrett (110), Rina Hill (5), Jenny Rose (41), Evelyn Williamson (26)
- Women from Russia: Nina Anisimova (69), Anna Ivanova (no ranking)
- Women from South Africa: Kim Carter (53), Dominique Donner (60), Lizel Moore (37)
- Women from Spain: Maribel Blanco (35)
- Women from Switzerland: Sibylle Matter (84), Brigitte McMahon (29), Magali Messmer (6)
- Women from USA: Gail Lawrence (30), Siri Lindley (19), Barb Lindquist (7), Jill Newman (27), Laura Reback (44), Sheila Taormina (63)

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No disconnect: Where the cybercafes in Perth are

April 22, Perth, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

For everyone traveling to Perth for the ITU World Championships this week, there are a number of cybercafes where you can keep up with Triathlon Digest and the daily news on the http://www.slowtwitch.com website. Among them:

1) Traveller's Club Tour and Information Centre: 499 Wellington Street, Perth. Tel. 8/9226-0660. Visitors can have 15 minutes of free access to their email, etc. Also photocopying and faxing available. Plus “Perth’s largest notice board.”

2) The Grand Cyber Cafe: 379 Wellington St., Perth. Tel. 8/9421-1123. Price is $3/hour. Hours 8am-8pm daily. “Located in the central city within The Grand Central Backpackers.”

3) Smileys Internet Cafe & Services: 337 Stirling Highway, Claremont, Perth. Tel.: 8/385-5520. Price is $10/hour. Hours are 10am-6pm daily.

4) Indigo Netcafe and Lodge: 256 West Coast Highway, Scarborough, Perth. Tel. 8/9245-3388. Price is A$6/half hour, $10/hour, $15/2 hours. Less before 11am. Hours 8am to 9pm daily.

5) Laudia Cyber Central: 2/40 Central Walk, Joondalup, Perth. Tel. 8/ 9301-0808. Price is $6/hour. Hours 10am-7pm Mon-Thurs, 10am-10pm Fri-Sat, some Sundays. Eight computers.

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Aussies in Perth: Walton in, Hill out

April 20, Sydney, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

The action in Australian triathlon was supposed to move from Sydney to Perth following Sunday’s World Cup race, but Craig Walton’s legal challenge has kept Triathlon Australia focused on Sydney.

A federation tribunal has overturned the decision of its own selectors, which had put forward Chris Hill, who didn’t finish Sunday’s race, over Craig Walton, who was the fourth Australian home.

After Triathlon Association announced its team of six men for the Perth World Championship on April 30, from which the final Olympic team of three will be announced, Walton appeal against his exclusion, which he won on Thursday evening.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Triathlon Australia’s Tim Wilson said the appeal tribunal found the selectors had erred in their "lineball" decision to name Hill over Walton. Noted the newspaper: “The tribunal found there was not enough evidence to
support Hill's request to gain a special exemption after mechanical failure forced him out of the first selection race on Sunday over the Olympic course.

Hill failed to finish because his bike pedal slipped. That caused him to fall on his bike stem and incur bruising that prevented him from finishing the run.

Walton was actually leading the race when his tire went flat. He still managed to finish, in 34th place.

Walton told the Sydney Morning Herald that he felt for Hill, the world’s No. 11-ranked triathlete to his No. 12 ranking. He said that his legal challenge had never been personal.

Said Walton: "Chris's position now is a lot worse than mine. He was in the team and now it has been taken away from him. I felt I
was in the right, I performed on the day and deserved the spot. It is a big load off my shoulders."

Walton had engaged Peter Fitzgerald as his lawyer. Fitzgerald is known for having helped cyclist Kathy Watt successfully fight her way on to the 1996 Olympic team.

Hill is now expected to lodge his own appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He has 48 hours to do so.

The men’s team of six now stands for Perth as Peter Robertson (New South Wales), Courtney Atkinson (Queensland), Chris McCormack (New South Wales), Greg Bennett (New South Wales), Craig Walton (Tasmania) and Miles Stewart (Queensland).

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Robertson, Atkinson and Hackett are Perth-bound

April 18, Sydney, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

Three of Australia’s rising triathlon talents -- Peter Robertson, Courtney Atkinson and Nicole Hackett -- are taking the last places on the plane to Perth for the ITU World Championships on April 30.

The three were named on Monday after racing superbly in the Sydney World Cup, where several of Australia’s more decorated and favored triathletes finished poorly.

Hackett joins the five other women already named for Perth: Michellie Jones, Emma Carney, Jackie Gallagher, Loretta Harrop and Jo-Anne King. Robertson and Atkinson fill out the men’s team of six, which already included Greg Bennett, Chris Hill, Chris McCormack and Miles Stewart.

The men had two places to fill because Greg Welch was named to the original five for Perth just days before he announced his retirement in January.

The selections keep alive Olympic hopes for Hackett, Atkinson and the others (World Cup winners Jones and Robertson have secured their spots). But it also meant an end to the Olympic dreams held by Brad Beven -- still in a Sydney hospital with broken ribs -- and Craig Walton, Melissa Ashton and Tracy Hargreaves.

Walton, ranked No. 12 in the world, was the fourth Australian (34th place) in the World Cup, behind Robertson (1st), Atkinson (14th) and McCormack (20th). He actually led the swim and a portion of the bike, even after incurring a flat, according to Nick Munting’s on-the-scene report. He rode two kilometers on the rim, changed tires, still caught the pack and even led into the second transition. But he faltered on the run, losing his precious Olympic hopes as he lost places.

Three of those traveling to Perth didn’t even finish in Sydney -- Hill, ranked No. 11; Bennett, ranked No. 4; and the ill Stewart, who lined up only to hang on to his Olympic selection hopes. The in-form Aussie of the moment, in addition to Robertson, seems to be Atkinson, last year’s junior world champ now making the most of his first season among the elites.

For women, Hackett - the 21-year-old national champion - raced to win on Sunday, but was caught in a spill and managed just sixth place. But as the second Australian, she was pleased that her performance salvaged her Olympic dreams, too.

Now, vets like Carney and Gallagher must dig deep in Perth to prove their current form to the selectors. Their results in Sydney (13th for Carney, as fourth Aussie, and 24th for Gallagher) were setbacks: Selectors have said that they will give more weighting to the Sydney results -- which simulated the Olympic conditions -- over the Perth results.

While Ashton has also had her Olympic hopes cut short, she may well be the first reserve for Perth -- and the first one called if Loretta Harrop cannot suit up if her injured knee doesn’t heel. Like Robertson, Ashton was a surprise winner in January in the Oceania regional race in New Zealand, where she earned her place in the Sydney lineup, igniting her Olympic visions.

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Despite the odds, Beven still hoping for Perth

April 17, Sydney, Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

One day after the rest of Australia’s top triathletes raced for Olympic places, and two days after his own Olympic dreams were dashed when an accident landed him in the hospital, Brad Beven is refusing to give up hope of racing the World Championships in Perth in two weeks.

Doctors told that Beven might have a broken hip, the Australian Associated Press’ Darren Walton reported. He was riding his bike in Sydney’s city center, on his way to a media conference, when a car knocked him down -- and out of the race -- on Saturday afternoon. He was briefly knocked out.

Still, Beven -- bruised ribs and all -- is hoping for a miracle recovery in time for him to make an impression with the Olympic selectors. The 31-year-old had recently returned to peak form after struggling in 1999 with injuries.

The five-time Australian champion had X-rays at a hospital that proved inconclusive. However, doctors told him he thought he had broken his hip -- which would make racing in Perth impossible.

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Perth Worlds swim site is open again

February 24, Perth, Western Australia (www.slowtwitch.com):

The scare that stopped all swimming and other water activities in the Swan River -- site of the ITU World Championships in April -- is now over. Health authorities have given the river the thumbs up.

The algal bloom that closed the river to recreational use over the past 10 days has dissipated, and Perth people are returning to the popular aquatic playground, according to Worlds media manager Simon Beaumont. The strong winds of the past few days has ensured quick dispersion of the algal bloom.

Toni O'Donnnell, executive director of the 2000 ITU Triathlon World Championships, said: "We want to reassure all of the age-group and elite triathletes throughout the world who are out there training hard for our event that the river is now clear -- the race will go ahead. Once again, we stress that this was a natural phenomena that is not uncommon in Perth at this time of year."

The outbreak of the bloom was triggered by unseasonal rains in late January, when millions of litres of freshwater swept through the normally saline river.