Ryan Sissons at war with Triathlon New Zealand

Ryan Sissons is fuming over his exclusion. Photo / Photosport

The country's premier male triathlete has hit out at Triathlon New Zealand (TNZ) after the organisation controversially excluded him from competing at the mixed team relay world championships.

Ryan Sissons was the fastest member of New Zealand's bronze medal-winning relay team at the Commonwealth Games in April, but a change in his training regime has him at loggerheads with TNZ, who have responded by leaving him out of the squad for the championships in Hamburg tomorrow morning.

Sissons' change of plan came after a "dark period" in which he considered quitting the sport. The 30-year-old took a lengthy break after the Games, before parting ways with the TNZ programme and linking with a squad training under coach Paulo Sousa, who is part of the American triathlon high performance squad.

"I wasn't really enjoying the sport that much at the start of the year, even before the Commonwealth Games, and after that, I just decided I needed a break from it," Sissons told Radio Sport.

"I went through a bit of a dark period there to figure out what I wanted to do. I've always said to myself I don't want to do it if I'm not enjoying it, and I wasn't enjoying it at the time, so it was a pretty tough time. I made a lot of changes and moved to an international squad - training with a different coach and a different group of people.

"I enjoyed it a lot more with different people in a new environment and I guess that's what has kept me going. I'm pretty happy to have found a good group and started to enjoy it a lot more than I was."

However, while Sissons rediscovered his love for the sport, he says his new training schedule put him offside with TNZ, who informed him that he doesn't meet the criteria for mixed relay selection as they can't accurately measure his training progress abroad.

"Apparently they don't have enough information on what training I'm doing, and their selection has come down to what people can do in training, as opposed to what performance they can produce in races," said Sissons.

"It's fairly disappointing because I've had a fair amount of time racing triathlon and I believe that performing in a race is quite different to just being able to produce a time during a training session."

TNZ have selected Andrea Hewitt, Nicole Van Der Kaay, Sam Ward and Tayler Reid for the event.

In their selection criteria for the world championships team, TNZ state that athletes must demonstrate "the commitment to incorporate the specific training stimulus for the mixed team relay within their weekly training programme", as well as "having shown a commitment to attend targeted mixed team relay Tri NZ training camps".

TNZ high performance director Mark Elliott said Sissons' exclusion was a result of the strong performances of Ward and Reid.

"With Sam Ward and Tayler Reid racing and training extremely well, our selectors went through a strong process so we could select a team early for this world champs. With Ryan one of five strong members in the mixed team relay squad, we are certainly going to have lots of pressure for two spots in each race going forward," Elliott said.

Sissons believes his snub was solely due to his change in training.

"I just think it's unfair. Why don't they talk to my coach or just look at race results or performances and just pick teams off that? It's become a very different selection and something I disagree with quite strongly.

"Triathlon New Zealand knew exactly what I was doing but I don't feel they're very supportive of what I've been doing. They've made it very difficult for me, but I'm not doing the sport for them, I'm doing the sport for me. I decided this was what was best for me. It is unfortunate they do not have the same viewpoint."

Sissons, who instead raced in the individual men's race overnight, is content with not being involved in the team for the time being.

"At the end of the day I've decided that if they don't want to pick me for a team then I'm not going to jump through silly loopholes just to make the team. If they want to do the best they should pick the best team just regardless of what people are doing.

"That's what I've said right from the very start and I'm not going to change, I'll continue to race all the events as an individual and when it comes a time that they realise the mistakes they've made and pick the right people and the right team, then I may be in it."