Tayler Reid.
TRIATHLON
TAYLER Reid and the New Zealand mixed relay triathlon team have had a confidence-boosting victory as they prepare for the Olympics.
New Zealand won the relay at Edmonton, Canada, yesterday and Gisborne’s Reid was buzzing about the result.
“We’ve had a third and fourth,” he said.
“We’ve been hunting for that top step on the podium for a while.”
New Zealand’s team — Ainsley Thorpe, Reid, Nicole van der Kaay and Hayden Wilde — finished ahead of Great Britain, the United States and Australia.
“I was shouting a lot for the last half an hour,” Reid said, having voiced his encouragement for Wilde, who ran the anchor leg.
New Zealand are now almost assured of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
They fielded a young line-up in the relay at Edmonton, all four athletes being under 23.
The Kiwis finished in 1 hour 20 minutes 13 seconds, which was nine seconds quicker than second-placed Great Britain.
It was their first win in the mixed relay series.
Australia had been in the mix but they finished fourth after copping a 10-second penalty because two of their athletes didn’t get their tag right in the final transition.
New Zealand were fifth after Thorpe’s first leg of the relay, then second after Reid’s turn.
Van der Kaay put New Zealand in front after the third section, 14 seconds ahead of the field.
Wilde told CBC Sports he wasn’t the best swimmer, so was caught after the swim, “but I knew I had to have a good transition and I pretty much put my head down”.
Wilde also came fourth in the individual men’s race at Edmonton and Reid finished 22nd.
Reid, aged 22, said he made some errors in the individual race and he used his disappointment as “fuel” for the mixed relay.
“The relay brings out the best in us,” he said.
“The win gives us huge confidence — hunting for that top step, not just the podium.”
New Zealand have been concentrating on the mixed relay as their best chance of winning a medal in Tokyo.
Athletes need to compete in the individual races as well but the relay puts the focus on sprinting ability.
Reid has been focusing on the mixed relay as his ticket for Tokyo, and he’s been in strong form, but his spot in the final four is not guaranteed.
He said he felt in good shape but he had things to work on and wanted to “squeeze” more from himself.
New Zealand’s relay team came third in Abu Dhabi, seventh in Nottingham and fourth in Hamburg in earlier rounds of the World Triathlon Series this year.
World champions France were not at Edmonton.
Triathlon New Zealand performance manager Stephen Sheldrake, who is also Reid’s coach, said not much separated the top teams and he had felt New Zealand were strong enough to win the Edmonton relay.
Learning how to win — not just race well — was important, he said.
The squad would be fine-tuning between now and the Olympics.
Sheldrake said the New Zealand team were geared towards the Paris 2024 Olympics but they were considered an outside chance for a medal in Tokyo.
Reid suggested they could be regarded as “a medal threat”.
His next assignment is the defence of his under-23 world title in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the end of August.