Triathlon: Docherty - London's my focus, not Sydney

Bevan Docherty. Photo / Greg Bowker.

Bevan Docherty admits he took a risk in not peaking for the Sydney world triathlon championships but maintains it was worth it in order to go for gold in London.

Docherty finished 12th in Sydney on Saturday, with Kris Gemmell the first of the New Zealand men to qualify for London's race after finishing seventh. The top eight place-getters in Sydney qualified automatically.

Andrea Hewitt, who has already qualified, was the best placed New Zealand competitor with her third placing.

It is likely that Docherty's Sydney placing will be sufficient for him to qualify and attempt to add to his silver and bronze Olympic medals, as long as New Zealand maintains its ranking among the top-eight nations on the ITU Olympic standings.

The standings cut off date is at the end of May.

"I was pretty happy with how things went," said Docherty of his race on Saturday, won by German Stefan Justus ahead of South African Richard Murray and Frenchman Laurent Vidal. "I've always said that Sydney wasn't my focus. I have always maintained that in order to have a good Olympic campaign I need to focus on August.

"My previous two Olympic campaigns were successful for a number of reasons but also due to the fact that I qualified early and was able to have a proper build up. It's risky but I feel that I have done enough to qualify for the team.

"I'm not here to just qualify for the Games, I'm here to win medals - Olympic gold."

If New Zealand does, as predicted, send three men to the Olympics, they are are likely to be Gemmell, Docherty and Ryan Sissons, who fell off his bike during the race on Saturday. He wasn't not seriously injured but hurt his nose and had several facial lacerations.

The other candidate is Clark Ellis, who was 26th.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Docherty is unlikely to want to work as a team in London. "It's certainly not on my radar," Docherty, who said the flat course wouldn't suit team tactics, said.

Hewitt's consistency continued on Saturday with a podium placing behind Australian Erin Densham and Brit Helen Jenkins despite her having already qualified for London. Nicky Samuels was 12th, Debbie Tanner 20th and Kate McIlroy 27th. Samuels is likely to get the second spot, with the third spot a toss-up between Tanner and McIlroy.