Triathlon: Team training behind Ward's success

Sam Ward during the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi triathlete Sam Ward is putting his podium finish in last weekend's Mooloolaba Triathlon down to his team training.

Ward collected a superb third place finish in the Queensland event last week in extreme heat. It comes on the back of spending time at the Triathlon New Zealand base in Cambridge working with fellow high performance team members.

"It was a very good race. I am stoked to get on the podium," Ward told herald.co.nz.

"It has been a lot of hard work over the last few months to get to this stage and I'm just happy to pull off a good result.

"[The team training] has been working really well. We have a good group of guys training together. It is obviously paying off. We are training together day in and day out and really pushing each other.

"Working with the younger guys and they push me heaps and I try and push them back.
"It is a good team effort under Tim Brazier.

"It is a good environment."

Ward will turn his attention to the upcoming ITU World Triathlon event on the Gold Coast next month where global stars like Javier Gomez and Jonathan Brownlee will feature.

Ward will begin to think about trying to qualify for the Commonwealth Games next year at the race with spots up for grabs.

"It is a really big race. It is one of my big goals for the year.

"It is really fast racing and I will try and get my body ready for it.

"The Gold Coast is the stepping stone for that qualification. The automatic selection is top six in two events but I will be going for the best result I can get and put my name forward for that selection process and hopefully get into the team for that."