The racing is about to begin.
While the Oceania Para-triathlon Championships will kick off the final stretch to the Paralympic Games, the looming Oceania Cup in Wanaka will launch the Olympic season of 2024.
As expected, there will plenty of home team faces on the start line in Wanaka. New Zealand have a large team headlined by the likes of Dylan McCullough, Brea Roderick, Janus Staufenberg and Olivia Thornbury. Similarly, the local Australian team will be well represented.
Lachlan Jones is one to watch from the Australian men while Emma Jeffcoat and Ellie Hoitink will be medal threats for the women.
There will also be a third major contingent of athletes as a significant Italian squad will attend. While names like Bianca Seregni, Verena Steinhauser, Angelica Prestia and Alice Betto have already dropped off the start list, having originally been included, several eye-catching names remain.
For the women, Ilaria Zane, Beatrice Mallozzi and Luisa Iogna-Prat will be racing. Meanwhile, the men will essentially be at full-strength as Michele Sarzilla, Gianluca Pozzatti, Nicolò Strada and Alessio Crociani are slated to start.
Crucially, all harbour ambitions of Olympic selection.
As of today, the likeliest outcome in the Italian Olympic race is that they qualify a relay (by qualifying four athletes individually) and then select the entire team on discretionary grounds.
Beyond Wanaka, the focus of the Italian team will realistically be on the Napier World Cup a week later and the attendant Mixed Team Relay event.
The racing in Wanaka (and then Napier) will be of great pertinence as the athletes jostle for the place in the hierarchy of the selectors’ eyes. Rather than beating out countries in the rankings, at this stage out-performing national rivals will be key. A Wanaka-Napier double provides the chance to set an invaluable early impression for the season.
Moreover, less than a fortnight later WTCS Abu Dhabi and another Mixed Team Relay will follow. A crucial few weeks will therefore be on the horizon in the Italian selection race as athletes seek to prove both their individual capacity and their relay prowess.
The Italian Olympic team won’t be decided after the races in Wanaka, Napier and Abu Dhabi. However the list of candidates that have realistic shots of being selected (particularly on discretionary grounds) might just be a bit thinner thereafter.
In Wanaka, then, the racing will begin in more ways than one.
