NEW Zealand’s triathlon mixed relay team finished seventh in a pre-Olympics event at Tokyo yesterday.
Competing at Odaiba Marine Park, where the Olympic triathlon races will be held next year, the New Zealand team of Ainsley Thorpe, Gisborne’s Tayler Reid, Sophie Corbidge and Ryan Sissons were held up by aminor crash.
“At the end of the first leg we were caught in a bit of a mishap where some of the other athletes caught their bikes together, and that wasn’t ideal,” said Reid, who swam, biked and ran the second leg for New Zealand.
Despite the early trouble, the New Zealanders worked their way up the field, improving from 13th to seventh in a time of 1 hour, 28 minutes and 19 seconds.
France sneaked ahead of Great Britain to take first place in a photo finish.
