New Zealand will have a largely developmental look to their team racing at the ITU Tongyeong World Cup Triathlon in South Korea this weekend, with James Elvery and Tony Dodds the most experienced of the five Kiwis lining up to chase valuable ranking points at the end of the season.
Elvery and Dodds will be joined in the men's race by 21-year-old Tom Davison. The Christchurch triathlete has been in the sport for only four years after suffering four knee dislocations - four while playing as rugby front rower and one while snowboarding. Now 20kg lighter and with healthier knees, Davison is forging a career as a top prospect in triathlon, finishing 18th at the recent U23 Elite World Champs in Beijing.
For Elvery, 69th on the Olympic rankings, the race this Saturday is a change to his original plans, a change motivated largely through a disappointing illness affected race in Beijing last month.
In the women's race 20-year-old Maddy Brunton (Waikato) debuts at World Cup level while 21-year-old Simone Ackermann (Whangarei) continues her initiation into the sport with just her second World Cup start after finishing 39th in Mooloolaba earlier this year.
Both are talented triathletes and both have also gone on to study for science degrees, with Ackermann finishing her degree at Massey University last year while Brunton is on a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship at the University of Waikato and studying towards a Bachelor of Science.
