Triathlon: Waiting game over for athlete

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Evelyn Williamson turned into "an absolute wreck" waiting to see if she would line up in the Olympic triathlon.

As the selectors kept moving the finish-line of their Olympic criteria, the 28-year-old Williamson thought she had missed out - until she was finally named yesterday as the only woman triathlete in the New Zealand team for Sydney.

But Jamie Hunt was baffled by the decision to leave him out of the three-strong men's team.

Aucklander Hunt believed he did everything the selectors had asked of him in the last two events on the world calendar. But instead they opted for Craig Watson to join world No 1 Hamish Carter and early qualifier Ben Bright.

"I finished in the top 15 twice, so I'm a little upset," Hunt said last night. He was eighth in the Sydney World Cup event and 11th at the world championships in Perth a fortnight ago.

But Watson finished sixth in Sydney, which the selectors later stressed was the more important event.

"I thought I would get the spot because I beat Craig by a long way at the worlds, even after I crashed off my bike on the last corner," Hunt said. "But Craig is a very good athlete."

Hunt has been named as a reserve for the team and will train with them in Switzerland.

Williamson was able to start planning her build-up yesterday after being in the dark about her chances for a fortnight.

"I've been pretty much a mess until now," she said in Wellington. "I knew I was borderline, and being in limbo-land meant the doubts crept in. There's just been deathly silence since the worlds."

Williamson failed to meet the selectors' criterion of top-15 places in Sydney and Perth, finishing 18th and 33rd.

"It was too early in the year for me, and I was only going to peak for one race [the Olympics] this year," she said.

New Zealand had earned two places in the women's race, but it was decided that former world long-distance champion Jenny Rose was off the pace.

Triathlon New Zealand held off naming the women's team in the hope that Australian Rina Hill, ranked fifth in the world, would win an appeal to get New Zealand citizenship. But it did not eventuate.