Luke Willian secures automatic nomination in Australian triathlon team for Paris 2024 Olympics
Willian claimed a bronze medal with a timing of 1:42:20 behind Matthew Hauser at the World Triathlon Championship Series 2024 in Yokohama.
Luke Willian secured an automatic nomination to represent Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics courtesy of a bronze medal finish at the World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama, Japan on Saturday.
Australia have four individual triathlon quotas – two each for men and women – for the upcoming Summer Games. They secured their spots after finishing fifth in the Olympic mixed relay rankings.
As a result of the mixed relay rankings, Australia were guaranteed a mixed team relay spot at the Olympics, along with the two individual men’s and women’s quotas each.
However, National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024
As per the selection criteria adopted by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) for triathlon, achieving a top-eight finish in Yokohama would secure Australian triathletes an automatic spot for the upcoming Games.
Willian sealed his place in the Australian triathlon team for the Olympics with a timing of one hour, 42 minutes and 20 seconds (1:42:20) - 15 seconds behind leader USA’s Morgan Pearson and seven seconds behind compatriot Matthew Hauser, who won silver.
Hauser secured his place in the Olympic team with an eighth-place finish at the World Triathlon Championship Series Final last year.
Last month, the 28-year-old Willian won the gold medal at the World Triathlon Cup in Wollongong. It was his first World Triathlon Cup round win in five years. He also finished third at the Oceania Triathlon Sprint Championships and fourth at the World Triathlon Cup in Hong Kong China recently.
A total of five Australian triathletes competed in the men’s events on Saturday. Callum McClusky finished 42nd and was followed by Brandon Copeland at 46th. Jake Birtwhistle did not finish the race.
In the women’s race, Jaz Hedgeland was the best-placed Australian at 25th with a timing of 1:56:49. Charlotte McShane and Natalie Van Coevorden came 32nd and 35th, respectively.
The Yokohama meet was also the last shot for the Australian triathletes to secure an automatic nomination for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The remaining spots in the Australian team will be filled by the Elite Selection Committee via discretionary nomination. The final triathlon team will be announced in June.