Triathlon selectors use discretionary powers to pick women for Paris Olympics
Triathlon selectors have revealed why Australia’s top-ranked athlete was overlooked for the Paris Games after no women achieved automatic Olympic qualification.
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Australia’s triathlon selectors have used their discretionary powers to bypass the country’s top-ranked woman and select two athletes below her in a bid to get the mixed relay team on the podium in Paris.
Gold Coast-based triathlete Jaz Hedgeland held the top world, World Triathlon Championship Series and Continental ranking among the Australian women in contention for two Olympic spots but was overlooked for Natalie van Coevorden and Sophie Linn.
The pair were named last week in the four-person Olympic squad alongside Matt Hauser and Luke Willian.
Both Hauser, the world no.6, and Willian, the world no.12, earnt automatic selection after satisfying AusTriathlon criteria in selection races over the past year.
No Australian woman satisfied the criteria for automatic selection, meaning the two women to represent Australia were selected by the Triathlon Australia Elite Selection Committee (TAESC) via discretionary nomination.
While nervous given the process was left in the hands of selectors, Hedgeland thought she’d done enough to be selected for her second Games after competing in Tokyo in 2021.
“I had hope before the phone call (from selectors),” Hedgeland said of the call that came a few weeks ago, before the team was named publicly last week.
“I had belief and I felt like I had done enough to gain selection. That all changed hearing that wasn’t the case in the phone call.
“I guess because it turned into discretion for women and then also because none of us showed the potential to win an individual Olympic medal, it was then heavily focused on the team relay.
“That’s where I also thought that I could be a good athlete in that position to be in the team relay, but that’s obviously not what the selectors thought.”
While Hedgeland held the highest world ranking, she is currently ranked at no.53 in the world and has little realistic chance of gaining an individual podium place in Paris.
Van Coevorden is ranked at no.62 in the latest list, updated on June 24, although she’s understood to have been slightly higher (no.58) when the selection decisions were made.
Importantly though, van Coevorden, who along with Hedgeland and Ash Gentle represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, held the highest Individual Olympic Qualifying ranking among the women in contention at no.35.
She also finished ahead of Hedgeland in two of the three selection events - the Paris test event and World Triathlon Series grand final (Pontevedra) last year - while Hedgeland was the best of the Aussies in the final selection race at Yokohama in May.
The women’s shortcourse form and ability was also taken into consideration given the athletes named will not only compete in the individual race but take part in the mixed relay where each competitor completes a leg comprising a 300m swim, 6.8km cycle and 2km run, about one-fifth the distance of the individual race.
That’s where Linn comes into her own, with the 29-year-old’s proven track record in shorter events giving her a big tick for the relay.
US-based South Australian Linn secured her first World Triathlon Cup win earlier this year in New Zealand, over the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run) and was fifth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games over the same distance, although Hedgeland also has a sprint distance win to her credit this year after taking out the Oceania championships in Devonport - a race which neither van Coevorden nor Linn started.
None of the women achieved the top eight placing that would have guaranteed automatic selection in any of those events.
Aus Triathlon chief executive Tim Harradine said that given no one had met the automatic nomination criteria, the decision went to the TAESC, a committee led by former triathlete Annabel Luxford, an U23 world champion and Commonwealth Games representative, who holds a masters in applied law from the University of Queensland.
“We had to exercise the steps of discretion, because nobody met the automatic nomination criteria, where the two males selected did,” Harradine said.
“We’re really fortunate to have a really experienced selection committee who (have) experienced racing at the Olympic Games, racing at the highest level, coaching at the highest level and (are) coming from other sporting backgrounds that have achieved Olympic medals as well.
“So these people have been able to walk through the steps in our discretion.”
Harradine said the mixed relay was “critical” in the selection panel’s decision-making process.
“The mixed relay is very critical because while we have the individual men’s and women’s events, the mixed relay is another medal opportunity and we do need to put ourselves in the best position to compete for a podium in that race,” Harradine said.
“I think if you look at the body of work for our athletes that were selected in the Olympic qualifying period, it’s an exceptional list of racing and preparations and at the end of the day, I think these selections do put us in the best position to really compete for a podium in the mixed relay.
“And no doubt, both women are competitors and they’ll put their best foot forward in the in the individual event for sure.”
None of the women in contention appealed their non-selection.
It’s something Hedgeland considered but putting herself through the “brutal” process after a couple of emotionally draining years which have included the death of her partner’s father and more recently, her sister’s partner’s father, she is not willing to be put through the wringer.
“I had read and read and reread the (selection) policy as many times (as possible) to try and understand every single clause, because there’s a lot of clauses, and one clause references another cause, which references another cause,” Hedgeland said.
“But there’s been so many other stories in the news about other sports and athletes appealing and honestly, I’ve just never heard of an Olympic appeal getting through and I know it can be brutal to go through that experience, and that’s not something that I was willing to put myself through.
“So whilst I believe I had some points to make ... I just thought, that’s not going to be useful for me now, so I chose not to appeal.”
Hedgeland has vowed to be back though - after a break - and will push on, determined to win selection for the LA Games in 2028.
“I’m very, very determined,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to having the next couple years to give it another go ... having a proper reset and then being able to go again is something that excites me.
“I’m definitely not done here yet.”
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