Triathlon: Olympic spots lure athletes ahead of Oceania Champs

Rotorua's Sam Osborne will be racing in Gisborne this weekend.

Gisborne will, this weekend, play host to some of the best triathlon talent in this part of the world with the hosting of the Sovereign Oceania Triathlon Championships.

Leading the way in the elite men will be 2015 Oceania Sprint Triathlon Champion Sam Osborne (Rotorua) and Sam Ward (Auckland) while former multi-sport champion Braden Currie (Wanaka) will enjoy the longer standard distance and surf swim as he continues his efforts to make inroads in ITU racing. Ward is still in the U23 category but will be looking to mix it at the front of the field in a race that combines U23 and elites on the same start line.

In the elite women look for Simone Ackermann (Auckland) and Deb Lynch (Porirua) to feature for the Kiwis. Ackermann ended 2015 ranked 50 in the world in her first full campaign among the elite ranks, highlighted by a career best 10th place at the Auckland World Series race, a 26th place finish at the season ending Grand Final in Chicago and a silver in the 2015 Oceania Championships, her battle with Aussie Emma Moffatt will be a feature of the women's event.

Triathlon New Zealand High Performance Manager Graeme Maw anticipates a great weekend of racing.

"We're delighted to be hosting the Sovereign Oceania Championships this year, and to welcome our friends from Australia in what is a big year with Rio on the horizon. We know the rivalry is good for all of us at all levels of the pathway. This particularly is a great opportunity tailored to some of our emerging squad to benchmark the progress they have undoubtedly made during summer. While it can help cement our Olympic spots, the focus is on stretching them to their best individual ability."

Adding to the interest in the elite races is the prospect of earning Oceania Wildcard spots at the Rio Olympic Games. While a complicated formula, essentially an athlete can book his or her country's third quota spot in Rio with victory on Saturday (note that this does not earn the individual athlete a spot on the start line). However, the athlete must not already have qualified for Rio by virtue of meeting ITU criteria, therefore eliminating athletes such as the already qualified Andrea Hewitt from the picture.

"Of course it will be good to win the elite men's or women's races and with it Olympic spots," said Maw. "But we will only fill these if athletes themselves then meet the high bar through World Triathlon Series racing, Saturday is just one part of that picture."