Second day of racing in Auckland will first feature the Junior Women followed by Elite Men and closed up with Junior Men Curtain Call.
Junior Women (Edwards, Klus, Kretz)
Canada’s best shot at a gold medal here. Kretz has had a solid season with North American and National titles. She is suited well for this course bike+run, perhaps some work to be done in the opening stages of bike however but nothing that should bother her. Edwards also should have a good performance, the hills on this bike however might eat away at her prarie riding legs, we shall see. Klus I really don’t have any info on other than her performance at PATCO solidified her qualification. Great learning experience on tap.
The girls will deal with a a new level of competition her from euro champ Coldwell, Local fav and reigning champ Nielsen , and Aussie sensation Salthouse. Transitions here will be key with this up-tempo race, something not too particular when racing the domestic TriCan series.
Podium: Kretz, Salthouse, Coldwell
Darkhorse: Matsumoto
Elite Men (Jones, Yorke)
Jones and Yorke will fly our flag for the Men. Jones will be fired up to race well here with his WTS rank possible improving into the top15 with a solid performance. Yorke will be looking to finish the year off strong with breakthrough WTS race. The course suits both of our men with the challenging bike setting up a run on tired legs.
Varga could shake things up in this swim if it is choppy near the turn bouys. A small group could get away and stay away on this course if 15s+ is there out of the water. Brownlee and Gomez will duke it out in what should be a great race. Expect Gemmell and Docherty to get the crowd into a frenzy with some antics on the bike. Richard Murray, if he makes the group could be another player rolling the dice on the bike, trying to eek out some points on his overall series rivals.
Podium: Gomez, Brownlee, Shoemaker
Darkhorse: Fabian
Junior Men (Legault, Lepage, Mislawchuk)
Our boys here will experience another level of racing here. It is a shame there isn’t a series in North America that can prepare Juniors for worlds. The Euros have such an advantage getting their Juniors racing Euro Cups and French GP Div 1/2. A combined junior/elite sprint series would make headway if TriCan gives its head a shake.
Lepage has the swim capabilities to come out with the leaders. Mislawchuk could find himself off the back with some early work to do, a solid run though will go a long ways. Legault should take as much out of this one as he can and have another hit at it in London 2013.
Out of the water, Austin (GBR) should be lead things into T1. Huffman could press things early on the bike with legs like an ox. The Italians, and Blummenfeldt (NOR) are the strong euro contention. Yonah (ISR) offers a wildcard if he makes the group.
Podium: Blummenfeldt, Huffman, Steinwandter
Darkhorse: Yonah
I think Geogia Taylor-Brown is the junior women’s euro champ…