Rising talent on show at Super Sprint weekend

Junior, Under 23 and Elite talent was on show at the Gold Coast Super Sprint over the weekend, with athletes pushing themselves to their limits in the exciting Super Sprint format.

The mix of individual time trials, qualifying races and eliminator style formats produced a thrilling weekend of racing and outstanding performances from competitors.

Jaz Hedgeland claimed her fourth consecutive podium finish with a dominant performance across the weekend to take out the Female Cup (A) Final at the Gold Coast Super Sprint.

Pushed by Gillian Backhouse, Kelly-Ann Perkin, Kira Hedgeland and Danielle De Francesco throughout the weekend, Hedgeland was forced to dig deep in order to withstand the race of attrition and take home the Cup Final.

Kira Hedgeland gave an impressive chase in the final stages of the eliminator to run down Backhouse with only 400m to go to take home 2nd place behind her sister, with Backhouse holding steady to take home 3rd.

Matt Hauser proved he had the legs to go the distance, comfortably taking out the Male Cup (A) Final after consistent racing over the two days.

Driven by strong performances from squad mates Matthew Roberts, Brandon Copeland, Lorcan Redmond, and the Gold Coast’s Lachlan Jones, Hauser delivered in spades, including the fastest male bike and run of the weekend.

In the Male Cup Eliminator Final, Hauser sat alongside Roberts, Copeland and Redmond for the bulk of the race before letting rip in the final run to streak ahead of his competitors and comfortably take out the event, with Roberts taking home 2nd and Copeland in 3rd.

In the Plate (B) Finals, Travis Coleman ran away from his competitors to take out the two stage eliminator race and the overall Male Plate line honours. While Jessica Ashworth took home the Female Plate title in a modified handicap Super Sprint affair.

The exciting format of racing also saw some outstanding performances from the Junior and Under 23 athletes, with the time trials and the thirty second power boost feature providing them with the opportunity to mix it up alongside their senior counterparts.

Queensland Junior athletes Brad Course and Jack Chrome took advantage of their 30 second head start in the Sunday qualifiers. Excellent swims saw the pair maintain touch with leaders Hauser and Roberts onto the bike to secure themselves a place in the Cup Final.

While in the Female event, emerging Under 23 athlete Jess Ewart-McTigue lay down an impressive run in the Saturday time trials, recording the third fastest time of the day over the 1500m to place herself in the mix for qualifying on Sunday.

Triathlon Australia would like to thank the City of Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Performance Centre for their support of the Gold Coast Super Sprint.

Heading overseas, Natalie Van Coevorden contested the 2020 Arzachena ITU World Cup in Italy over the weekend. The event was dominated by Bermuda’s Flora Duffy, with the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist finished more than one minute ahead of her nearest competitor, while Van Coevorden claimed 21st overall.