Olympic champion Simon Whitfield raved about the course for this weekend's SBS ITU triathlon world championships in Queenstown after winning a warm-up event yesterday.
Whitfield, a Canadian who won gold medals at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, gave the demanding course near Arrowtown excellent reviews.
He tookout the Zone sprint triathlon yesterday, run over part of the age-group course for this weekend's 15th triathlon world championships.
He said the course was hard and the scenery majestic.
"It is really stunning, like all the best parts of Canada in one place," Whitfield said.
"It is a very hard run and hard on the bike too. The course is a bit like courses from old. We race in a lot of concrete jungles but this is just beautiful."
The bulk of the competitors from 50 nations arrive today and tomorrow.
Activities kick off with the ITU aquathlon (swim-run) world championships tomorrow, with the parade of nations and official opening on Wednesday, both in downtown Queenstown.
There is a record 1740 entries in total with 1500 competing in the age-group and physically challenged competition on Saturday from 8am.
There are four elite races on Sunday from 8am with elite female at 1pm and elite male at 3.30pm.
