Top 10 finish at Tokyo in mixed triathlon for Fraser Coast Olympian

The Australians represented the green and gold with pride and were regarded as genuine medal contenders but hopes for a place on the podium faded by the second leg.

Olympics triathlon team member Matt Hauser. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

Fraser Coast Olympian Matt Hauser has had a top 10 finish in the mixed triathlon event at Tokyo.

But despite the strong result, the team of four agreed they had wanted to do better after being considered medal contenders ahead of Saturday’s race.

“It’s a great event,” Australian triathlete Jacob Birtwhistle, who competed in the team with Hauser, said.

“Obviously, triathlon is such an individual sport.

“But it’s great to have that bit of a team atmosphere around it and represent the green and gold with pride and try and go out there and get the job done.”

For the Australians, regarded as genuine medal contenders when Ashleigh Gentle hit the water just after 7.30am on Saturday, their hopes faded by the second leg.

A 55-second gap stretched to more than two minutes by the final chapter.

In the end, Birtwhistle was lapped by the leaders Great Britain, the United States and France as they set up for the last dash down the blue carpet.

Australia finished 9th overall.

“Unfortunately the team today was just a little bit all over the place,” Birtwhistle said.

“We gave it all we could.”

On the podium for one of the few events in which men and women compete together, the British men hung gold medals around the women’s necks and the women hung gold on the men’s.

“I find it pretty amazing,” Gentle, an Australian veteran who has seen the mixed relay grow from the triathlon world series to the Commonwealth Games and finally to its Olympics debut on Saturday, said.

After watching Hauser compete in the men’s individual triathlon event on Monday at Hervey Bay’s Beach House Hotel alongside friends and the triathlon community, his family watched on from home on Saturday.

Hauser finished 24th in the individual event.