Oceania MR Championship

Hamburg and Paris might be half a world away but will feel ominously close, metaphorically at least, when a crucial year of Mixed Relay racing takes the gun in Taupō on February 26.

The Oceania Mixed Relay Championship is an important, points-gathering prelude to World Triathlon’s main MR qualifiers in Montreal, Hamburg, Sunderland and Paris later in 2023, the latter doubling as the Olympic test event on Aug. 20 under the shadows of the Eiffel Tower.

Tri NZ’s HP team have long targeted July’s Hamburg MR World Championships as the year’s critical date as an automatic qualification spot for Paris – and four individual starts as a result - will be snaffled by the highest placed nation in Germany, not including Olympic hosts France and already qualified GBR.

With Hayden Wilde racing WTCS Abu Dhabi, the onus has fallen to Tayler Reid, Dylan McCullough, Trent Thorpe, Ainsley Thorpe, Nicole van der Kaay and Olivia to get NZL’s Mixed Relay campaign off to a flyer in Taupō.

The two athletes not required from the shortlisted six, to be decided after the Oceania Cup sprint in Taupō the previous day, will slide down to head the NZ B team. As many as eight Kiwi teams could race in a field that will also include a composite selection headlined by 2016 Rio Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen. However, only the A team is eligible for the title and Olympic points. See p65 for more.