Campbelltown triathlete Natalie Van Coevorden’s battle for Olympic selection
As NRL works towards its return later this month, this Sydney athlete is dealing with the possibility she may not get to race a major event at all for more than a year.
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Normally she would be criss-crossing the world, jumping on 50 plus flights to exotic locations and major races. Instead triathlete Natalie Van Coevorden is in her Campbelltown backyard working up a sweat.
Van Coevorden went to the same school as Olympic triathlon medallist Erin Densham.
She trained on the same roads and parks near their respective homes at Campbelltown in Sydney’s west.
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They both even did the same jobs as teenagers - checkout chicks at a local supermarket.
But Van Coevorden’s road to her first Olympics will be very different from Densham’s.
Instead of travelling the world to race between 20-30 major international events and racking up valuable Olympic qualification points, she is stuck at home in Sydney’s west trying to adjust to the possibility of being unable to race a single international event for the next year.
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“Our high performance manager said to be prepared not to race before the Olympics, “ said the 27 year-old Macarthur triathlon club member.
“We are training for hope.”
The International Triathlon Union has cancelled all major events this season including the world championship finale and races that carry Olympic qualifying points.
“They are saying if it’s a race for Olympic qualification bracket (in the future) athletes must be able to train for 45 days and there must be no travel bans,” she said.
At the moment, this scenario looks a long time off as countries grapple with the coronavirus and its spread.
This throws up the very real possibility that she and her cohorts will not have any international racing prior to next years Olympics with Triathlon Australia yet to name its team for the postponed event.
Van Coevorden is currently ranked no. 22 in the world and needs to remain in the top 30 and one of two women currently eligible to race in Tokyo.
She is currently ranked No. 22 in the world and needs to remain in the top 30 to be eligible to race in Tokyo.
“I’m just training on. Doing 21 to 23 hours a week,’’ she said.
“I’ve built my own gym in my backyard which is great.”
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The triathlete, who has been based out of Portugal with her training squad this year, said she will look at doing cycling criteriums, running events and even open water swims If these races are allowed in the future.
“I will miss racing,” she said.
While no Australian man has ever medalled in the Olympic arena, women have at every Olympic Games since the sports debut in 2000 bar the 2016 Games in Rio.
The last medal was won by Densham - a bronze - at the London 2012 Games.
Australia’s main hopes in Tokyo will be Tasmanian Jake Birtwhistle and in the team’s event which Van Coevorden hopes to race.