Commonwealth Games 2018: Ashleigh Gentle confident she has the blueprint for success

Ashleigh Gentle’s rivals are right to fear her as she prepares to contend for the first gold medal of the Commonwealth Gamess.

Ashleigh Gentle is confident she can beat world No 1 Flora Duffy of Bermuda. Picture: Richard Gosling

Hometown favourite Ashleigh Gentle’s rivals are right to be fearful as she prepares to contend for the first gold medal of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in this morning’s women’s triathlon race, ­according to her coach Jamie ­Turner.

Gentle joined Turner 18 months ago, looking for the same guidance he provided to Rio Olympic gold medallist Gwen Jorgensen, and has found a new self-belief in his training squad, which has raised her to No 2 in the world in the past year.

Turner sees no reason why she can’t defeat the world No 1 Flora Duffy of Bermuda in today’s race, as she did in a World Series race in Montreal last year, which has become their blueprint for success on the Gold Coast.

“I think Ashleigh is a competitor who the opposition fear because she can run extraordinarily well,’’ Turner said.

“The strategy of some of her fancied rivals will be to try to take the race away from her by swimming and cycling to try to get away earlier, but I am very confident in Ashley’s ability to swim with them.

“We have invested a lot in her swim. She puts pressure on her competitors now because she’s able to see opportunity in all aspects of the race.’’

Turner said Gentle’s preparation had been “spot on’’ and she would go into the race knowing she had done everything possible to prepare for the race.

Gentle knows she has a unique opportunity to win a major international race in front of her home crowd today and said she was embracing it.

“I’m really looking forward to getting out there,’’ she said. “I’ll be racing hard from the gun, that’s how I always race, and I’ll be doing no different. I won’t be giving up and I’ll be digging deep for the hour of that race.

“Flora is a dual world champion and she’s a very fierce competitor but last year I started to believe in myself a little bit more, and I’ll be going out there with the mindset that I’m no less an athlete than her.’’

Turner, based at Wollongong, coaches two of the three Australian women racing today and said former world under-23 champion Charlotte McShane was also in “the form of her life’’.

In another life, McShane could be representing her native Scotland today, but her family migrated to Australia 12 years ago

Australia’s third representative, Gillian Backhouse, could be the wildcard in the pack after surprising the national triathlon selectors by forcing her way into the team last year.

Backhouse, 26, was regarded as such a long shot for the team nine months ago that she wasn’t even given a place in the national selection race in Hamburg. But she said that in hindsight the snub was the making of her.

“I was overlooked for the second selection race in Hamburg, which was a bit of a stab in the gut for me but it made me really determined to race well in all the races where I was given the opportunity,’’ she said.

“At that stage I thought I had been racing really well and I took it for granted that I would just be given starts up until that point but it made me realise that I should never ever take it for granted that I would get on the start line. In the end I think that helped to cement my place on the team.

“My preparation has gone really, really well, so I’m going in with good confidence to deliver on the day.’’

The international challenge will come not just from Duffy but from the strong New Zealand and British contingents.

New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt beat Gentle in the World Series race on the Gold Coast course last year, while the English duo of Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Holland and rising star Jessica Learmonth, and Welsh team captain Non Stanford (fourth in Rio) are also formidable.