Kiwis Hit the Slopes In Kitzbuhel

The Austrian ski town of Kitzbuhel hosts the fourth round in the ITU Dextro Energy Triathlon World Championship Series this weekend with the men’s field possibly the best so far in the series as the heavy hitters look to pick up valuable ranking points, including the likes of Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell from New Zealand.

Last week’s European championships saw another strong performance from Britain’s Alistair Brownlee who added a silver medal at his first senior major championships to his two Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship wins from Madrid and Washington.

Brownlee was beaten at the European Championships by reigning world champion Javier Gomez who has been improving with every race since coming back from an ankle injury. Kitzbühel marks the Spaniard’s fourth race in as many weeks following outings in Washington, Des Moines and Holten.

Others to watch include Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS), Courtney Atkinson (AUS), Germany’s Olympic champion Jan Frodeno and the Swiss pairing of Sven Riederer and 2008 world championship bronze medallist Reto Hug.

Taupo’s Bevan Docherty is just looking forward to racing without the drag of the flu symptoms that saw him withdraw from Washington and Des Moines.

“My race expectations for Kitzbuhel have changed after finally managing to shake the flu that has plagued me over the last few races. Now I plan to just build a bit of strength and form over the next few races, and should be in great form by Yokohama and Gold Coast.”

Those withdrawals have seen Docherty tumble down the rankings to 17th, but with the best four of the seven events to count, Docherty knows that good performances in two more events will set him up for a chance at the overall title at the series ending Gold Coast event in September.

Palmerston North’s Kris Gemmell heads into his race in 12th place on the overall rankings but like Docherty has just the one result counting towards his points so far, a fourth place in Korea.

“The points at the moment are a bit of a mathematical nightmare with athletes counting their best four races at the end of the series and not everyone having raced the same number of events to this point. We’ll get a better idea after Hamburg in a couple of weeks but this weekend is a great chance for us to make up some of that ground.

“The venue is great; I raced here last year before the Olympics and went up to look at the famous downhill ski run that is a big event on the tour. While the course is tough for us, it is not as tough as they could make it with the surrounding mountains. It is challenging though and with the quality of the field again, this could well come down to yet another sprint finish. The quality of performance is so high that you back off a little and you can end up in 6th place but within touching distance of first.”

For New Plymouth’s Clark Ellice Kitzbuhel is a chance to back up after an impressive 15th at Des Moines.

“I love racing in Kitzbuhel, but coming back to Europe from the States has been very tough after big efforts in Washington and De Moines. Training has been going well, with a big block in boulder with the national squad behind me; it is now a case of recovering and freshening from that to perform this weekend.

“I’ve raced well here before and while it is a world class field some of the Europeans are looking quite tired after also racing in Washington and Des Moines and also the European champs last weekend.

“The Austrians love having us here, something that always motivates me to race well in a different country. So I’m optimistic I’ll fly the Kiwi flag as fast as I possibly can.”

Callum Millward is lining up for his first World Champ Series race and admits he expects it to be a rather steep learning curve.

“The field in Austria looks strong and will be as tough if not tougher then the Des Moines World Cup (Millward finished 38th). This is my first crack at a World Champ Series race so I’m taking the attitude of having nothing to lose and hope to learn from the experience.

“Sometimes its overwhelming lining up alongside Olympic and World Champions but at the end of the day they're only human and did their apprenticeship just like we're doing now. I’m not taking any expectations into the race, my coach Pete Pfitzinger and I have our own goals so I will concentrate on what I can control and let the race happen.”

Other New Zealanders racing this weekend include Dylan McNeice (Christchurch), Martin Van Barneveld (Wellington) and Graham O’Grady (Hamilton).