Gold Coast Commonwealth Games: Jake Birtwhistle geared for triathlon

It is almost a year before the Commonwealth Games, but by tonight the first Australian athletes will have qualified.

Triathlon hopefuls Ryan Bailie, left, Jake Birtwhistle and Drew Box. Picture: Jerad Williams

It is almost a year before the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games begin, but by tonight the first ­Australian athletes will have qualified to compete, if all goes to plan in today’s World Triathlon Series race.

Australia’s best triathletes have the first chance to secure their Games spots, with automatic nomination up for grabs during the sprint distance race (750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run) on the Games course.

The first Australian man and woman to finish in the top 10 will take the prized places in the team, and young gun Jake Birtwhistle is desperate to be one of them.

The 2015 world under-23 champion was considered for the third place in the Australian Olympic team last year but just missed out to the more experienced Ryan Fisher and Birt­whistle is determined not to be in that position again for the Commonwealth Games. “I wasn’t able to produce good enough results on the days that mattered last year, which meant I left it in the selectors’ hands,’’ Birtwhistle said.

“This time I want to take as much control as I can.’’

The decision by the Games organisers to put the sprint distance race on the program next year, rather than the Olympic ­distance, should help his cause.

As top-ranked Spanish great Javier Gomez noted this week, the sprint distance generally favours younger men like Tasmania’s Birtwhistle, who showed an impressive turn of pace in the short-course Super League event on Hamilton Island last month, when he finished second across the series to South African speedster Richard Murray.

Birtwhistle also captured his first podium place in the world ­series over the sprint distance in Hamburg last July, where he also finished second to Murray. “I think Jake Birtwhistle is the one I’ll be looking out for, after Super League there’s a chance of him doing pretty well,’’ Murray said.

Birtwhistle and his training partner, Rio Olympian Ryan Bailie, will go head to head for the coveted automatic selection.

Bailie secured his Olympic spot in this race last year and is keen to do so again at a venue he considers a “happy hunting ground’’.

They work together under coach Jamie Turner at Wollongong but Birtwhistle said their ­opposing interests this weekend had not spilled over into their relationship. “We get along fine, but I definitely won’t be letting him grab that spot,’’ Birtwhistle said. “I won’t be doing him any favours.’’

Bailie is well aware of the fire burning inside Birtwhistle, a ­former junior distance running champion. “I think everyone on that start line is a threat but Jake has a lot of unfinished business,’’ he said. “I think he’s still got a sour taste in his mouth from last year so he’s going to be hungry.

“Jake’s dangerous over any distance when he’s on song. It’s only going to be a matter of time before he’s seen winning world ­titles and in the lead. He’s got a massive future in front of him.’’

But Bailie still thinks he can edge out his teammate this time.

“I’m confident in my own ­ability to get it done,’’ he said. “You just have to put yourself in the mix from the get-go and not make any little mistakes and have a ­little bit of luck.’’

Nine Australian men will compete for the precious Games spot today, while eight women will also contend for automatic selection. Olympians Ashleigh Gentle and Emma Jackson lead a pack that includes former world under-23 champion Charlotte McShane and the in-form Gillian Backhouse.